The Limited-Edition Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Flavor That Haunts Our Dreams

Brand collaborations can be fun, tasty experiences, especially when it comes to food. Unfortunately, not all of them are successful in the flavor department, leaving a bad taste in our mouths and memories. That's the case with the ranch-flavored ice cream released to celebrate National Ranch Day in spring 2023, which was born from a limited partnership between Van Leeuwen and Hidden Valley.

A lot of people use ranch dressing for more than salad: It adds another layer of flavor to pizzas and sandwiches and works well as a dip for chicken nuggets and strips. However, basing an ice cream flavor on it just doesn't work. Before trying the ranch-flavored ice cream, Daily Meal checked the ingredients to find that it indeed had the typical workings of ranch: Buttermilk, onion and garlic powders, salt, and spices. Sadly, the flavor of the seasonings was overpowering and unbalanced with the sweetened milk, hitting you hard a few moments after taking a bite.

Sweet and savory are supposed to complement each other, but they were in competition in this Van Leeuwen and Hidden Valley ice cream mashup. We won't miss the lingering taste that it left on our tongues or the headache of trying to figure out what to pair with it to make it work.

Making ice cream since 2008, Van Leeuwen isn't afraid to churn out outrageous flavor combinations alongside its classics. In 2021, for instance, it teamed up with The Kraft Heinz Company to launch a mac-and-cheese variation to celebrate National Macaroni & Cheese Day. The color was spot on, created with a combination of cheese powder and turmeric, and while it became a fan favorite, some people couldn't take more than a couple of bites.

In June 2022, Van Leeuwen announced the launch of five exclusive flavors, one of which was a surprising Grey Poupon with Salted Pretzels. It wasn't the first mustard-flavored ice cream, and although the swirl looked like a light-colored caramel, it definitely tasted like honey mustard. While some people thought that the mustard was muddled, others thought it was strong.

The brand's "Knives Out" inspired ice cream — Glass Onion — was launched in December 2022 through a collaboration with Netflix to coincide with the addition of "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" on the streaming service. The formula featured bourbon onion jam and pineapple honeycomb, which at least a handful of the movie's cast members enjoyed.

In August 2023, Van Leeuwen partnered with Uber One to make BBQ Gold Cornbread Crumble ice cream. It was only available to Uber One members until the supply ran out, and it consisted of a distinguishable barbecue swirl and chunks of honey cornbread, which provided an undeniable cornbread texture. So even though the brand's ranch-inspired treat left much to be desired, other savory concoctions proved to be tasty.