This Must-Buy Avocado Ice Cream At Costco Is Based On A Popular Vietnamese Treat

Whenever I shop for ice cream at Western grocery chains, I typically see standard (my code word for safe) flavors like chocolate and vanilla. At Asian grocery stores, however, there's a wider variety, including matcha, black sesame, and ube. One Asian-American-owned ice cream brand, Mavens Creamery, has been pushing the boundaries with two fun flavors, and getting a taste is as easy as visiting Costco. 

Mavens Creamery first gained attention with an appearance on "Shark Tank" and for its viral durian ice cream, which is available at select Costco stores. It has now introduced another unique flavor: avocado. That's right, 100 percent avocado-flavored ice cream made with real, creamy avocados. This new avocado ice cream will be available at Costco at select Bay Area locations, but we're hoping to see it hit shelves at more locations soon. 

For some, this may immediately remind you of similarly popular treats. A Vietnamese chè (or dessert), bơ dằm, or smashed avocado drizzled with sweetened condensed milk over a bed of crushed ice, is the inspiration behind Mavens' Avocado Ice Cream. Additionally, when tasting the ice cream, I felt nostalgic for another iconic Vietnamese dish: Vietnamese avocado smoothie or sinh tố bơ. We Vietnamese have a fascination with avocados, and it shows. But this shouldn't come as a surprise since Vietnam is home to a healthy avocado farming industry where farmers cultivate several different types of Vietnamese avocados. 

As an avid avocado and avocado dessert fan, I found Mavens Creamery's avocado ice cream appealing. The ingredients include pasteurized milk and cream, cane sugar, sea salt, and stabilizers like xanthan gum. The sweetness level was just right – not too sweet, which is how I like my desserts. The texture was smooth and velvety with no ice crystals or fibrous chunks of avocado. The color was pale green with no signs of avocado browning. I did notice a slightly bitter avocado aftertaste that remained on my palate. It wasn't a deal breaker; that's just how avocados sometimes taste.

My husband tasted it, too, and remarked that it tasted "authentic," meaning like real avocados. It also reminded me of Magnolia Avocado Ice Cream. This product is hard to find these days, coming from a company that specializes in flavors like buko pandan and ube macapuno. What Mavens Creamery's avocado ice cream didn't remind me of were soy-based and other plant-based ice creams, which often taste more like sorbet or icy treats to me than rich and creamy ice cream. I will happily be going back to Costco for seconds.