Maybe I am going crazy, but I have noticed a difference about ice cream and its only been Maybe the last 8-10 years was when I first noticed it.
Ice cream from the supermarket doesn’t seem to melt properly, and is also way too soft. This seems most noticeable in novelties now, but also most hard ice cream as well.
Did they add some component to make it softer or less likely to freezer burn? Am I just going crazy?
(US, but I assume anywhere else where the same brands are sold have had the same issue.)
You aren’t imagining it, they add various types of gum and additives to slow melting rates of real ice cream, and a lot of ice cream is straight up fake - “frozen dairy dessert” is a euphemism for fake ice cream often padded out with cheaper ingredients like vegetable oils.
https://www.foodandwine.com/drumstick-ice-cream-doesnt-melt-tiktok-8635415
Honestly now-a-days one of the few ways we are going to protect ourselves is to rely on the ingredients list our governments mandate and familiarize ourselves with what products are actually what they claim they are, whether they contain anything questionable, and what euphemisms they use to hide undesirable ingredients. (Hydrogenated Oil ==
TransSaturated Fat, Natural Sweeteners == Sugar, Corn Syrup == cheap substitute for sugar)For those of us in the US (yes I know this is world - sorry) we can only hope the brain worm dead bear boy doesn’t gut the FDA as badly as he promises, or companies are going to start adding all sorts of fun stuff to our food.
Educate yourself and your friends about “the poison squad”, fascinating story of the kinds of crazy shit they used to put in food. Copper sulfate in canned peas and such.
Hydrogenated Oil == Trans Fat
Just as a point of chemistry clarity, partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fat, fully hydrogenated oils do not. Partially hydrogenated oils are no longer GRAS by the FDA and shouldn’t be in any commercially sold foods, except the amount that occurs naturally in foods like butter.
Fully hydrogenated oils still have saturated fat so it’s not like it’s healthy, but it’s not as bad as trans fat.
Another NoStupidQuestion, what are trans and saturated fats anyway?
The Mayo Clinic has a good overview here that explains about the different types of fats
There’s no chemistry in that article
TIL - Thank you!
For those of us in the US (yes I know this is world - sorry) we can only hope the brain worm dead bear boy doesn’t gut the FDA as badly as he promises, or companies are going to start adding all sorts of fun stuff to our food.
Educate yourself and your friends about “the poison squad”, fascinating story of the kinds of crazy shit they used to put in food. Copper sulfate in canned peas and such.
Oh, Jesus. I’m autistic and rely on safe foods, I can’t wait for them to start killing me now
Cook meals at home when possible. You’re not the only one that doesn’t like what corporations do to food, autistic or not.
I’m going to start making my fries from potatoes that I will grow inside, although part of that is also just to save money on groceries
Okay, after some research, I found out potatoes don’t grow well indoors and growing them indoors ends up being more expensive than just buying potatoes, but I know how to make fries from scratch, so that’s still better and cheaper than using oven fries or ordering fast food
That’s really awesome. Respect.
I mean if they gut the regulatory agencies the companies will probably just remove the ingredient list altogether
Yep, hoping he’s not stupid enough to do that. However, on the other hand brain worms…
“frozen dairy dessert”
It’s “frozen dessert” because they can’t say ice cream when they take out dairy.
For now. I fully expect rules like this to be fully rolled back so that ice cubes will be legally “ice cream”.
It’s actually because icecream has a defined air and fat content, and if you leave those guidelines you stop being icecream.
Drag wishes they sold more fake ice cream, but unfortunately the vast majority of what you can find at the supermarket isn’t vegan.
More fillers, less milk, less actual sugar, and no egg.
A trick I learned how to find better quality ice cream is to compare the weights on same liquid ounce packages. The one that weighs more will be the one with more real food ingredients and less artificial shit like fillers, emulsifiers, flavors and other additives.
Price can also be an indicator; cheap ice cream is almost always crappy ice cream.
They also are just always trying to figure out how to trap more air in the ice cream, so that reduces the weight too.
Make sure the words Ice Cream are on the container, otherwise it is only a frozen dairy dessert. You will be surprised how many are not really ice cream.
Its 50% air now. Costs the same price but half the cost u manufacture cos it half air. Good ol shrinkflation.
Yes on both accounts. It is frozen whipped topping. It had enough air to hold its shape when it melts.
