Could you tell a Nutty Buddy from a Drumstick or a Bomb Pop from a Firecracker? Take this frozen treats identification quiz on Slashfood.

Photo: jljjld(away)/Flickr

Is there one food about which you -- despite maybe being a food snob the rest of the time -- are not at all fussy? About which you say, "I don't care who makes it: I'll eat it!"

We realized after chomping down our second ice cream of the day that perhaps, perhaps, we are not so discerning about the stuff. It was late at night, and Häagen-Dazs Five (mint) had us rather over the moon. Then we realized that really, we've rarely met a decently-made ice cream that didn't sway our affections at least a little bit.

It's one of those foods that, as long as its basic components are intact, fails to register on the Picky Meter. Such eats are a relatively rare breed; they exist largely to answer a timeless and bottomless craving, and their combination of ingredients hits the pleasure buttons that in turn short-circuit the ability to criticize -- and to say "no."

Here are five we think might hit those buttons. Vote for yours, and if it's "other," hit the comments to let us know what it is!

Häagen-Dazs is going back to basics with its new line of ice cream - Five. The company is offering 7 flavors - mint, ginger, coffee, vanilla bean, passion fruit, brown sugar, and milk chocolate - that are made with just 5 ingredients. For example, vanilla is made from skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla extract.

Fellow blog Springwise believes that the launching of the Häagen-Dazs Five is symbolic of the current economic environment: "Pure, natural, simple-in today's ailing economic climate, such adjectives hold a nostalgic appeal." But, in such tough economic times, who's willing to spend about $7 on a pint of ice cream?

As many of you know, the products we regularly buy at the grocery store have slowly been shrinking over the last year or two. Peanut butter jars, yogurt cups and tubs of ice cream are all now smaller than they once were, while the price points have remained the same.



Häagen-Dazs, the original purveyor of premium ice cream, recently announced that they too would be reducing the amount of ice cream in their packages, going from a standard 16 ounce pint to a slimmed down 14 ounces. However, instead of going about this reduction quietly, as other companies have done, they're broadcasting the news. You see, they feel that they are protecting their high quality by reducing the contents of the cartons by "a few spoonfuls."

Starting in January 2009 (so you may already be seeing these reduced cartons on the shelves) the pint will shrink and the 32 ounce cartons will change to 28 ounces.

[via The Consumerist]

Seeing sunflowers makes me smile. They are so bright and cheery. Now, however, I have even more of a reason to smile about sunflowers.

I had heard about the mysterious disappearance of the bees. As mentioned previously on this blog, Haagen-Daaz has done a good job spreading the news. They have a wealth of information on their Help the Honey Bees Site. Not surprisingly, most of their campaign revolves around buying ice cream. I love ice cream and support the cause, but what else could I do?

The Great Sunflower Project gives you a great opportunity to help out in another way. Sunflowers attract bees that subsequently pollinate the plants we eat. If you register by June 15, The Great Sunflower Project will send you sunflower seeds to plant in your garden. They then ask that you monitor the bees that visit your sunflowers. Don't worry, they make it easy by giving you lots of helpful hints on how to effectively monitor your backyard visitors. They will use your information to help get a big picture of the state of bees in urban areas.

Is it really bad to say at this point that bees scare me and I'm not sure I want extra bees in my yard? Probably, but I think saving fruits, vegetables, and one of the loves of my life, honey, wins out over my fear of bees. I also don't need to plant the sunflowers right next to my porch swing.

Check out The District Domestic for more on the plight of the honey bee and what you can do to help.

We all know that ice cream is fatty. My mom likes to remind me that when I'm licking an ice cream cone, I'm essentially licking a ball of fat. I try to remove that image from my mind and instead picture that I'm licking a little ball of heaven. However, it is wise to be informed of what you are eating. In that light, I present you with Newsweek's list of six of the most fattening ice creams - all nutrition information is for a serving size of a half cup.

1. Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter (360 calories, 24 grams of fat)

2. Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby (330 calories, 20 grams of fat)

3. Häagen-Dazs Butter Pecan (310 calories, 23 grams of fat)

4. Sheer Bliss Pomegranate with chocolate chips (320 calories, 20 grams fat)

5. Ben and Jerry's Vermonty Python (300 calories, 19 grams of fat)

6. Coldstone Cookie Batter (300 calories, 16 grams of fat)

Check out the complete Newsweek article for a breakdown of what makes each one as bad as it is and some ideas for healthier alternatives.

[via That's Fit]

Last year, Häagen-Dazs invited consumers to submit their best ice cream flavor ideas for a chance to create the brand's next superstar flavor. The ultra-premium ice cream brand attracted submissions that were a far cry from chocolate and vanilla, and the finalists were featured on a Food Network special about the contest. Sticky Toffee Pudding was chosen as the winning flavor over Toasted Coconut Sesame Brittle and Cannoli ice creams, even though the two runners up seemed to be more popular with the fans than the winning flavor was.

Clearly, however, Häagen-Dazs did pay attention to those interested in the other flavors because they have just released Toasted Coconut Sesame Brittle as part of their new Reserve line. There is no mention of the fact that the flavor was an entry in their last contest - in spite of the fact that it was only a few months ago. Hopefully the woman who submitted the original flavor got some sort of recognition from the company for coming up with the idea...

[thanks, Sara!]

A few weeks ago, we saw that Haagen-Dazs new flavor was to be Sticky Toffee Pudding, which bested the Toasted Coconut Sesame Brittle and Cannoli flavors. While the Toffee seemed to have its fans among our commenters, most people seemed to be pulling for the Coconut or Cannoli ice creams. Thanks to Jim Caccamo, an ice cream lover from Kansas City, you can try your hand at making cannoli ice cream at home. He has concocted a recipe that captures the flavor of the Italian treat as perfectly as possible, with a blend of ricotta, chocolate chips, pistachios and some candied fruit added to an egg-rich ice cream base.

If you don't have the equipment to make good ice cream at home, Jim has submitted the ice cream to a Ben & Jerry's recipe contest, so even though Haagen-Dazs missed their chance at the flavor, we could still see it on store shelves in the future.

Haagen-Dazs in Austria has collaborated with the Austrian Postal Service to launch ice cream flavored stamps. This is the best limited-edition stamp I think I have ever heard of. Granted, the USPS stamps are nice, particularly the Breast Cancer and variously collectible ones, but how can you argue with a stamp that tastes like something other than glue?

Instead of just looking cool on their envelopes, the stamps enable mailers get to sample flavors like Cookies & Cream, Macadamia Nut Brittle and Strawberry Cheesecake, and as a benefit to the company for participating, the Haagen-Dazs logo is seen on thousands of pieces of mail a day. The stamps are being distributed as part of a frequent buyer program, however, so even though the stamps are calorie-free, the 10 scoops of ice cream that must be purchased to get the stamps are not.