OddFellows – Raspberry Peppercorn Sorbet
Oddly Delicious For Lacking Dairy
Ahhh OddFellows. The ice cream made in Brooklyn, and sold in Manhattan. The ice cream that has people from all over flocking to them, and who can hold their own against NYC ice cream giants like Van Leuwen, Mikey Likes It, and even Ample Hills. The ice cream… that isn’t even ice cream in this instance!
I went to OddFellows to try some of their stuff, and ended up going with the sorbet because it was more interesting than their standard ice cream flavors. Of course I’m referring to the Raspberry Peppercorn Sorbet featured to the left, and this one is a delicious puzzler.
Raspberry Peppercorn Sorbet
Just a few words ago, I called this flavor a delicious puzzler, because as great as it is, I’m still confused on how to rate and judge this flavor. Let me walk you through it.
In terms of the consistency, you’re looking at a standard sorbet texture and feel. Here you can see a smidgen of frost, so it’s a bit itsy icier than normal. At the same time, it’s still fairly soft to spoon through, and follows all the other great rules of a sensuous sorbet. It’s cool and feels so good going down.
From the flavor, it goes from low class to highfalutin in a matter of milliseconds. The raspberry base is a bit syrupy and reminds me of melted popsicle runoff. For a moment, I’m rather unimpressed as I’ve tasted this a thousand times. Then the whole thing does a 180. The peppercorn kicks in, and suddenly I’m transported beyond the syrup into a spicy sugary vortex of complexity. Not to mention this sugary factor is coming from a citrus fruit, which is characterized usually with notes of sour. So now we’re looking at sweet, spice, and sour. Admittedly the sour isn’t extremely present, but what surprised me more was how calm the spice was. It didn’t compound, as spicy things can do over time, and neither the sugar or the spice tried to out do the other. They may take turns in appearing with every bit, but the two flavor profiles were both what made this flavor, and it wouldn’t be as good without the other.
That’s when it hit me, this flavor is the bad boy of ice cream. On paper it might not be great. It’s got the frosted tips, it’s syrupy, and with all the sugar added, I just know it’s not good for me in the way other sorbets are. But at the same time, I just can’t help myself. With the ups and downs, this flavor is complex and it’s just a bit misunderstood. And even with the spice, I was never in any danger. However, it did feel nice to take sweet tooth for a spin on the other side of the taste bud tracks.
Raspberry Peppercorn Sorbet Conclusion
This flavor is something of an OddFellow- in a bad boy sort of way. There were some weaknesses in terms of the syrupy taste of the sorbet base, but that’s what made the sweet to peppercorn spice so drastic and amazing. I’ll admit here and now that it’s not the end all be all and best spiced fruit sorbet out there. It’s fun to play around with, but it might not be the one you commit to long term. That said, I do love the sweet and spice together, and would love to see more of this daredevilry it in other sorbets around.
On the odd chance you want to experience some OddFellows, you can talk to homeless joe on the L line subway platform. Kidding! OddFellows is located at 75 E 4th St, New York City, in the East Village, or at 175 Kent Ave, in Brooklyn.
Want to Read About Another Spiced Fruit Sorbet?
In my conclusion, I noted it wasn’t the end all be all of spiced fruit sorbets. Some of you may have been wondering, “Well, what is this end all be all of spiced fruit sorbets?”
So far, I’ll give that to the roasted plum black pepper sorbet from Sebastian Joe’s in Minneapolis, MN. If I find another that’s better, I’ll edit this paragraph. And if you want to let me know of one that’s better, let me know in the comments below or on my contact page. I look forward to hearing about your sorbets soon!
