Can you recommend a brand of all-natural ice cream?
By “all-natural” I mean the way Breyer’s used to be—just the same basic ingredients used in homemade ice cream, without all those gums, gelatins, emulsifiers, stabilizers, etc.
I found this online but haven’t tried it yet.
I know I could make my own ice cream. I’d rather not.
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Haagen Dazs coffee and chocolate.
Some of the Turkey Hill is all natural.
I just bought Bryers Natural the other day and checked the ingredients because of my grandsons allergies. It was just milk and sugar.
Have you considered making your own? That way you know exactly what’s in it – and it might actually be fun.
OP said, “I know I could make my own ice cream. I’d rather not.”
I guess that link I posted is pretty old. The pendulum may be swinging back toward all natural. I just got back from the grocery store. Didn’t see the Hagen Dazs 5 that was mentioned in the link, but all the regular HD at the store is all natural.
@Judi Are you sure? I looked in the store and on Breyer’s website. I found that Breyer’s Natural Vanilla has tara gum but none of the other weird stuff.
@ragingloli that’s frozen yogurt, but maybe I’ll try it if I ever get a food processor.
My brother eats completely organic stuff so he eats this ice cream that’s organic, the brand name is Aldens, I’ve tried it and it’s really good, it doesn’t any artificial flavoring or additives like gelatins or other ingredients like that. I like it better than regular ice cream!
jca, your 2nd link is the same as the link in the OQ. But thanks for the NYT link.
Personally, I’ve always been a sucker for Ben& Jerry’s as they use the most natural ingredients they can (and were a local product where I grew up). However, they pulled the “All Natural” part off of their label even though the FDA allows them to use it because they just didn’t want to get into debates over the definition of the word “natural”.
Depending on your personal definition of “natural”, many of their flavors qualify, but in general, most things made by local/semi-local creameries do too. It’s mostly the big brands that don’t.
It turns out that you can make a delicious “ice cream” with just one ingredient: bananas.
Because bananas have a high natural pectin content, frozen banana can be whipped into a creamy consistency without any of the ice crystals you get in other fruits. I’ve tried it and it tastes like banana ice cream, with exactly the same mouthfeel as ice cream. No emulsifiers, no guar gum or agar.
Here is a description of how to make it, although you hardly need it. Freeze a banana. Whip it with a food processor or blender. Done. And kids love it.
guar gum and agar are natural. If you are on a ‘gluten free’ diet thinking that you are avoiding such things, think again. they are used to help the consistency of breads and desserts that are ‘gluten free’.
Personally, I like vanilla flavored Breyers all-natural ice cream.
@cazzie Thanks for letting us know about guar gum and agar. According to this guar gum sounds like a natural plant product that is beneficial to include in our diets, within moderation of course. The same is applicable to agar.
To add to @jca‘s article, here is more reading on ice cream/gelato/sorbet. This was written by the owner of The Split Banana, an independent gelato shop in my hometown. @CugelTheClueless, since you don’t want to make ice cream at home, it might be worth checking to see if there are any shops like this in your area.
Just one more point – I know the OP does not want to make ice cream, but with modern ice cream makers, it’s very easy. I have the Cuisinart and it’s just like add a few ingredients, the thing does all the spinning for about a half hour and then you freeze. So simple.
Also, like @jerv said, if you can find a local dairy farm that makes it, that’s great, too and usually pretty well priced. There is a dairy farm about 20 miles from me and they make only ice cream, and a child’s size scoop (which is one large scoop) is about $2.50 and usually more than I can eat at one time. And the bonus is you can look at the cows!
cazzie, my problem with the gums and other stuff they put in most brands of ice cream is not that they aren’t “natural”, it’s that they make me constipated.
@CugelTheClueless Ah! That is because Guar gum expands in the presence of water and consumed in too high quantities will do this. Agar agar and Xanthan doesn’t, so just read the labels.
I would check Ben and Jerry’s along with the other suggestions above. They used to call their ice cream all natural I think, and then they pulled that wording, because of some ingredients in some of their flavors. I would assume many of the flavors are still all natural. They care about the environment and all sorts of “green” things.
^I did check. Chunky Monkey is gunky :(
@CugelTheClueless Without knowing how fussy you are, it is a bit hard to recommend any though. Are you going to write off an entire brand because a couple of their flavors have ingredients you object to?
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