I do not know much about pomology, and in fact did not know the word existed until about two minutes before I started typing this sentence.

For the non-pomologists out there, which I’m guessing is just about everyone reading this, it means the study of fruits and nuts, and in particular, their cultivation. Why is this relevant? Because I had to pretend to be a pomologist, poorly, I might add, to figure out Blue Bell’s new Black Raspberry Fudge Ice Cream.

The packaging, to my untrained eye, appears to show a blackberry, but I guess that’s actually a black raspberry. According to my tens of seconds of pomology research, a black raspberry has a hollow core and is sweeter than the solid-cored blackberry, which is also a great phone that I weirdly still miss. Adding to the confusion, the list of ingredients for this includes both black raspberries and blackberries. And don’t get me started on blue raspberries, which apparently only exist in Slurpees and snow cones and not in nature.

Anyway, now that the pomology lesson is complete, let’s talk about how this ice cream tastes. As a veteran eater of many blackberry cobblers, I can tell you this has a distinct, wonderful blackberry flavor. Could it also be black raspberry? I guess…I’m not sure I’ve ever had a black raspberry, so I can’t say for sure. But I am certain that the dark chocolate-flavored chunks are plentiful and delicious with a truly fudgy flavor, and they are quite thick, adding a nice crunch.

My only complaint is that the chocolate fudge swirl is sparse, and it would have been great to have thicker ribbons of it throughout. That’s just a minor issue, though, because the pairing of whatever berry flavor this is with chocolatey fudge chunks and swirl is perfectly rich and decadent.

It’s always a tough call on whether to pick up a pint or a half gallon for an ice cream review, but I made the right choice with the big tub, and there is no danger of the dreaded ice crystals forming because the contents are unlikely to make it until next week.

Purchased Price: $8.99
Size: Half Gallon
Purchased at: Brookshire Brothers
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 240 calories, 13 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 25 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Honey goes great with many things, such as mustard, Nut Cheerios, badgers, Baked Ham, and Boo Boo. Honey clearly has range, but how does this sweet bee vomit pair with ice cream? Blue Bell offers up an answer with its new Honey Vanilla flavor.

I’ll get right to it: this is very vanilla, as in almost just vanilla. After my first taste, I truly thought someone at the Blue Bell factory forgot to push the “add honey” button. Only after a second taste, and a fair amount of Zen-like concentration, was I able to confirm that there was indeed a faint hint of honey.

I did enjoy this as a vanilla ice cream, but I’m not sure I would have picked up on the honey part if a stranger came up to me, offered me a taste, and asked me to identify the flavor. (It probably wouldn’t be wise to accept ice cream from a stranger, but I totally would.)

Given the lack of honey flavor provided by Blue Bell, I thought I’d go the extra mile, or at least a few extra feet to my pantry, and try adding some. Surprisingly, at least to me, due to my general lack of honey-related knowledge, the viscous goo became even more viscousey (apparently not a real word, but I like it and I’m using it) when it hit the cold ice cream. It almost turned into a giant honey gummy worm on my ice cream. As for the taste, it was pleasant enough, but even with the added honey kick, it was not anything spectacular.

So if you are looking for vanilla ice cream with just a touch of honey, then maybe this is for you. Otherwise, this will be a disappointment for anyone looking for a complete honey experience.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: Brookshire Brothers
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 200 calories, 10 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 90 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 22 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Blue Bell Creameries, based about halfway between Austin and Houston, has been around for 118 years, and that’s how long it took them to come up with perhaps the most Texas-y flavor possible, Classic Pecan Pie. Maybe brisket-flavored ice cream would be a little more Texas-y, and I would definitely give that a try, but Blue Bell doesn’t really do daring or extreme flavors, so instead, it went with the official state pie. If you’ve never been to Texas, trust me when I tell you there is some sort of law that every BBQ place and café is required to have pecan pie on the menu.

I can’t tell you the difference between “classic” pecan pie and non-classic pecan pie, but I can report that this ice cream flavor is pretty dang tasty. It features brown sugar ice cream with roasted pecans, pie crust pieces, and a pecan pie filling swirl. So basically, Blue Bell took all the separate components of a pecan pie and did some reconstruction.

The first thing I noticed is that Blue Bell was quite generous with the pecans, both in terms of the sheer number and the size of the pieces. That was a bit of a surprise considering that pecans can be pricey. The pecan pie filling was perfectly gooey and sweet, and the pie crust pieces added some nice flaky texture. It was hard to discern the brown sugar flavor of the ice cream, but it served as a solid base for all the other ingredients. Blue Bell pretty much nailed this one.

One thing that would make this better, but also defy the laws of science, is that wonderful warm/cold contrast you get when you have a scoop of ice cream slowly melting over a piece of pecan pie fresh out of the oven. But if, like me, you don’t know how to bake a pecan pie, or, like me, are a little bit lazy and don’t want to mess with cutting a slice of pre-made pie and then having to push buttons on the microwave to warm it up, this is almost a perfect substitute.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: Brookshire Brothers
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 280 calories, 16 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

An idea does not need to be complex to be brilliant. As evidence, I present Exhibit A: the new Blue Bell Strawberry Toaster Pastry ice cream. This is something that a little kid or Buddy the Elf could have come up with, and yet instead, we, the human race, created mustard, pizza, and pickle-flavored ice cream before this delicious treasure. OK, we can mostly blame Van Leeuwen for that, but still, how did it take us until 2025 to come up with this?

As you probably guessed, I like this stuff. A lot. It almost feels like something I shouldn’t be eating, like when your parents slept in, and you put chocolate sauce and whipped cream on Cap’n Crunch. I know I wasn’t the only one.

The flavor is intensely sweet, as one might expect, because it contains not only strawberry pastry pieces but also confetti sprinkles and swirls of strawberry sauce and white icing. But somehow, it’s not too sweet. This probably would have been quite good with just the ice cream and generic Pop-Tarts, but the strawberry sauce and icing really make it sublime. There’s so much color to this ice cream that it’s hard to tell what’s what, and that makes it a little better because each bite is a surprise. And if you are super impatient like I am and frequently burn your tongue by eating Pop-Tarts right out of the toaster, this ice cream also solves that problem.

I thought perhaps the pastry pieces would get a bit mushy from being encased in ice cream, but they retained a nice firm texture, probably thanks to one of the many ingredients on the label that I cannot pronounce. The sprinkles, besides adding an explosion of color, also provide a bit of extra crunchy texture. After just a few bites this became one of my favorite ice creams.

My only complaint is that this is only available for a limited time and only in pints (no half-gallons). But I’m hoping it proves to be popular enough to at least become one of the recurring Blue Bell flavors, and if I really dare to dream, that a s’mores toaster pastry flavor appears down the road. If not, then I’m going to find the blender that I’m pretty sure I have buried somewhere in a cabinet, put on an elf hat, and start experimenting.

Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: One Pint
Purchased at: Brookshire Brothers
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2/3 cup) 260 calories, 13 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 33 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 29 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.