Ben & Jerry’s. One of the oldest and most memorable ice-cream brands I know of. Could it be the catchy name, the brightly coloured take-home tubs or the cleverly marketed Free Cone Days running annually since 1979 recently hitting our Sydney shores? Who knows. Nonetherless, I’ve never seen such fan frenzy which has later been matched of course by none other than what is now labeled, Bieber fever.

To put it bluntly, my Ben & Jerry’s cherry was popped when?

Back in 2006 during a trip to the Empire State, New York. A trip that was already filled with so many adventures with a few being part of the audience at The Late Show with David Letterman, The Today Show and seeing some favourite artists perform at Madison Square Garden and BB Kings Blues Club.

But of course, it was the food that topped the cake of my NY journey-  big ass Pizza slices at Sapparo, Hot Dogs in Central Park or should I say it in local language ‘Haawt Daags’ and after hearing so much about Ben & Jerry’s; sinking my teeth into some waffle wrapped Chunky Monkey and Choc Chip Cookie Dough ice-cream whilst we walked the streets of Harlem. I kid you not. My friends who were a little petrified at the fact that we were in ‘the hood’ late at night – I was too busy concentrating on the heavenly bits of fudge brownies as opposed to watching out for our general safety homeboy!

Three years later, my persistent craving had been finally put to rest when B & J’s contacted me to try their new range of tempting flavours- Phish Food, Triple Caramel Chunk and Half Baked. Needing to relive my gleeful memories, I asked them to send me some old time favs: Chunkey Monkey and Strawberry Cheesecake and thier new flavour Half Baked. You’ll see why.

Upon tongue impact, you are hit with a fresh banana bomb, reminding you of those childhood days when Billabong Bannana ice-creams were king on the playground during summer. Definitely the creamiest of the of flavours I’ve tried so far.  There are many food items out there that don’t live up to their names, but what you’ll find here are literally massive chunks of dark chocolate squares and premium grade walnuts. To ensure every ingredient was savoured, all the delectable chocolate pieces were saved until the end so I can melt them in my mouth. I felt that they had deserved the honour of being eaten on their own.

Truth be told- I had a dream I was swimming in this last night. How many tubs would I need to fill a bath?

As the name suggests, this one is packed with ingredients made for the oven. From generously sized chocolate fudge brownies to dollops of chocolate chip cookie dough in amoungst Fairtrade Vanilla sourced from the Eco-Agri co-op in India and rich swirls of very chocolately ice-cream.  A warning- tread carefully with the servings here. I think one scoop should suffice, but hey, I went for three at a time despite having a cold.

Although a hard decision to make, if it were my last day on earth and was asked which flavour I would choose, Strawberry Cheesecake takes the crown. There’s something here that that makes it hard for me to resist. I’ve concluded that due to the fact that I have a known addiction to Baked Cheesecake, this comes as the closest cousin. It contains 1.5% cream cheese. Product Enhancement Request please: increase to at least 10%. I promise to be a daily consumer and going by some market research, a heavy cheesecake flavoured ice-cream is in demand. You just need to look at the popularity of the cheesecake flavoured items at Breadtop or imported ice-creams from Asia heavily ladened with cheese. I may be a little lactose intolerant ( a known Asian trait) but that didn’t stop me from devouring the whole tub in one night people!

Thanks to the kind folks at Ben & Jerry’s, I am more than happy to share some freebies with you all. To win, just answer the below question by leaving a comment and you could be the lucky winner of  5 tubs of heavenly ice-cream ($60 RRP)! Check out their range of flavours at: http://www.benandjerry.com.au/flavours/our-flavours/

If it were my last day on earth, which flavour would I choose?

T & C’s

-          Only open to Melbourne and Sydney residents (due to delivery restrictions)

-          Winner is randomly drawn

-          Competition ends 9 July, 2010 11:59PM

Food Rehab consumed these delectable tubs of ice-cream thanks to Ben and Jerry’s and Sarah at One Green Bean.

Update: Winner Announced!

Close to 70 entries later, the competition draws to a close. Now, I wish there were more tubs to giveaway, but unfortunately, there can only be one lucky winner.

Congratulations Crispy! By the time you are reading this, an email would have been sent to you asking for your mailing address details. 5 tubs of delicious Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream will be heading your way soon.  Thank you to everyone for participating as well as to Ben and Jerry’s and Sarah at One Green Bean for this giveaway.

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