Summer isn’t quite over yet, but the ice cream maker is looking ahead to two of Japan’s fall favorites.

The Japanese division of Häagen-Dazs, the American ice cream company with the German-sounding name, has never been shy about incorporating traditional Japanese flavors and ingredients into its lineup. This summer alone, we’ve seen the company roll out ice cream varieties made with ultra-premium shade-grown, hand-picked green tea leaves and zunda edamame, and now the Japanese-style ice cream innovation continues with two new offerings.

Both new flavors have their eyes turned towards fall, with the first being Rich Pumpkin, or, to use the Japanese word for the star ingredient involved, kabocha. While externally the kabocha looks like a compact pumpkin with a green rind, it’s flavor is actually closer to sweet squash.

Häagen-Dazs’s rich pumpkin provides a double-dose of kabocha, with rich kabocha ice cream enhanced with kabocha sauce, both of which are made using prized Ebisu kabocha grown on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.

Also joining the Häagen-Dazs family is the Murasaki Imo Tartelette, which probably needs a little linguistic explanation too. “Murasaki imo” literally translates to “purple potato,” and refers to a type of dark-peeled Japanese sweet potato. “Tartelette” is a tart-like pastry, and so the Murasaki Imo Tartelette, which is part of Häagen-Dazs’s Crispy Sandwich line, takes custard ice cream, swirls in murasaki imo sauce, and encases the whole thing in murasaki wafers.

Both flavors are on sale now at supermarkets and convenience stores in Japan, priced at 319 yen (US$2.95).

Source: PR Times via Entabe
Images: PR Times
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