Kosher Gourmet Reviews Ice Cream
Ice cream is a product savored by both children and adults. Eating iced treats is a treat that was eaten several centuries ago. Legend says is that Alexander the Great put flavorings in snow thus creating a snow cone. Another legend says that Marco Polo may have brought back recipes for ice cream from China. The Roman Emperor Nero used to have snow transported to Rome where it was mixed with fruit.
Ice cream made with a milk mixture was first recorded in Europe in Italy. Until the second half of the 19th century, ice cream was considered a luxury food since ice was difficult to obtain and store. In addition, ice cream had to be served immediately after being made since the freezer was not invented yet
When people were able to make ice and transport it to the city, it became possible for many to buy ice at a reasonable price. In the late 1830s, an ice-making machine was invented thus making ice cream more widely available. In 1846, a New Jersey woman named Nancy johnson, invented the hand-cranked freezer. As a result, ice cream sellers could then offer ice cream to the masses. When cheap refrigeration became commonplace, many vendors started offering their wares to the public. Commercial production was begun in North America in Baltimore, Maryland, 1851, by Mr. Jacob Fussell, now known as the father of the American ice cream industry.
Ice cream was introduced to America by colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. Many of our patriots like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were known to have enjoyed ice cream. Dolley Madison served ice cream at her husband's Inaugural Ball in 1813.
We bought some Breyers ice cream and received samples of ice cream from six companies: Creme CrémaillPre , Double Rainbow, Graeter’s, Haagen Dazs, Pierre’s and Sheer Bliss. We received vanilla, chocolate, coffee, pomegranate chip, and various specialty flavors. A group of five of us sat and spent nearly two hours tasting ice creams (poor us!). We did not know which ice cream was which to avoid prejudice based on preconceived feelings about specific brands. We judged the ice creams based on the following criteria: taste, color, consistency (smoothness), and price.
According to the International Ice Cream Association, the top two ice cream flavors are:
Vanilla, at 29% and Chocolate at 8.9%. Coffee is #13 at 1.6% and all others, are at 23.7%. All ice cream serving calorie information is for a ½ cup.
VANILLA
FAVORITE:
Graeter’s. Their vanilla was our favorite vanilla. It was praised for its intense vanilla flavor from vanilla beans and extract. It tasted rich and had a smooth consistency. It also had a nice aftertaste.
Calories/serving: 260
calories from fat: 150
EXCELLENT
Double Rainbow Vanilla. It tasted smooth, creamy, and rich.
Calories/serving: 250
calories from fat: 140
VERY GOOD
Creme Crémaillere . Their vanilla was tasty and tasted very custardy. We could see many vanilla flecks throughout the ice cream.
Calories/serving: 230
Calories from fat: 160
Haagen Dazs Vanilla. This ice cream tasted very sweet and was quite creamy with a rich velvety feel. There was a nice flavor with good balance between vanilla and cream
Calories/serving: 270
Calories from far: 160
Sheer Bliss Vanilla. This was also a very creamy ice cream. It had a good aftertaste and a creamy consistency. It had a crisp flavor and was not too sweet.
Calories/serving: 300
Calories from fat: 160
GOOD
Breyers All Natural Vanilla. It had a nice natural flavor and an okay taste. It did not taste very unique.
Calories/serving: 140
Calories from fat: 70
OK:
Pierre’s Ice Cream Company. Vanilla tasted bland without much vanilla flavor, perhaps
because vanilla is one of the last ingredients mentioned.
Calories/serving: 160
Calories from fat: 70
CHOCOLATE
FAVORITE
Graeter’s Chocolate. Just like Graeter’s Vanilla, their chocolate ice cream was our #1 choice. It had a strong, rich milk chocolate flavor, as opposed to other brands, which had a more bittersweet/cocoa flavor.
Calories/serving: 260
Calories from fat: 150
EXCELLENT
Creme Crémaillere Chocolate. It had a strong bittersweet chocolate flavor with cocoa overtones. There was a nice aftertaste and had a smooth true chocolate flavor. It was not too sweet.
Calories/serving: 240
Calories from fat: 130
Haagen Dazs Reserve Line Amazon Valley Chocolate Ice Cream. Of all the Reserve Line ice creams, this one was our favorite. It was bittersweet but had a balanced bitter taste as well as good chocolate flavor. It tasted the most like a high-quality bittersweet chocolate bar.
Calories/serving: 290
Calories from fat: 170
VERY GOOD
Breyers All Natural Chocolate. We liked it; had no aftertaste and a good consistency.
