Can I get comments on quality ice cream?

I don’t think it has to do with quality going down, I think it has to do more with the fact that for a product be labeled “ice cream” it has to have a certain minimum amount of fat. Since there’s a growing movement of people looking to lower their fat intake, there’s a greater demand for low fat products, or reduced fat products. That equates to ice cream sales being down and replaced by frozen dessert products (frozen yogurt, frozen Greek yogurt, etc.).

Make it yourself.
Take frozen fruit and mix them up with yoghurt in a food processor.
Quick and easy

That is why when I indulge in ice-cream I go get some at Oberweis Yum

Here in Texas – if you don’t like Blue Bell Ice Cream, people look at you like there’s something wrong with you. It is good – extremely good – but it’s also expensive compared to some of the others. But at least if you buy a half-gallon, you get a half-gallon and not 1.75 liters!!!

I remember when Breyer’s made very good ice cream. I gave up on it a few years ago, when I realized that I kept hoping it would be as good as it used to be, and that it’s always a disappointment. The only ice cream I buy now is Haagen dazs. Which is to say… I buy ice cream less often (because it’s too expensive), but I enjoy it when I do.

The is also the issue of high fructose corn syrup replacing sugar. We have a local creamery who makes their own ice cream the old fashioned way.

Breyer’s Natural Vanilla lists the following ingredients;

“America’s favorite Vanilla ice cream, made with five simple ingredients including fresh cream, rich milk, fine sugar and real vanilla bean specks.”

Haagan Daz Vanilla Bean ingredients;, skim milk, sugar, egg yolks, ground vanilla beans, vanilla extract.

Edy’s vanilla ice cream; skim milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, whey, molasses, acacia gum, guar gum, carob bean gum, carrageenan, xanthan gum, natural flavors (with vanilla extract), annatto color.

@gailcalled What a weaselly description of Breyer’s ingredients! Clearly, there is one more, but they won’t come out and name it.

@glacial:I just cooy/pasted. Which ingredient is missing? I thought that perhaps they decided to make the Natural Vanilla purer tha the rest? My time available for researching namep-brand ice cream ingredients has ended; i pass the torch on to you.

The 5th ingredient in Bryer’s Natural Vanilla is Tara Gum, whatever that is.

I just saw. My local ice cream has only real ingredients and is becoming more and more popular in spite of the cost. There is a market, given the number of second homes and summer people who come for the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, dance, theater and opera. Two retail stores with lines out the door in the warm weather, I keep seeing.

Quality ice cream that is smooth in texture is made in a plant where the ice cream is frozen very quickly, before ice crystals can form. One plant here has a cold room for that purpose, where the temperature is a numbing -75 degrees.

@GloPro Thanks! Funny, that’s so innocuous. It’s weird that they wouldn’t just say that.

I prefer to buy ice cream from local farms that make their own. I have an awesome ice cream place that sells ice cream almost year round. It’s a little more expensive but you are getting the good stuff without all the preservatives. I love ice cream. Yum!

I’m pretty happy with Haagen Dazs and Ben and Jerry’s but the best place is the seasonal place in Ocean Grove where I get my sundaes after my walks. I’ve always found Breyer’s to be pretty thin tasting and icy.

@janbb I believe Haagen Dazs used to make an awesome white chocolate and raspberry swirl ice cream. I just loved it. It was sweet yet refreshing.

There are two farms not far from me in CT that make great ice cream. One of them charges $1.75 for one big scoop, which they call a “kid’s size” and two giant scoops are $2.50 or something like that. Really good, really cheap, and the cows that they get the milk from are right there in the field.

There’s a gelato that I have found called “Talenti.” It comes in clear hard plastic containers, pint size with screw on lids (the containers are good little storage containers after you’ve eaten the gelato) and they have unusual flavors and are not too sweet.

Also, my local supermarket, Stop and Shop, has great store brand Frozen Greek Yogurt. It’s great, not too sweet, about $2.50 a half gallon, and if you compare labels with ice cream, the Frozen Greek is zero fat and very low carbs.

Ice cream is mostly fat and sugar, That is poisonous garbage for your body. Forgetaboutit!

Everything in moderation.