We Tried Ben & Jerry's New Sunflower Butter Ice Cream—Here's How it Tastes

Earlier this week, Ben & Jerry's announced that it was expanding its non-dairy options for customers with the introduction of ice cream made from sunflower butter—yes, sunflower butter—which makes them the first national brand to offer sunflower butter pints to the public, according to an announcement from the company. There are three new flavors, "Milk" & Cookies, Crème Brûlée Cookie, and Mint Chocolate Cookie, all of which are vegan and kosher.

We had the chance to try them the week that they launched. Texture-wise, they were incredibly rich and creamy, in a similar vein to what we experienced when we tried Oatly's oat milk ice cream last summer; however, the sunflower butter did leave a noticeable aftertaste. The Mint Chocolate Cookie pint was our flavor of choice, as it tasted the most like regular ice cream and had a nice textural contrast thanks to the generous amount of chocolate sandwich cookies. The "Milk" & Cookies and Crème Brûlée Cookie pints, on the other hand, had more present sunflower seed notes, and some editors felt they could have used more cookies. That being said, all of them would be good options for vegans or customers who are dairy-sensitive/trying to cut down on their dairy intake.

Those interested can buy the new pints for $4.48-$5.99 each, depending on your location; the pints are rolling out to grocery stores across the U.S. now, as well as at Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops.

The sunflower butter-based Ben & Jerry's' pints are some of many new plant-based products to hit the market this year. At the beginning of January, Impossible Foods announced Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage at CES in Las Vegas—the first entirely new products the company has launched since 2016. The same day, Starbucks added two new non-dairy drinks, the Almondmilk Honey Flat White and Coconutmilk Latte, to its permanent menu, and started testing an oat milk drink in the Midwest; Dunkin', too, is adding oat milk to the menu this spring. If this month is anything to go by, 2020 will see even more plant-based products than 2019.