Calories/serving: 140
Calories from fat: 70
Double Rainbow Chocolate. It was very creamy and rich and had a great color. It has a slight bittersweet flavor, and when we opened the container a delicious chocolate smell wafted out of the container.
Calories/serving: 250
Calories from fat: 140
Sheer Bliss Chocolate. It was the creamiest of all the ice creams we tried but did not have as much of a cocoa flavor. According to one reviewer it was "just right."
Calories/serving: 320
Calories from fat: 170
GOOD
Haagen Dazs Chocolate. This ice cream had a mild chocolate flavor and was creamy. It tasted a little dull.
Calories/serving: 270
Calories from far: 160
OK
Pierre’s Ice Cream Company Chocolate. This ice cream had a plain chocolate flavor. We felt it would be great in an ice cream sundae. My 7 year old son preferred it over the other brands.
Calories/serving: 160
Calories from fat: 70
Double Rainbow Chocolate. It was very creamy and rich and had a great color. It has a slight bittersweet flavor, and when we opened the container a delicious chocolate smell wafted out of the container.
Calories/serving: 250
Calories from fat: 140
Sheer Bliss Chocolate. It was the creamiest of all the ice creams we tried but did not have as much of a cocoa flavor. According to one reviewer it was "just right."
Calories/serving: 320
Calories from fat: 170
GOOD
Haagen Dazs Chocolate. This ice cream had a mild chocolate flavor and was creamy. It tasted a little dull.
Calories/serving: 270
Calories from far: 160
OK
Pierre’s Ice Cream Company Chocolate. This ice cream had a plain chocolate flavor. We felt it would be great in an ice cream sundae. My 7 year old son preferred it over the other brands.
Calories/serving: 160
Calories from fat: 70
POMEGRANATE ICE CREAM.
Pomegranate is a new flavor that seems to be gaining popularity due to published reports that pomegranate juice can lead to better health.
VERY GOOD
Haagen Dazs Reserve Line Pomegranate Chip. This was a fruity ice cream that had a good finish and was a cross between a sorbet and ice cream. Some said it tasted like strawberry
Calories/serving: 280
Calories from fat: 140
GOOD
Sheer Bliss Pomegranate Chip. This ice cream was sugary, creamy, and less fruity. Some people liked the chocolate shavings while others said they did not belong
Calories/serving: 320
Calories from fat: 170
COFFEEFAVORITE
Creme Crémaillere Coffee Chocolate Espresso Bean. This ice cream was one of the overall favorites of all the ice creams we tried. It had an excellent coffee flavor with delicious chunks of coffee beans.
Calories/serving: 260
Calories from fat: 150
VERY GOOD
Double Rainbow Coffee. This coffee ice cream had a balanced cafe-au-lait flavor.
Calories/serving: 250
Calories from fat: 130
GOOD
Haagen Dazs Light Mocha Chip. This light ice cream had a mild mocha flavor and was very creamy and tasted like Cappuccino. Others thought it bland and boring
Calories/serving: 220
Calories from fat: 70
OTHER FLAVORS
FAVORITE
Graeter’s Blackberry chip. Again Graeter’s was a panel favorite. It was
rich, creamy, and fruity. The chips (actually large chocolate chunks) were excellent.
Calories/serving: 290
Calories from fat: 180
VERY GOOD
Creme Crémaillere Creme Brulee. It tasted like creme brulee, with chunks of caramelized sugar; it had a velvety consistency.
Calories/serving: 280
Calories from fat: 140
Haagen Dazs Mayan Chocolate. This was an unusual chocolate because there was a very strong addition of cinnamon. Our panelists imagined it would taste good on apple pie. We tasted this flavor with the chocolates, but the strong cinnamon flavor clearly moves it into the "other" category. If you like cinnamon, this flavor is a superb combination.
Calories/serving: 310
Calories from fat: 170
GOOD
Haagen Dazs Reserve Line Hawaiian Lehua Honey & Sweet Cream Ice Cream. This ice cream tasted very buttery. However, the honey taste did not come through and it pales next to some of the other vanillas we tasted
Calories/serving: 270
Calories from fat: 150
Haagen Dazs Reserve Line Toasted Coconut Sesame Brittle ice cream. This ice cream had an interesting combination of flavors. Our panelists felt the coconut pieces were too big. Most felt it was too ambitious, with too many flavors in one pint.
