Ice cream is always a good choice for a post-dinner treat; it works perfectly as an accompaniment to a wedge of cake or as the dollop of creaminess in a root beer float. But sometimes ice cream is best appreciated when it stands alone. Popular ice cream stores such as Cold Stone or Ben and Jerry’s, however, can charge around $4 for a cup of ice cream about the size of your fist, making that post-dinner trip to the ice cream stand, once a summertime staple, costly for a family. Supermarkets offer a more affordable solution. Ice cream companies such as Breyers or Edy’s (or Dreyer’s, as it is known to the western U.S. states) sell 1.75 quart containers of ice cream for around $4-6 each. Both are good choices, but with some differences. Out of respect to the ongoing quest for healthier eating, I will specifically critique the lower-fat varieties of Edy’s and Breyers: Edy’s Slow Churned and Breyers Double Churn Light.
Edy’s SlowChurned easily is one of the best ice creams available in super markets, and I’ve yet to find a chain that doesn’t carry the brand. Standards like Cookies ‘n’ Cream and Cookie Dough pack a pleasingly dense quantity of cookie into the vanilla ice cream – even better than my last Dairy Queen Oreo blizzard. Capitalizing on American Idol’s popularity, Edy’s is now featuring a quintet of flavors – Take the Cake, Soulful Sundae Cone, Triple Talent, Choc n’ Roll Caramel, and Hollywood Cheesecake – and America can vote for its favorite one online. Ah, democracy meets frozen dairy products. I endorse Take the Cake.
Around the holidays, Edy’s Slow Churned also offers many “Special Edition” flavors (regular Edy’s features select ones year round). If you can fathom indulging in something cold during the winter months, try the Egg Nog, Pumpkin, Peppermint, or Gingerbread flavors. I want to highlight the Egg Nog as the primo choice; it tastes authentically “egg nog,” and it takes longer to enjoy than a glass of its highly caloric liquid cousin.
Unfortunately, Breyers Double Churn Light does not offer the expanded selection of holiday flavors. That’s a big drawback for me because I look forward to those seasonal flavors. When you live in the desert, you’ll take any indication of seasonal change that you can get. Overall, though, Breyers can stand up to Edy’s on the basis of pure flavor. Straight up chocolate and vanilla are always delicious. Mint chocolate chip is the big winner for two reasons: one, the mint flavor is strong enough without overwhelming the chocolate, and two, the ice cream is white. Breyers did not turn to the test tube of leprechaun green in order to “enhance” its product. The flavor needs no assistance.
There is that other issue of serving size. Read the nutritional info on the side of any ice cream container and you’ll be confronted with the sorry truth: one serving is only a half a cup. This sorry truth brings up a debatable point: is it better to indulge just a little in the premium, full strength ice cream – you know, the kind with ingredients you can pronounce? Or is better to eat a little more of the lower fat variety – you know, the kind with ingredients created by men in white lab coats? The reality of the situation is that a half cup of ice cream looks pathetic in most ice cream bowls; the average person will more than like double – if not quadruple – the serving size. While this truth is not ideal, it is a truth. Consequently, a “healthier” ice cream such as the Breyers Double Churn Light or Edy’s Slow Churned will fill the void. Both taste great, but Edy’s has a wider selection of flavors. A serving of each brand’s ice cream contains around 130 calories and 5 grams of fat. Just remember, like all things, ice cream should be enjoyed in moderation.
