Brand collaborations can be fun, tasty experiences, especially when it comes to food. Unfortunately, not all of them are successful in the flavor department, leaving a bad taste in our mouths and memories. That's the case with the ranch-flavored ice cream released to celebrate National Ranch Day in spring 2023, which was born from a limited partnership between Van Leeuwen and Hidden Valley.
A lot of people use ranch dressing for more than salad: It adds another layer of flavor to pizzas and sandwiches and works well as a dip for chicken nuggets and strips. However, basing an ice cream flavor on it just doesn't work. Before trying the ranch-flavored ice cream , Daily Meal checked the ingredients to find that it indeed had the typical workings of ranch: Buttermilk, onion and garlic powders, salt, and spices.
Sadly, the flavor of the seasonings was overpowering and unbalanced with the sweetened milk, hitting you hard a few moments after taking a bite. Sweet and savory are supposed to complement each other, but they were in competition in this Van Leeuwen and Hidden Valley ice cream mashup. We won't miss the lingering taste that it left on our tongues or the headache of trying to figure out what to pair with it to make it work.
Remembering other limited-edition Van Leeuwen ice cream flavors Making ice cream since 2008, Van Leeuwen isn't afraid to churn out outrageous flavor combinations alongside its classics. In 2021, for instance, it teamed up with The Kraft Heinz Company to la.