Pete C. wrote:

>
> Default User wrote:
> >
> > Pete C. wrote:

> > > I believe Breyer's is also one
> > > of the brands playing the shrinking package game.
> >
> > Indeed, which is a source of frustration for me.
>
> Oddly the ones that are not on my crap list aren't engaging in the
> shrinking package game, they are raising the price as the cost of the
> ingredients increases which is fine with me.

The packaging is an annoyance, but doesn't affect the flavor. I'm more
worried about that.

> > > Blue Bell is vastly better, but it too has some vegetable gums as
> > > stabilizer. You have to realize that some sort of stabilizer is
> > > necessary in any ice cream that will be distributed much beyond
> > > the place where it is produced.
> >
> > Breyer's didn't use to have any, for at least 20 years. The
> > addition of tara gum is relatively recent. Many of us remember the
> > old TV commercial with the kid who had trouble reading the
> > ingredients for the other brand, but Breyers was "milk, cream,
> > sugar, vanilla."
>
> I don't have any Blue Bell vanilla to check here, but it's probably on
> their site.

I didn't find much there. I did find a link to an old (like 2001)
Cook's Illustrated ice cream test:

<http://www.doublerainbow.com/aboutus/news.html>

They listed Blue Bell overrun at about 50%, while Breyers was close to
100%.
> I find overrun to be a more significant factor as it pretty much
> destroys the texture and takes the flavor with is since you're tasting
> mostly air.

To each his own. Certainly it affects the overall texture. Too little
overrun can be a bit unpleasant too, for me. The super premiums are
often down around 25%.


> You can always make your own ice cream, it's rather easy to do these
> days. No more hand cranking and dealing with ice and rock salt, just
> use the Kitchenaid ice cream maker or similar, or do as I do and
> freeze it with liquid nitrogen.

Oh yeah, I've got the contraption. I'm just not motivated to go through
the effort very often.




Brian

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Day 198 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project