Taste Testing: Viral Fruit Ice Creams

I'm about 8 months behind on TikTok viral videos. Also, H-Mart (which is the largest Asian grocer in my area), was consistently sold out. Here's my take on the ones I did manage to snatch when they restocked. The flavor contenders are durian, mango, and peach.

Durian

has weird vein impressions

Everyone always says you either love or hate durian and there's no in-between, which isn't exactly true in my case. I'm a solid in-betweener. For me, the worst parts of fresh durian are the soft, custard texture and the initial first two bites which ALWAYS taste like cheesy onion. However, if you persist in powering through the cheesy onion and continue eating it, it's fascinating and unique. The best way I can describe it is like eating a banana in a Taleggio cheese factory - sweet, creamy, a little funky, a little floral.

The ice cream follows along those lines. I liked the addition of the coconut milk part in the middle of the "slice" that provided a welcome contrast to the durian flavor, which is actually pretty light. Still had to get through that funky cheesy onion two-bite process, though. 

I'd give it a 5/10 but, if you're a solid durian fan you'd probably rate it higher.

Mango

so tiny

My mom told me that, when she was pregnant with me, she constantly craved green mangoes and, because she ate so many, that's why I ended up "so sour." Thanks, mom.

Like the durian popsicle, the mango flavor was light and milky. The ice cream itself is coated with a light white chocolate shell, colored to match the fruit. It's cute and all, but I would've preferred the mango flavor to be more robust. My favorite mango frozen treat is Talenti's alphonso mango sorbetto which I think is as close as you're going to get to biting into a fresh, perfectly ripe mango, and this popsicle doesn't come close to that sensation.

6/10, but only because I like mango.

Peach

booty

OMG ITS GOT A BUTT CRACK

This provided my favorite flavor of the three options and was so cute, I almost died. The flavor was still light, but identifiable as peachy, and also coated with a thin, white chocolate shell.

7/10, mainly for the butt crack.

Conclusion

TBH, these ratings aren't super high not because I didn't like the ice cream but there were some factors I had to consider:

The pricing was between $11 - $15 which I think is jacked because you only get 3 little popsicles. I don't know if that high price is because they're imported from halfway around the world or what, but it's a bit crazy and that's from someone who gets excited by overpriced French butter.

The packaging is ROBUST. I mean, I know it's important to protect the peach butt crack structure, but that's a hell of an amount of plastic for the landfill and I literally had to tear the housing apart to get to the peach and mango popsicles. The durian had a little less plastic and was easier to tear into, but it was from a different company who maybe they thought that, if you were daring enough for durian, then who are they to make it difficult for you to actually get to the popsicle.