Taste Test: Whole Foods' Pumpkin Ice Cream

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it seems like pumpkin-flavored foods and beverages are everywhere you turn. From pumpkin spice donuts and muffins to the ubiquitous pumpkin spice latte, America just can't get enough of that heady combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger that tells us that Thanksgiving and the holidays are here.

Whole Foods has jumped on the bandwagon, and rolled out its very own pumpkin ice cream. We taste-tested some, and here's the verdict: If you like pumpkin pie and the pumpkin spice mix, you'll like this.

The texture of the ice cream is incredibly light and airy, and also smooth and creamy. Some compared it to pumpkin pie folded in with whipped cream. As for flavor, it's very sweet, as ice cream usually is, and very strong on the pumpkin pie spices, especially nutmeg. You can't taste much in the way of pumpkin (even though it's in there), and if not for the orange color we could have been fooled that it was eggnog ice cream. So again, if you're a fan of these flavors you'll love it; if not, you probably won't, because they're quite pronounced.

If you're not eating it straight out of the 1.75-quart container, we suggest topping apple pie with it, or spooning a couple of dollops into hot chocolate. While this time of year doesn't exactly bring ice cream to mind, this ice cream can really hit the spot.

One half-cup serving contains 6 grams of fat, 140 calories, and 17 grams of sugar.