WHICH CHOCOLATE ICE CREAMS ARE CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE?
CHOCOLATE ICE CREAMS - CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE®
Information updated June 2023 and December 2023
After Vanilla, Chocolate is the most popular Ice Cream flavor in the U.S.
Ingredients for homemade Chocolate Ice Cream are simple: Dairy, Sugar, Cocoa, Egg Yolks and possibly Salt and Vanilla Extract.
Let’s see what’s Not In Kitchen™ inside Breyers Chocolate Ice Cream (Source: Unilever Breyers Web site 6/23)
Unilever-owned Breyers Chocolate Ice Cream contains 3 ingredients Not In Kitchen including Whey which is the watery part of milk which remains after the formation of curds, Tara Gum which is a Thickening Agent, and Commercial Natural Flavor which may contain anywhere from 50-100 ingredients and the medium in which they are suspended is generally artificial. (Source: Environmental Working Group 6/23)
ONCE UPON A TIME, BREYERS CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM WAS CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE: From a decades old television commercial, we see that Breyers Chocolate Ice Cream did not used to contain those 3 Not In Kitchen ingredients we see above. (Source: Breyers Historic Television Commercial)
In the past, Breyers Chocolate Ice Cream had no ingredients Not In Kitchen and was Closest To Homemade . . . but not anymore.
You can view the old Breyers commercial here . . .
NO REAL VANILLA LISTED AS AN INGREDIENT IN BREYERS HOMEMADE VANILLA ICE CREAM: Unilever’s Breyers Homemade Vanilla ice cream has no Vanilla Extract in its ingredient listing and contains multiple ingredients Not In Kitchen including multiple Thickening Agents, multiple Emulsifying Agents, Water, Corn Syrup, Whey, Added Flavor and Added Color. (Source: Unilever Breyers Web site 4/24)
WE ARE ‘PAYING FOR POINTLESS’ WHEN WE PAY FOR INGREDIENTS WHICH DON’T NEED TO BE THERE. Even when the out-of-pocket cost — the actual dollars and cents — is less for a certain item, if this item contains multiple ingredients Not In Kitchen, then we’re getting less of the real thing and a worse value for what we are seeking.
The Closer To Homemade an item is, the more each penny spent is good money spent in terms of both value and best possible ingredients.
Unilever states, “Our philosophy is to start with high quality ingredients to make great tasting ice cream”, but — seen below, — UNILEVER’S BREYERS ROCKY ROAD IS NOT EVEN REAL ICE CREAM. This product does not meet the Standard of Identity for real ice cream so it must legally be called “Frozen Dairy Dessert”.
Breyers Rocky Road Frozen Dairy Dessert contains numerous ingredients we would never have in our home kitchen if we were making real Rocky Road ice cream from scratch.
Q: Have you ever had Fructose or Monogylcerides or Soy Lecithin or Carrageenan in your kitchen? Well, they’re in this product along with other things which make this Breyers product not even real ice cream.
Let’s see what’s Not In Kitchen in these “Premium” chocolate ice creams, Organic Chocolate ice creams and others. (Sources for ingredients: Brand Web sites 6/23)
Unilever-owned #1 in U.S. sales Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy contains Soybean Oil >> have you ever had Soybean Oil in your home kitchen? Can you imagine eating Soybean Oil with your ice cream? (Sources: Statista 2023, Unilever Ben & Jerry’s Web site 6/23) According to the U.S. FDA 2023, 96% of U.S. Soybean acreage is Genetically Modified (GMO).
In addition to Soybean Oil, #1 U.S. Brand Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy also contains Water, two Thickening Agents — Guar Gum and Carrageenan — commercial Natural Flavors and Soy Lecithin, an Emulsifying Agent. All of these ingredients are Not In Kitchen when making homemade Chocolate Ice Cream.
Blue Bunny Chocolate — above left — is not even real ice cream >> it’s “Frozen Dairy Dessert” because the ingredients do not meet the legal standard of definition for real Ice Cream.
These “Premium” Chocolate Ice Creams below all contain multiple ingredients Not In Kitchen and two are banned at Whole Foods for containing High Fructose Corn Syrup >> Hood and Hershey’s. (Sources: Amazon Whole Foods and Brand Web sites 6/23)
These chocolate ice creams all contain Thickening Agents:
PAI PARTNERS-OWNED DREYER’S/EDY’S COMPARISON: Following is a comparison of what’s in Dreyer’s Chocolate Ice Cream vs. Dreyer’s/Edy’s Slow Churned Light Ice Cream. (Sources: PAI Partners Dreyer’s and Edy’s Web sites 6/23) There are Thickening + Emulsifying Agents plus Corn Syrup in the Ice Cream — below left. Meanwhile, the Slow Churned Light versions — below right — contain Thickening + Emulsifying Agents, Corn Syrup, Polydextrose and Vitamin A Palmitate.
WHOLE FOODS 365 CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM: Whole Foods 365 Chocolate Ice Cream contains four ingredients we would never use at home to make Ice Cream including Natural Flavor, Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum and Manufactured Citric Acid which is an FDA-recognized Chemical Preservative. (Sources: Amazon Whole Foods Web site 6/23; U.S. FDA 2023)
Seen below, CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAMS have no Corn Syrups, Flavors, Colors, Thickening Agents, Gums, Chemical Preservatives or added Oils. These include Non-GMO Project Verified Straus Family Creamery Organic Dutch Chocolate with Organic Dutch Cocoa; Turkey Hill Simply Natural Belgian Style Chocolate; Van Leeuwen Chocolate French Ice Cream; Jeni’s Darkest Chocolate with Fair Trade Cocoa and Häagen-Dazs Chocolate. (Sources: Brand Web sites 12/23)
Neither money nor products are ever accepted to appear on the Closest To Homemade list
Discover more food + beverages whose ingredients are Closest To Homemade in 275+ categories. Neither money nor products are ever accepted to appear on the Closest To Homemade list.
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As always, we leave you with a flashback to the good ol’ days . . .
