It's a Phish on a Stick (Ben & Jerry's Phish Food)

Member Name: miriamb

Product:	Ben & Jerry's Phish Food
Date:	17/07/02 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: mmmm

Disadvantages: maybe too rich for some

Most people will be familiar with at least the Ben and Jerry’s name as purveyor of fine ice creams. If not, well you should be. Unless of course you have absolutely no sweet tooth or are diabetic or something in which case I’ll let you off, just. Inspired flavours such as The Full Vermonty (mapley pecan and yummy) sit alongside the blatantly hedonistic New York Super Fudge Chunk (white/dark chocolate with pecans, walnuts and almonds) and the truly scrumptious Cherry Garcia (cherry ice cream with cherries and dark chocolate pieces). All highly original and highly recommended.

For some reason though, despite the diversity of flavours available, Phish Food seems to be the one that most people know. It’s basically chocolate ice cream with a caramel swirl, with marshmallows thrown in, and chocolate fishies swimming in the mix. As nice as it is, it’s also dead rich, even for a chocolate addict like myself. So when I saw the Ben and Jerry’s Phish Stick, I decided to give it a go and see if the lolly version might be more manageable.

What you get is a fishy shaped ice cream lolly on a wooden stick. The ice cream is almost the same as the renowned Phish Food with the absence of the little choccie fishies. Instead the proper chocolate factor is more than compensated by the dark chocolate casing that holds the whole thing together.

Just to make sure that you get the idea, the ice cream is chocolate, a wonderful, richly flavoured composition with a texture that’s so smooth and creamy you can just tell from the first bite that it’s naughty. Rippling through the ice cream are caramel ribbons, for want of a better word, that swirl through the densely flavoured ice cream. Layered into this is what is described as ‘gooey marshmallow’, and this isn’t a bad way of putting it. You don’t get proper marshmallow chunks, more a sticky, sweet, marshmallowy thread that worms its way
through the ice cream. And it’s obviously white, and stands out against the sun-tarnished golden caramel and the deep chocolatey brown of the ice cream itself. The coating is the most intense melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate, not the brittle dark stuff favoured by connoisseurs, but a sweet, soft mass cast around the ice cream that fashions the distinctive fishy shape.

The product itself is not huge, approximately 4” from nose to tail, and the stick protrudes nicely to give you a good grip on your experience. The stick is shaped kinda like a skinny figure 8, curved wider at each end for perfect hand-to-mouth manipulation. Because they’re thoughtful like that.

In order to ensure that none of the experience is lost for you, this comes in far more substantial packaging than you’d expect from your Magnums or your Mars ice cream bars. First you have to negotiate the box, not difficult really but possibly annoying if you need immediate satisfaction. After you’ve opened this, the ice cream itself is contained in a white plastic covering, emblazoned with the Ben and Jerry’s logo in red, just in case you’d forgotten. Once this final hurdle has been overcome, the ice cream is yours for the eating. Hurrah!

As with all Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, I would recommend letting it stand (in full dress) for 20 minutes or so to let it soften and thus release the full spectrum of flavours. Whilst this is happening, I would suggest slipping into something a little more comfortable, and relaxing into your favourite position for a spot of sensory indulgence (I prefer the sofa personally, with plenty of cushions). Depending on how enthusiastically you lick and nibble at it, it should last between 2 and 10 minutes. Pretty good going, all things considered.

So much is it going to cost you? Well I’ve had a bit of trouble here because although I know you can buy these ice creams-on-a-st
ick in quite a few video shops and convenience stores, the price seems to vary somewhat depending on the class of the establishment from which you’re making the purchase. The official price last year was £1.59 but I’ve never paid less than £1.70, and some places it’s risen to nearer the 2 quid mark. As well as the convenience stores (Budgens Express stock them) and video shops (Blockbuster near me has them too), the supermarkets sometimes stock them. I stress SOMETIMES as they don’t seem to be a permanent line. More of a casual fling than a committed relationship. Cinemas tend to be good hunting ground too, again though, they’re fickle.

And now the boring bit. Don’t read this if you’re on a diet – you’ll only get depressed and disillusioned with the world. Weighing in at 87g of ice cream, you’ll be consuming a mighty 290 calories, of which 160 are fat. It redeems itself with small amounts of Vitamin A, Calcium and Iron. If you remember that and ignore everything else it’s quite healthy really.

Overall, I would highly recommend the Phish Stick for a quick chocolate-blast for when you can’t quite justify a full tub of the stuff. To my taste, it’s still a little rich, but if you’re after a densely-packed chocolate experience you couldn’t do much better. Enjoy.


And I know this isn’t in exactly the right place, but it’s the best currently on offer. I hope I don’t offend anyone by my attempt at slight item-diversity.

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