A few weeks ago I bought this “ice cream”—at least I thought it was ice cream—because it was on sale. (Now that I’ve discovered the fabulous Tilamook ice cream, I don’t think I’ll be buying any other brand, though I do recommend Trader Joe’s Super Premium Ultra Chocolate Ice Cream, which is not that expensive). I had a look at it this morning in the lab freezer (I put it there because it was too hot to carry this home), and, sure enough, it wasn’t ice cream. Look at what I’ve circled:
What is the difference? Mental Floss tells us:
Food labels aren’t filled out on a whim. They’re the product of standards and guidelines issued and overseen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is charged with making sure we have at least some idea of what we’re consuming. (The FDA’s roots are in the government asking volunteers to eat small amounts of poison, but that’s another story.) For ice cream, the FDA has a mathematical formula. Products bearing that label must contain at least 10 percent dairy fat and must also weigh 4.5 pounds to the gallon. The latter is important because no ice cream can have more than 100 percent overrun, or the amount of air equal to solids. In broad terms, the FDA wants to make sure anyone selling you ice cream is selling you sufficient dairy milk fat and not a carton full of air.
If a product flunks on both these counts, it can be sold—but manufacturers can’t call it “ice cream.” It’s now a frozen dairy dessert. Thanks to more air and less milk fat, it’s likely cheaper to produce.
. . . Perry’s ice cream makes a point of boasting of their true ice cream status and also points out some variations within that definition. Some ice cream might be labeled “economy,” which meets the bare minimum standards. “Regular” ice cream falls below 100 percent overrun while adding a bit more milkfat. “Premium” ice cream might have as little as 60 percent overrun. “Super-premium” is as low as 50 percent, with milk fats as high as 18 percent.
Other companies may offer both. Breyers, for example, offers ice cream and frozen dairy desserts, a distinction that may not be apparent unless consumers examine the packaging carefully.
Because I wasn’t paying attention, I bought myself a carton of what is largely air. Do not make this mistake: examine labels carefully. Breyer’s Ice Cream, once my favorite, now has a lot of flavors that are actually “frozen dairy desserts.” Caveat emptor.
And, of course, real ice cream used to come in half-gallon cartons. They’ve reduced that by 25%, and now you’re buying 1.5 quarts, or, in the case above, 1.44 quarts. They’ve chiseled us down another 0.06 quarts. Since nobody looks at this stuff, we become victims of greed (one might even say “duplicity”).
That’s a great point, that if ice cream is to be sold by volume, it must not have too much of that volume taken up by air entrained during manufacturing. Why can’t they sell it by weight, though, like almost every other solid product? I suppose the more fat it has, and therefore the better it is, the less a given volume will weigh but the difference in density between fat and water is only 10%, and the butterfat content should be listed on the label anyway to help customers compare quality.
My wife does most of the grocery shopping. (She also has an eye for sales & uses coupons.) I asked her to get some Tillamook Peaches & Cream ice cream after I read your recent post. It is delicious. Thanks for the suggestion.
My favorite ice cream is from the University of Wisconsin-Madison — so-called Babcock Hall ice cream produced by the Babcock Hall Dairy of he UW-Madison Dairy Sciences program. The basic formulation has not changed since 1951, although the flavor selection hss expanded and changed. They made a peach ice cream that I liked very much, but haven’t seen in many years.
Similar to UW-M, Washington State University, where our son attends, has a creamery. Wonderful cheese and ice cream.
Oh the humanity!
Stick with the wonderful Tillamook. And visit the creamery if you can. It’s fun, and you can get a nice ice cream cone there (of course!). I prefer it in dish so I can savor it as long as I’d like. A cone is a time-sensitive menace. You have to rush to eat your ice cream before it melts into a mess. Use a dish. Take your time. Savor one of mankind’s greatest inventions.
Indeed. In a dish!
The “frozen dessert” scam has been around for a while.
I’m fond of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, for a couple of reasons. 😄
I was really pissed when Turkey Hill dropped its volume by another 0.06 quarts. I’m setting in on Tillamook chocolate hazelnut.
Private Selection (kroger premium brand) is the best ice cream I have found and I have eaten a lot of ice cream. Cookies & Cream is my favorite, but they have many good and interesting flavors.
Making ice cream at home is easy, and you don’t have to go through the whole egg custard base if you don’t want. I use the ice cream bowl attachment for a KitchenAid mixer, 1½ cups whole milk, 1½ cups whipping cream, ½ cup sugar and whatever flavouring takes my fancy. Whip for 20 minutes and freeze in yoghurt tubs. Unusual flavours are possible; ginger, aniseed, fresh fruits of all kinds, and since rum & raisin has become hard to find (it’s gone out of fashion) I make that too!