Reviewers say the following about shopping for ice cream.

  • Consider texture as well as flavor. Ice cream is a very sensual experience; even the best-tasting variety can be ruined by a coarse, grainy, too-dense or too-fluffy texture. In ConsumerSearch Fast Answers, Häagen-Dazs Vanilla tends toward the dense side, Dreyer's/Edy's Grand Chocolate and Breyers Double Churn Light toward the fluffy side.
  • Be skeptical about "reduced-fat" claims. As explained above, some reduced-fat ice creams (especially from Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs) only merit that label in comparison to full-fat ice cream of that same brand. Sources say the reduced-fat versions of both of these brands have about twice the fat content of competing brands from Breyers and Dreyer's/Edy's.
  • Don't assume a brand's chocolate is as good as its vanilla. Oddly enough, no brand sweeps the board for both chocolate and vanilla flavors: Häagen-Dazs Vanilla is a near universal favorite, but Häagen-Dazs Chocolate barely shows up on the radar. You'll have to do some tasting of your own to determine the best of the "exotic" flavors, like coffee or mint chocolate chip.
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