It means you’re getting the lesser quality ones. The ones that don’t have as much cream in them and are filled with other stuff. There’s some higher quality brands to look out for, like Kawartha. Also, you can get something like the ninja creamii and make some ice cream at home. The difference in taste is actually quite noticeable compared to store bought.
I don’t eat cream all that often, and I try to buy the better brands, but I guess I actually need to figure out what ingredients I hate and read the labels. Ninja creami sounds neat, but I dont eat ice cream enough to warrant the counter space.
there is a segment on German public TV if that’s any help https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/zdfzeit/zdfzeit-tricks-der-lebensmittelindustrie-mit-sebastian-lege-104.html#xtor=CS5-95
(Starts at 13:15 min). from what i remember it shows the same pattern mentioned by other commenters. vegetable fats instead of milk, thickeners, stabilizers, artificial flavors.
vegetable fats instead of milk, thickeners, stabilizers, artificial flavors.
Aka goyslop
I will never get over Breyer’s ice cream going cheap.
Have you looked at Häagen-Dazs? I only looked at their plain chocolate flavor, but the ingredients are only Cream, Skim Milk, Cane Sugar, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, and Egg Yolks. That’s the real deal right there!
I like Ben and Jerry’s, but I definitely know that it’s not “real” ice cream. They shine because they have good flavor combinations.
Bruster’s and Graeter’s are ice cream shops that make their ice cream in-house. They also contain stabilizers but I prefer it over what’s in the grocery store. I’m not sure if that is because I’m used to it or what. If you have a location for either of these near you, I would check them out.
Lastly, I would check if you have any local places that make their own ice cream. You might find what you’re looking for there.
The ironic thing is Breyers ran commercials about how you could pronounce every ingredient in their ice cream. They had like a 10 year old read their ingredient list vs. competitors.
But when they got bought out by Unilever, quality went downhill fast
Bluebell Dutch chocolate is the best thing Texas ever shared with the world
Honestly I took a pretty long hiatus from sweets/ice cream.
But now that I have a kid who wants to try things, I am buying it occasionally again. I have been disturbed by most of what I have tried recently. Only have had good luck with small overpriced premium labeled products.
Will definitely look at Haagen as it seems to be everywhere.
This reminds me of this ice cream I used to buy as a kid called the Snow Storm. I’ve eaten it over the years and one day the packaging slightly changed with a new emblem that stated now made with real ice cream. That’s when I started questioning all ice creams. Nowadays I’m more aware of ice cream as opposed to a frozen dessert or treat which a lot of “ice creams” now have on their packaging here at least in the US.
Big ice cream figured out churning is a pain in the ass. So now they just whip it and freeze it in bulk. It’s not the same product at all.
The question has been answered, but How Stuff Works has a good article which goes into detail.
Lots of stuff in the store isn’t even labeled ice cream anymore…
guar gum, xantham gun, locust bean extract, etc - all emulsifers or texture additives used to mask lower product quality and allow more air to be whipped in.
Even the expensive stuff, Ben & Jerrys (sold out to PE a while ago), boutique brands at Whole Foods, and even Kirkland premiun have the same list of bullshit.
The only brand I can reliably find without them is Haagen Dazs.
As there may be regional differences, you might want to specify your area. For example, ice cream in the UK doesn’t have to meet the same requirements as in the USA, so oddities like cheap ice cream made with no dairy or cream is possible, using vegetable oil instead. Evan Edinger has a video on UK ice cream in particular: https://youtu.be/CfM7yZD0PlE
In the USA/Canada the cheapo ice cream is labeled “frozen dairy dessert”, instead of “ice cream”.
It’s “frozen dessert” if it can’t meet the dairy requirement.
I am from the US and I first noticed it a long time ago with certain novelty type ice cream products. Then eventually it seemed like some of the cheaper brands changed to add whatever softening thing to it. Now it seems like almost all brands have it, even regional brands known for their quality seem to be the same.
I almost remember it was advertised by the regional brand Friendly’s as “creamy”, and you could buy other flavors and avoid it… but now it’s all seems to be like that.
Also, they just don’t really seem to freezer burn nearly as bad, which is nice… if you liked the product in the first place.
pretty much everything except soft serve tastes odd to me nowadays. even higher quality ice creams have this really artificial super sweet flavor that is not for me
