Maybe I’m the last to notice but Turtle Mountain now has their fabulous pomegranate chip flavor available in both regular soy and coconut ice creams. I’ve always been a huge fan of the pomegranate chip soy ice cream but stopped buying it due to intestinal issues that arise when eaten. So I was extremely elated that they now offered the same flavor in coconut milk ice cream. I like the other coconut milk ice cream flavors so this was sure to be a great combination.

Even if it did cost more than $1 more per pint.

To determine if it was going to match up to the great flavor of the soy option, I bought one of each to compare. After all, making a semi-regular habit of something that’s $1 more per pint is worth investigating first, doncha think?

The first thing I noticed when opening both containers is that the coconut (on the right in the photo below) appeared to have melted at some point during shipping. Since I brought them both home in the same bag, same car, same number of miles, I concluded that either it melted during its trek from factory to store or it simply melts faster than the soy.

Yes, there is a color difference between the two but don’t get hung up on food coloring.

To test this conclusion I spooned up 2 dips of each in their own bowls, set them on the same kitchen counter under the same lights. Interestingly, the soy melts faster at room temperature. So this would seem to mean that somewhere between the factory and Whole Foods, the coconut version was partially melted and refrozen.

Does this matter?

Maybe. I’ve had other ice creams that when refrozen after melting became separated into crystals and flavorings and are then just about the most disgusting thing ever (next to tapioca but don’t get me started on that). I did notice a slightly powdery sensation in the coconut ice cream but there was no way to know if the melting and refreezing caused it or if that’s just part of the texture.

Soy ice cream close up. Notice it’s already melting. A good sign in my book.
The coconut milk ice cream never did really melt. It just sorta got squishy.

But what about the danged flavor!

Yeah, well, that’s what it really boils down to right? Is the coconut really worth $1 more than the soy version of the same flavor? For this I wasn’t looking for a match in flavor, I was looking for something better. At least $1 better.

Overall, neither one sucked. BUT, the coconut version just did not have as strong a pomegranate flavor as the soy. Yes, the soy had more pronounced flavor. The coconut ice cream was much creamier but just not as flavorful.

Verdict?

If I buy the pomegranate flavor in the future, I will by it via the soy ice cream rather than the coconut milk ice cream. But only on days when DH isn’t home since it results in gastronomy ‘noises’.

So that should save me what? About $52 annually? Yeah, that’s about right.

Note: This is a comparison of only one Turtle Mountain flavor that crossed over into both their soy and coconut ice cream lines. No assumptions should be made for other flavors that crossover as they were not reviewed.