SMASHMALLOW PUMPKIN PIE

Welcome to day 8 of Tag Sale Tastes’ Pumpkinpalooza 2020!

Today’s pumpkin treat is Smashmallow Pumpkin Pie:

Look at that whimsical pumpkinscape on the package:

The package describes these marshmallows as a “flavor smash up” of “rich and velvety cream atop a savory slice of everything nice,” and promises  that this “is no ordinary marshmallow”:

The ingredients include natural pumpkin pie flavor, with fruit juice, vegetable juice, and turmeric for color:Ready for the big reveal?  Here they are:

I’ll admit — I was looking forward to these.  I’ll also admit that I was sorely disappointed. For all the coloring ingredients, I expected them to at least be orange.  I needed them to be orange.  But they were beige, which is not pumpkin-y at all.  I could get past the color if they tasted good, but sadly, they did not.  They did not taste like pumpkin pie at all.  They tasted more like marshmallows that I bought for a Boy Scout campout and didn’t use and found in the trunk of my car months later.  Kinda piney, kinda soapy.  They also leave an unpleasant aftertaste.   I don’t know about the other flavors they make, but these Smashmallows are now Trashmallows.

Rating:  1 pumpkin (out of 5)

H-E-B- CREAMY CREATIONS PUMPKIN PIE ICE CREAM

Welcome to day 7 of Tag Sale Tastes’ Pumpkinpalooza 2020!

Although temperatures have cooled a bit here in Houston, it’s still fairly warm, and a dish of ice cream sounds pretty good.  So today I bring you H-E-B Creamy Creations Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream:

It’s churned in the heart of Texas:

The container sports a few leaves and a fat little pumpkin — a plumpkin, if you will:

There’s also a picture of a slice of pumpkin pie to drive the flavor home (unlike the sad forkful of pumpkin pie on the Lenny & Larry’s Pumpkin Spice Complete Cookie):

The ingredients include graham cracker swirl (what’s a good pie without a graham cracker crust, right?), whipped cream swirl (’cause pumpkin pie needs a dollop of whipped cream, right?), and pumpkin puree:

And here it is:

Whoa — that’s some orange ice cream!  No mistaking this is pumpkin flavored.  Let’s dish it up and give it a taste:

Well, by “graham cracker swirl” and “whipped cream swirl” I think what they meant was “swirled in.”  There was no swirl that I could see.  But it didn’t matter, because the ice cream was great — sweet, creamy, pumpkin-y, pleasantly gritty from the graham crackers swirled in, with a nice amount of pumpkin spice and no pumpkin spice aftertaste.  I thought it would have been even better with a drizzle of caramel, or perhaps some Heath bits, but my husband thought it was really great all by itself.  Life is gourd.  🙂

Rating:  5 pumpkins (out of 5)