Ice Cream Review

Comparative reviews of ice cream operate on a much different principle than the typical Ben & Jerry's store: Whereas the typical ice-cream parlor (or the refrigerator section of your local supermarket) offers dozens of flavors, reviews tend to focus on the most popular standbys -- vanilla and chocolate. The reason for this, of course, is that it's much easier to taste-test Häagen-Dazs, Dreyer's/Edy's and Breyers chocolate or vanilla ice creams than to attempt a comparative review of butter pecan or mint chocolate chip (which may or may not all be available in a particular store).

Staffers at Cook's Illustrated magazine sample vanilla and chocolate ice cream brands (eight each) in two separate, 2010 reviews, rating each brand for flavor and texture. In both the chocolate and vanilla tests, each brand is measured for overrun, or the percentage by which the ice cream's volume is increased by air incorporated during preparation. In other words, ice cream with 100 percent overrun has been doubled in volume with air and has a fluffier texture than brands with less overrun. Cook's Illustrated tends to stick with full-calorie varieties; editors last evaluated light ice cream in a 2007 blind tasting of four light vanilla brands.

ConsumerReports.org follows a similar protocol in a comprehensive 2010 roundup of 13 vanilla and 11 chocolate ice creams, each evaluated for taste and texture by a panel of trained food testers. Editors also provide a nutrition rating for each brand, which ranges from poor to excellent. SlashFood.com follows suit with separate comparisons of 16 vanilla and 16 chocolate ice creams; 20 staffers from SlashFood.com and KitchenDaily.com volunteered their taste buds, rating each brand on a scale of one to five for texture (creaminess) and flavor.

LifeScript.com and Woman's Day magazine each take a look at light ice cream brands. LifeScript.com compares eight flavors from five brands against one another, with each panelist evaluating texture, taste and aftertaste (resulting in a letter grade of A through F). Woman's Day magazine taste only vanilla and chocolate varieties. In this test, each ice cream is given a score of 1 to 5, but we're not sure what factors tasters are considering.

We also consulted reviews from Good Housekeeping magazine, Grist.org and the Food Network's Healthy Eats blog, each evaluating a different type of ice cream: Good Housekeeping magazine compares low-fat chocolate ice creams, while the Healthy Eats blog evaluates full-fat vanilla brands. Grist.org sticks to organic ice cream; findings are supplemented by similar -- albeit less thorough -- reviews of organic and all-natural ice cream on GreenLivingOnline.com and Mother Nature Network.

After these publications, we consulted reviews from The New York Times, the blog Kitchen Addiction, The Boston Globe, Health magazine, York Daily Record and the Dayton Daily News. Some of these taste tests are more rigorous than others, and they all focus on different slices of the ice-cream market (low-fat, chocolate and vanilla, and assorted other flavors). We could have added to this list indefinitely with more taste tests, roundups and opinions of individual ice cream flavors from various bloggers, but we were laid low by an ice-cream (review) headache.

Most reviewers agree that unless you're doing a blind taste test in which you are carefully considering the taste and texture of ice cream, then most ice cream brands taste pretty good. For this report, we looked for ice-cream brands that consistently came out on top across both professional and informal reviews: Various formulations of Dreyer's/Edy's, Breyers and Häagen-Dazs are all praised more frequently in reviews than other ice cream brands, and feedback is also consistently favorable for Ben & Jerry's. Within each of these brands are more flavors, types and formulations than one person could possibly sample in a single sitting.

While some brands receive more praise overall than others, it's tricky to pinpoint a standout winner because specific ice creams sampled vary from review to review. For example, "grand chocolate," "slow-churned chocolate," "Dutch chocolate," "Belgian chocolate," "extra creamy chocolate" and "classic chocolate" are all different descriptors for chocolate flavors we encountered, with several falling under one brand. In general, tasters seem to favor Breyers and Dreyer's/Edy's when it comes to light, low-fat or low-sugar ice cream, and most flavors and varieties of the aforementioned brands are generally safe bets if you're overwhelmed by all the options.