Calories/serving: 300
Calories from fat: 160
OVERALL THOUGHTS
We felt that the Graeter’s ice creams were the best. Would we pay $70 for 6 pints to have them shipped to us? Maybe not. But if they were available locally, they were the ones to buy.
Breyers’ vanilla was a good ice cream and was enjoyed by all. Their chocolate ice cream was not as flavorful as some of the other chocolates we tried.
Nearly all the Creme CrémaillPre line of ice cream were rated excellent or very good. While we might not pay extra to have it delivered by mail, we would certainly purchase it if found nearby.
We enjoyed Double Rainbow’s vanilla and chocolate but were not as impressed by their coffee. We would drive to Trader Joe's to purchase their products. The price is also quite reasonable; it costs $3.99/quart vs. Haagen Dazs at $3.99/pint.
The Haagen Dazs Reserve line was interesting and very ambitious. However, the only flavor that was really great was the Amazon Valley Chocolate ice cream. The others were different and interesting but not worth the extra money. The regular Haagen Dazs ice cream was good too and the Mayan Chocolate was a treat.
We all thought Pierre’s ice cream had the least true vanilla or chocolate flavor. It was also the least rich in flavor due to the skim milk they use. We felt it would be great as part of a sundae or banana split..
I had tasted Sheer Bliss ice creams at the Fancy Food Show and thought they were excellent, but in our ratings the vanilla and chocolate fell short of some other brands. The metal can it comes in is pretty and makes a nice gift. However, it makes handling the ice cream container difficult.
Where to buy them and get more information:
Breyers http://www.breyers.com/breyers/ available at local supermarkets Cost: $4.50 a half gallon Certified Kosher by Kof-K
Creme CrémaillPre www.cremecremaillere.com Available at their website, Koshergourmetmart.com
(http://www.koshergourmetmart.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1425) or in some supermarkets in NJ. Cost:$75 for 6 pints Certified Kosher by KVH
Double Rainbow www.doublerainbow.com Available at Trader’s Joes. Cost: $3.99/quart Certified Kosher by the OU
Graeter’s: www.graeters.com Available in Midwest and online. Cost: $70 for 6 pints or $110 for 12 pints. / Certified kosher by Vaad Hoier of Cinicinnati
Haagen Dazs www.HaagenDazs.com/ Certified kosher by the OU available in local supermarkets. Premium Reserve available at Super Stop & Shop or soon at their web site
Sheer Bliss ice cream www.sheerblissicecream.com Certified Kosher by Kof-K Not available locally at this time.
Ice cream made with a milk mixture was first recorded in Europe in Italy. Until the second half of the 19th century, ice cream was considered a luxury food since ice was difficult to obtain and store. In addition, ice cream had to be served immediately after being made since the freezer was not invented yet
When people were able to make ice and transport it to the city, it became possible for many to buy ice at a reasonable price. In the late 1830s, an ice-making machine was invented thus making ice cream more widely available. In 1846, a New Jersey woman named Nancy johnson, invented the hand-cranked freezer. As a result, ice cream sellers could then offer ice cream to the masses. When cheap refrigeration became commonplace, many vendors started offering their wares to the public. Commercial production was begun in North America in Baltimore, Maryland, 1851, by Mr. Jacob Fussell, now known as the father of the American ice cream industry.
Ice cream was introduced to America by colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. Many of our patriots like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were known to have enjoyed ice cream. Dolley Madison served ice cream at her husband's Inaugural Ball in 1813.
We bought some Breyers ice cream and received samples of ice cream from six companies: Creme CrémaillPre , Double Rainbow, Graeter’s, Haagen Dazs, Pierre’s and Sheer Bliss. We received vanilla, chocolate, coffee, pomegranate chip, and various specialty flavors. A group of five of us sat and spent nearly two hours tasting ice creams (poor us!). We did not know which ice cream was which to avoid prejudice based on preconceived feelings about specific brands. We judged the ice creams based on the following criteria: taste, color, consistency (smoothness), and price.
According to the International Ice Cream Association, the top two ice cream flavors are:
Vanilla, at 29% and Chocolate at 8.9%. Coffee is #13 at 1.6% and all others, are at 23.7%. All ice cream serving calorie information is for a ½ cup.
VANILLA
FAVORITE:
Graeter’s. Their vanilla was our favorite vanilla. It was praised for its intense vanilla flavor from vanilla beans and extract. It tasted rich and had a smooth consistency. It also had a nice aftertaste.
Calories/serving: 260
calories from fat: 150
EXCELLENT
Double Rainbow Vanilla. It tasted smooth, creamy, and rich.
