Two great tastes, one grievous error

I'm going to talk about two coconut-flavored frozen treats: one is a gelato and one is a sorbet, but both have the same critical flaw. A flaw I now find to be common in foods utilizing coconut as an ingredient rather than a topping.

Talenti Caribbean Coconut Gelato and Ciao Bella Coconut Sorbet both taste like coconut, so your feelings on that score should match your personal feelings regarding coconut in general. I love coconut, so clearly the flavor isn't the flaw I speak of. The problem is actually one of texture. Texture is king for me. Good texture overcomes questionable flavor, but unpleasent texture sinks even the most delicious of foods.

Would you eat ice cream after it fell in the sand? Because that's exactly what both  products feel like in the mouth. The coconut in both cases has been broken up into particles just big enough to make everything seem gritty. It is bizarre and unsettling. Maybe I'm a tad oversensitive when it comes to certain textures, but I cannot fathom how either product made it to market in this form. I will say I am a fan of both Talenti and Ciao Bella in general and consider many of their other flavors to be worth trying, but the coconut should be given the widest berth.

If you want coconut flavor in a frozen dessert without the texture problem, the Purely Decadent brand of dairy free ice creams from Turtle Mountain may be more your speed. They produce five flavors using coconut milk as the dairy replacement, and the two I've tried are delicious. The coconut milk ice cream does feel a hair thin/less creamy compared to the normal stuff, but I'll take that over grit any day.