Madagascar Vanilla Ice Cream

What is it?

Madagascar grows most of the world's vanilla, and its beans are what people mean by vanilla without qualifying it: sweet and creamy, less sharp than the Tahitian or Mexican varieties. Cream sits at 34%, the highest of any Connoisseur tub, and that matters more here than in the flavours carrying biscuit or nut. With nothing folded through it, the base has nowhere to hide, so the fat content is doing almost all the work on texture. Vanilla extract is listed at 0.05%, which sounds negligible and isn't. Vanilla is potent enough that tenths of a percent register clearly, and the dark specks through the tub are the bean itself rather than added colour. Connoisseur's current packs call this one Classic Vanilla, though the Madagascan sourcing is the same.