This Ice Cream is Made with the ‘Fourth Kind’ of Chocolate

Cold vapor filled the supersized metal bowl, spilled out onto the counter, and crawled under the glass panel between me and said bowl. Here at Creamistry, in Irvine, CA, the ice cream is made to order using ultra cold liquid nitrogen that insta-freeze’s the contents of each ice cream. I’m waiting to try their newest flavor, ruby cacao, the “fourth type” of chocolate.

Chocolate ice cream isn’t usually my thing but, hey, this one is pink. So I had to try it, right?

The ice cream’s initial flavor isn’t chocolate. Mildly sweet, almost floral at first, the initial lusciousness is more reminiscent of berries. Eventually it gives way, leaving a slight acerbity to remind you that you’re still eating chocolate. 

Creamistry’s special flavor comes served as is or in a sundae that’s loaded to the brim with fresh strawberries and blueberries, whipped cream, and chocolate chips. While relatively simple, in terms of Creamistry’s creation (we’re talking about a place that makes an Elvis Presley sundae with banana ice cream, peanut butter, and candied bacon), the fresh fruit and the whipped cream work together to accentuate the fruitiness of the ice cream.

Ruby cacao sent the chocolate industry into a frenzy in 2017 when the manufacturer Barry Callebaut announced that it had discovered a fourth kind of chocolate, one that was a milky pink color.

The exact making of the treat is a secret, but it’s theorized that the chocolate is made using unfermented cacao beans. The fermentation is where the cacao beans get their usual brown color before being made into chocolate. Instead, the beans are instead acidified before they’re made into chocolate, causing them to retain their original red color profile.

The different production process leaves ruby cacao’s taste somewhere in between white and milk chocolate.

For ice cream this works perfectly. The flavor isn’t overwhelmingly sweet, but it’s enough to fix anyone’s sweet tooth.

This flavor is only available for the summer, though. And who knows when ruby cacao will become publicly available en masse, so you’ll want to scoop up a sundae soon if you want to try the fabled fourth chocolate.