Calories/serving: 250
calories from fat: 140
VERY GOOD
Creme Crémaillere . Their vanilla was tasty and tasted very custardy. We could see many vanilla flecks throughout the ice cream.
Calories/serving: 230
Calories from fat: 160
Haagen Dazs Vanilla. This ice cream tasted very sweet and was quite creamy with a rich velvety feel. There was a nice flavor with good balance between vanilla and cream
Calories/serving: 270
Calories from far: 160
Sheer Bliss Vanilla. This was also a very creamy ice cream. It had a good aftertaste and a creamy consistency. It had a crisp flavor and was not too sweet.
Calories/serving: 300
Calories from fat: 160
GOOD
Breyers All Natural Vanilla. It had a nice natural flavor and an okay taste. It did not taste very unique.
Calories/serving: 140
Calories from fat: 70
OK:
Pierre’s Ice Cream Company. Vanilla tasted bland without much vanilla flavor, perhaps
because vanilla is one of the last ingredients mentioned.
Calories/serving: 160
Calories from fat: 70
CHOCOLATE
FAVORITE
Graeter’s Chocolate. Just like Graeter’s Vanilla, their chocolate ice cream was our #1 choice. It had a strong, rich milk chocolate flavor, as opposed to other brands, which had a more bittersweet/cocoa flavor.
Calories/serving: 260
Calories from fat: 150
EXCELLENT
Creme Crémaillere Chocolate. It had a strong bittersweet chocolate flavor with cocoa overtones. There was a nice aftertaste and had a smooth true chocolate flavor. It was not too sweet.
Calories/serving: 240
Calories from fat: 130
Haagen Dazs Reserve Line Amazon Valley Chocolate Ice Cream. Of all the Reserve Line ice creams, this one was our favorite. It was bittersweet but had a balanced bitter taste as well as good chocolate flavor. It tasted the most like a high-quality bittersweet chocolate bar.
Calories/serving: 290
Calories from fat: 170
VERY GOOD
Breyers All Natural Chocolate. We liked it; had no aftertaste and a good consistency.
Calories/serving: 140
Calories from fat: 70
Double Rainbow Chocolate. It was very creamy and rich and had a great color. It has a slight bittersweet flavor, and when we opened the container a delicious chocolate smell wafted out of the container.
Calories/serving: 250
Calories from fat: 140
Sheer Bliss Chocolate. It was the creamiest of all the ice creams we tried but did not have as much of a cocoa flavor. According to one reviewer it was "just right."
Calories/serving: 320
Calories from fat: 170
GOOD
Haagen Dazs Chocolate. This ice cream had a mild chocolate flavor and was creamy. It tasted a little dull.
Calories/serving: 270
Calories from far: 160
OK
Pierre’s Ice Cream Company Chocolate. This ice cream had a plain chocolate flavor. We felt it would be great in an ice cream sundae. My 7 year old son preferred it over the other brands.
Calories/serving: 160
Calories from fat: 70
Double Rainbow Chocolate. It was very creamy and rich and had a great color. It has a slight bittersweet flavor, and when we opened the container a delicious chocolate smell wafted out of the container.
Calories/serving: 250
Calories from fat: 140
Sheer Bliss Chocolate. It was the creamiest of all the ice creams we tried but did not have as much of a cocoa flavor. According to one reviewer it was "just right."
Calories/serving: 320
Calories from fat: 170
GOOD
Haagen Dazs Chocolate. This ice cream had a mild chocolate flavor and was creamy. It tasted a little dull.
Calories/serving: 270
Calories from far: 160
OK
Pierre’s Ice Cream Company Chocolate. This ice cream had a plain chocolate flavor. We felt it would be great in an ice cream sundae. My 7 year old son preferred it over the other brands.
Calories/serving: 160
Calories from fat: 70
POMEGRANATE ICE CREAM.
Pomegranate is a new flavor that seems to be gaining popularity due to published reports that pomegranate juice can lead to better health.
VERY GOOD
Haagen Dazs Reserve Line Pomegranate Chip. This was a fruity ice cream that had a good finish and was a cross between a sorbet and ice cream. Some said it tasted like strawberry
Calories/serving: 280
Calories from fat: 140
GOOD
Sheer Bliss Pomegranate Chip. This ice cream was sugary, creamy, and less fruity. Some people liked the chocolate shavings while others said they did not belong
Calories/serving: 320
Calories from fat: 170
COFFEEFAVORITE
Creme Crémaillere Coffee Chocolate Espresso Bean. This ice cream was one of the overall favorites of all the ice creams we tried. It had an excellent coffee flavor with delicious chunks of coffee beans.
