Before Peanut Butter Munchies took the crown of the 2018 Ample Hills Flavor Frenzy contest, there was a corny co-champion from online voting that was also brought back from the dead and produced for a limited time. The two flavors were both churned, in scoop shops and available to order for shipping for one week, before one was crushed. Only 70 pint packs went out and I was lucky enough to get one of them. I’m extremely glad I had the big bucks to shell out with the quickness, because the runner up is far better than its dangling silver medallion implies. Corn to Run combines a creamy corn ice cream with cornmeal crumble and blueberry swirls.
The creamy corn ice cream is incredible and without a doubt the best corn-based ice cream I’ve ever had. It’s bursting with rich, deep, corn sweetness that tastes like a perfectly prepared cob of corn smeared with sweet creamy honey butter. It has an immaculately smooth texture on par with anything in Ample Hills’ impressive catalog and carries an inventive yet crave-able-ness that is everything gourmet ice cream is all about. Even more alluring is the actual smell of the ice cream, which when I put my nose into the cool pint actually blossoms with an amazingly authentic corn aroma like I was sniffing a casserole at an indulgent banquet.
The “cornmeal crumble” is really more chunks of cornbread cookies and they are incredible. Crunchy, gritty, sweet, salty, slightly greasy, and full of delicious cornbread flavor. The texture is very similar to the awesome clusters in The Munchies and the way they hold such intense crunch in the succulent corn cream is remarkable. They’re mostly smaller pieces with the occasional boulder, and in both sizes I can’t get enough. The flavor of the chunks combined with the base makes the profile as a whole taste like cornbread ice cream and it’s truly terrific.
The blueberry swirls are the least dominant component in the pint but they add a nice touch of acidity and fruity sweetness that feels very welcome in the grand corny scheme of the flavor. I wish the swirls were a bit thicker, but they play the role of a gentle spread of jam across the top of some cornbread, and their backseat makes sense. Had there been some larger lush ribbons or even a pool or two against the sides of the container I can only imagine how beautiful the berry burst would have been.
As terrific as PB Munchies is, it’s a shame this flavor saw such a short rebirth. Corn to Run is incredibly unique yet undeniably scoopable, and I hope it gets an encore performance sometime in the near future.
Rating: 9.5/10
Found at: http://www.amplehills.com
Sean's Skillet 