Hudsonville Ice Cream’s new novelties offer a variety of cool flavors

HOLLAND — Hudsonville Ice Cream recently launched a new line of novelty ice cream bars — a first for the company — just in time for summer.

The product line has three flavors available: salted caramel, strawberry shortcake and vanilla milk chocolate.

“Our new ice cream bars are the result of listening to our devoted fans,” said Chief Marketing Officer Rob Heider. “Our fan-favorite ice cream recipe made with real ingredients has remained largely unchanged since 1926, and we’re thrilled to bring that same great Hudsonville quality to ice cream bar lovers.”

Four-packs of the bars are available now at select retailers nationwide, with prices ranging from $4.88-$5.49 per box. To find a location near you, visit Hudsonville’s “Scoop Locator” at hudsonvilleicecream.com/scoop-locator.

To celebrate the launch of the new product, Hudsonville provided samples to The Holland Sentinel's taste-testing duo, photographer Cody Scanlan and reporter Mitchell Boatman.

While eating three ice cream bars at once may seem like a lot of work, it’s all worth it to get you, our readers, the information you need. Without further ado, here are their thoughts.

Vanilla Milk Chocolate

Hudsonville Description: Real vanilla ice cream dipped in a rich milk chocolate shell

Cody: This is your regular ice cream bar. There really isn't much to complain about here. Hudsonville did a great job with a classic. The chocolate-to-ice cream ratio is good, neither overpowers the other. I want to mention the stick placement on all the bars we tried was in the ideal spot. You get a few bites in before chomping down on the wooden stick.

Mitchell: It’s a classic for a reason, and Hudsonville does it right. A really good vanilla ice cream with the right amount of chocolate coating, you can’t go wrong. I agree with Cody on the stick placement — it’s a small thing, but it matters. The coating also holds together well as you eat. Some ice cream treats will break apart on bite one, but not here.

Salted Caramel

Hudsonville Description: Salted caramel-flavored ice cream with a swirl of salted caramel, dipped in milk chocolate coating

Mitchell: This treat definitely delivers on the caramel, with salted caramel ice cream and caramel swirls throughout. While it's a tasty treat, I’d probably rank it third of three here. It’s definitely enjoyable, but if you’re not a caramel lover, I could see it being a bit much.

Cody: If you're a big fan of caramel then Hudsonville has you covered here. It's hard to describe the amount of caramel flavor packed into this thing.

Strawberry Shortcake

Hudsonville Description: Rich strawberry ice cream with fluffy yellow cake pieces, dipped in smooth white chocolate coating

Cody: Of the three we tried, the strawberry was my favorite. The white chocolate shell, strawberry ice cream and yellow cake bits all work well together to create a light and refreshing treat. This is the ice cream bar I would reach for on a hot summer day.

Mitchell: Hands down the star of the show for me. The strawberry flavor is strong and works well with the white chocolate. If I were to nitpick, I didn’t love the texture of the frozen cake pieces, but it wasn’t enough to keep this from being my favorite of the three. This bar just has a strong vibe of bringing refreshment on a hot day.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hudsonville Ice Cream’s new novelties offer a variety of cool flavors