Ice cream review: H.T. Traders Key Lime & Graham Cracker Gelato

Ice cream review by John

Score: 4 out of 5 scoops

Company: H.T. Traders

For those who don't know, H.T. Traders is actually an in-store brand for the grocery store company Harris Teeter, which operates out of North Carolina and has hundreds of grocery stores in the South. But don't let that fool you. I admit, I'm usually skeptical of store-brand ice creams, but this one is special.

I'm a key lime fan, so that alone scores this frozen treat high in my estimation, but I'm telling you, this key lime gelato might be the best I've ever had, even better than some key lime ice creams from the top brands. One thing that's great here is the key lime taste isn't too sweet nor is it too tart, which are common problems among key lime products. Another great thing is the sheer smoothness. This stuff is so smooth, you don't even have to let it sit out to melt like you have to do with most gelatos (which are traditionally somewhat soft, but often come frozen hard as a rock right out of the freezer).

Truly, the key lime flavoring here is just perfect, and the smooth quality of the gelato glides on the tongue.

But there is a downside. If there hadn't been, I would have scored this gelato even higher.

What is that downside? It's the graham cracker. Remember the title? Key Lime & Graham Cracker Gelato?

No, the graham cracker bits here don't taste bad, but that's because one can hardly taste them at all. Why? Because they're barely present. I ate a pint of this stuff by myself, and I bet there weren't more than a half a dozen little crumbs that I guess were supposed to be graham cracker pieces.

If this treat had included a solid graham cracker swirl or lots of graham cracker pieces, I might have been tempted to go with a score of 5 out of 5 scoops, but as things are, I couldn't go more than 4 scoops.

Still, this is a darn good ice cream. Key lime fans will be doing themselves a disservice by not trying this at least once.