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Ice Cream Reviews
Updated April 2008
Comparative reviews of ice cream operate on a much different principle than the typical Ben & Jerry's store: While 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). The best ice-cream reviews fall into roughly two categories. At the top of our All Reviews chart are a half-dozen national magazines with a culinary bent: Cook's Illustrated and its sister publication, Cook's Country, which choose the best vanilla and chocolate ice creams, respectively; Consumer Reports, which last compared ice creams in 2002, using its typically rigorous methodology; and Good Housekeeping, Real Simple and Eating Well, which taste test a variety of full-fat and low-fat vanilla ice creams. (Unfortunately, these latter sources don't mention ice creams that didn't make the cut, which would be useful information.) After these publications, we consulted a dozen or so taste tests from various newspapers, magazines, food blogs and regional websites, including The Oakland Tribune, The Dayton Sentinel, The Detroit News, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and The New York Times. We also found reviews in Health and Every Day with Rachael Ray, along with Boston.com, Chowhound.com and Kitchen Addiction. 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. The only category for which this may not hold true appears to be zero-sugar ice creams. We didn't find many reviews of these, possibly because by the time you're eating no-sugar ice cream, research indicates that you're probably better off switching to another dessert entirely. For example, reviewers at Good Housekeeping had a hard time finding any brand of no-sugar-added ice cream that they liked. Tasters called the textures "dense" and "gummy." Flavor was described as "too sweet." That said, Good Housekeeping recommends Blue Bunny No Sugar Added Reduced Fat Vanilla (*est. $5 for 1.75 quarts), conceding that "it has more calories and fat than its premium light version, which may very well account for its win." Unfortunately, the magazine doesn't name the runners-up in this category, so we have no basis for comparison.
... Continued
Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
Häagen-Dazs Vanilla and Breyers Double Churn Light Creamy Vanilla are the two specific brands and flavors that receive the most recommendations from reviewers. Because experts say the chocolate and vanilla varieties of the same brand have their own quirks, we've listed each brand and flavor separately. Advertisement
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Ice Cream Reviews |
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© 2008 ConsumerSearch, Inc. A service from 
, a part of The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.
ConsumerSearch and ConsumerSearch.com are registered trademarks of ConsumerSearch, Inc. Other trademarks or service marks on this site are the property of their respective owners. ConsumerSearch is not sponsored by any source reviewed, and we accept no consideration or payment for including, excluding, or ranking any reviews, products or services in our reports.
* Pricing information is approximate as of the time this report was written and is based on observed market selling prices and/or list prices. Actual selling prices may differ.
