We decided to give Häagen-Dazs FIVE ice cream line a shot this weekend. The new series of seven flavors (mint, ginger, coffee, vanilla bean, brown sugar, passion fruit and milk chocolate) is described as a return to old-fashioned ice cream basics because it’s made with only five ingredients: sugar, milk, cream, eggs and whichever flavor a specific variant is. It’s a purist’s dream.

I fell in love with the brown sugar version because it tastes just like frozen leche flan. That comforting flavor of brown sugar reminds me of the syrup that bathes one of my favorite childhood desserts. And the vanilla bean version was nothing to sneeze at either: The flavors were pure, whole and clean.

Häagen-Dazs says this of the newest addition to their family of frozen treats:

All-natural ice cream crafted with only five ingredients for incredibly pure, balanced flavor… and surprisingly less fat!

There was something utterly yummy about knowing that a spoonful of the FIVE was nothing but unadulterated ice cream bliss. Even my favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor (and even the ones similar to those in the FIVE line like vanilla bean) has stuff called Guar Gum and Carageenan in it. The fact that those sound like characters from Star Wars rather than things I should be ingesting is a tad bit scary.

I was all set to declare undying love for the new Häagen-Dazs line. I wanted to hunt down all the flavors, even if it meant going to every grocery store in the city. Gimme ginger! Make room for mint! Whoa, passionfruit!

But then.

After perusing the Häagen-Dazs website I discovered something. Comparing labels and nutritional info for the FIVE variants and the original Häagen-Dazs flavors, I found out that for at least two of the flavors, it wasn’t ALL that different in terms of ingredients.

Original Coffee

Five Coffee

Original Chocolate

Five Chocolate

What gives? An evil marketing plot? Granted, there IS a difference in the fat content of each, but their claim of the FIVE line being new isn’t entirely truthful! Hmmmm.

Oh well. I’m now undecided about declaring undying love for FIVE. While I ruminate on these facts and try to come to a conclusion I can live with, let me take a scoop (or two) of the brown sugar FIVE ice cream, set it on top of a warm brownie, surround it with warm mango cubes cooked in syrup jubilee-style, and dig into it like it was going out of style. Yum! (Hee.)