Apricot Kernel Almond - White Peach Style Ice Cream by Häagen-Dazs

I love ice cream flavours in Japan as there are always interesting ones. This summer, there was a new flavour that I'd never seen before anywhere else - a combination of apricot kernel (Asian almond) and white peach.
Apricot Kernel Almond - White Peach Style Ice Cream by Häagen-Dazs
It is a bit difficult to translate the name. Literally, was called in Japanese "Annin" (杏仁) - White Peach Preparation ("shitate" 仕立て). Annin refers to apricot kernels that is often called almond in Asia, and is used especially in Asian desserts such as traditional Chinese almond paste or almond jelly. This is completely different from the Western almond, which is a different seed. Shitate technically means "preparation" or "crafted in the style of", but in practice, it is just a fancy way for saying "flavoured". So it is like peach-flavoured Asian almond flavour.
Apricot Kernel Almond - White Peach Style Ice Cream by Häagen-Dazs - cap
It was every bit as interesting as it sounded. 

The first impression I had when it hit my mouth was that it was very similar to the Chinese almond jelly or almond tofu, usually served with canned syruped longan, which is a bright, floral and fragrant fruit. 

At first, my taste buds were confused, thinking about the fruity syrup in almond tofu with longan. But after a few mouthfuls and examining the top notes and aftertaste, I noticed the notes of peach. 

It turns out that the almond minicked the cherry notes in the typical canned syrup mixed fruits, while the peach contributed the floral notes of lily and pineapple, albeit a bit more floral and fragrant than in the usual mixed fruit syrup. And notice that both the longan and peach have bright, floral fruity notes, so they felt like different versions of the same thing and although I had never tried the peach version before, the flavour felt very very familiar and similar to the longan almond jelly in Chinese restaurants.

The almond ice cream was also very rich and nutty with earthy notes reminiscent of soy, reinforcing the almond jelly or almond tofu impression. I didn't seem to see any soy in the ingredients list though, so I guess the flavour comes directly from the almond powder (杏仁霜), so it appears that a bunch of the soy taste in normal almond tofu actually overlaps with the almond. Perhaps some of the earthy and soy notes might also have come from some parts of the egg used.
Apricot Kernel Almond - White Peach Style Ice Cream by Häagen-Dazs - ingredients list 1
Apricot Kernel Almond - White Peach Style Ice Cream by Häagen-Dazs - ingredients list 2
Also, the ingredients list shows that it is very pure, as with all Häagen-Dazs ice creams, not compromising on that despite the interesting flavour. Apart from cream, skimmed milk, egg and sugar, they only used peach sauced (with bits of peach), almond powder and maltodextrin powder. So just 7 ingredients - 2 more than their classic vanilla.

It was a great flavour and very brilliant twist on the classic longan almond tofu dessert, so I would highly recommend it. Hopefully it comes back next summer, as this was a season-limited special, since peach is a summer fruit only available during a narrow period from late June to August.

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