Calories/serving: 260
Calories from fat: 150
VERY GOOD
Double Rainbow Coffee. This coffee ice cream had a balanced cafe-au-lait flavor.
Calories/serving: 250
Calories from fat: 130
GOOD
Haagen Dazs Light Mocha Chip. This light ice cream had a mild mocha flavor and was very creamy and tasted like Cappuccino. Others thought it bland and boring
Calories/serving: 220
Calories from fat: 70
OTHER FLAVORS
FAVORITE
Graeter’s Blackberry chip. Again Graeter’s was a panel favorite. It was
rich, creamy, and fruity. The chips (actually large chocolate chunks) were excellent.
Calories/serving: 290
Calories from fat: 180
VERY GOOD
Creme Crémaillere Creme Brulee. It tasted like creme brulee, with chunks of caramelized sugar; it had a velvety consistency.
Calories/serving: 280
Calories from fat: 140
Haagen Dazs Mayan Chocolate. This was an unusual chocolate because there was a very strong addition of cinnamon. Our panelists imagined it would taste good on apple pie. We tasted this flavor with the chocolates, but the strong cinnamon flavor clearly moves it into the "other" category. If you like cinnamon, this flavor is a superb combination.
Calories/serving: 310
Calories from fat: 170
GOOD
Haagen Dazs Reserve Line Hawaiian Lehua Honey & Sweet Cream Ice Cream. This ice cream tasted very buttery. However, the honey taste did not come through and it pales next to some of the other vanillas we tasted
Calories/serving: 270
Calories from fat: 150
Haagen Dazs Reserve Line Toasted Coconut Sesame Brittle ice cream. This ice cream had an interesting combination of flavors. Our panelists felt the coconut pieces were too big. Most felt it was too ambitious, with too many flavors in one pint.
Calories/serving: 300
Calories from fat: 160
OVERALL THOUGHTS
We felt that the Graeter’s ice creams were the best. Would we pay $70 for 6 pints to have them shipped to us? Maybe not. But if they were available locally, they were the ones to buy.
Breyers’ vanilla was a good ice cream and was enjoyed by all. Their chocolate ice cream was not as flavorful as some of the other chocolates we tried.
Nearly all the Creme CrémaillPre line of ice cream were rated excellent or very good. While we might not pay extra to have it delivered by mail, we would certainly purchase it if found nearby.
We enjoyed Double Rainbow’s vanilla and chocolate but were not as impressed by their coffee. We would drive to Trader Joe's to purchase their products. The price is also quite reasonable; it costs $3.99/quart vs. Haagen Dazs at $3.99/pint.
The Haagen Dazs Reserve line was interesting and very ambitious. However, the only flavor that was really great was the Amazon Valley Chocolate ice cream. The others were different and interesting but not worth the extra money. The regular Haagen Dazs ice cream was good too and the Mayan Chocolate was a treat.
We all thought Pierre’s ice cream had the least true vanilla or chocolate flavor. It was also the least rich in flavor due to the skim milk they use. We felt it would be great as part of a sundae or banana split..
I had tasted Sheer Bliss ice creams at the Fancy Food Show and thought they were excellent, but in our ratings the vanilla and chocolate fell short of some other brands. The metal can it comes in is pretty and makes a nice gift. However, it makes handling the ice cream container difficult.
Where to buy them and get more information:
Breyers http://www.breyers.com/breyers/ available at local supermarkets Cost: $4.50 a half gallon Certified Kosher by Kof-K
Creme CrémaillPre www.cremecremaillere.com Available at their website, Koshergourmetmart.com
(http://www.koshergourmetmart.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1425) or in some supermarkets in NJ. Cost:$75 for 6 pints Certified Kosher by KVH
Double Rainbow www.doublerainbow.com Available at Trader’s Joes. Cost: $3.99/quart Certified Kosher by the OU
Graeter’s: www.graeters.com Available in Midwest and online. Cost: $70 for 6 pints or $110 for 12 pints. / Certified kosher by Vaad Hoier of Cinicinnati
Haagen Dazs www.HaagenDazs.com/ Certified kosher by the OU available in local supermarkets. Premium Reserve available at Super Stop & Shop or soon at their web site
Sheer Bliss ice cream www.sheerblissicecream.com Certified Kosher by Kof-K Not available locally at this time.
posted by home reno at 12:16 PM
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