Submitted 5 days ago by Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works to [deleted]
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?
Gums like guar and xanth. In small amounts they make ice cream better and help keep ice crystals small. I use them in my homemade ice cream.
Used in larger amounts they replace fat at the cost of taste and mouth feel. That’s what makes the ice cream stay a gel at room temp.
One thing most have done is incorporate more air, as part of shrinkflation. That makes it more soft because it’s less actual product.
Yep - overrun.
You see this mostly in cheaper brands.
Yep. Cause they sell per volume, not weight
Its 50% air now. Costs the same price but half the cost u manufacture cos it half air. Good ol shrinkflation.
They started using stabilizers in cheap ice cream a while back. That helps it have the fluffy texture you expect even though it doesn’t have nearly enough fat to churn up nicely by itself.
Buy expensive ice cream with a higher fat content, it’s worth the extra money.
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.
They also are just always trying to figure out how to trap more air in the ice cream, so that reduces the weight too.
This is called overrun and is the main way you get shorted on product. More overrun means a creamier feeling product, but it also means you get less. So there’s that.
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.
I’m more annoyed with the shrinkflation of increasing the aeration and how almost every brand shrunk their standard size from 1.75qt to 1.5qt (1656mL to 1420mL)
Umpqua was the last holdout in my area before they caved.
And the 1.75 qt was from a previous shrinkflation from the 2 qt size that used to be standard. I just quit buying ice cream because I’m tired of the BS.
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 zdf.de/…/zdfzeit-tricks-der-lebensmittelindustrie…
(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.
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
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.
Chapmans is my go to grocery store now that breyers has been garbage for more than a few years
Yes on both accounts. It is frozen whipped topping. It had enough air to hold its shape when it melts.
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.
Changed with ice cream in general? No. But there are things that have been possible to add to ice cream for a while that do what you describe. It could be that you’re just starting to notice, you shifted brands, or the brand you liked shifted formulations.
Many people dislike the things that get added to ice cream, and so there are definitely brands out there that don’t include those things.
In my opinion the worst of the additives is not nearly as bad as a lot of people would make them out to be.
In the broadest sense possible ice cream is sugar, fat, water and thickener where the fat has been cooled to a solid and allowed to just start to re-form into a lump, the ice hasn’t been allowed to form crystals big enough to notice, and the thickener and sugars glue the fat and ice together such that they trap miniature air bubbles.
Some people insist that the fat and thickener have to come from cow milk in the form of milk fat and milk proteins, but that’s a bit pedantic for my tastes.
The easiest way to cheap out on ice cream is to add a lot more air. Since we sell it based on volume, if we churn more air into it we get more ice cream to sell for the same quantity of ingredients, and the only effect is that the ice cream is lighter, softer and fluffier.
There’s a legal maximum to how much air you can mix in though.
The next hurdle you run into is that milk proteins are actually kinda shit at keeping those air bubbles trapped. Adding things like guar gum or carrageenan will make it much gloopier and hold those air bubbles better.
This makes the ice cream last longer in a warehouse without the bubbles getting out and leaving your ice cream as a brick.
Next is rampant ice crystal spread, which can turn the ice cream into a brick in the warehouse. This can be slowed down using something called methylcellulose. It’s basically processed plant fiber ground into a powder. It’s also used in pills as the inert binder, and as a dietary fiber source.
It’s popular because is known to be safe and inert, it’s very cheap, it prevents ice crystal formation, and it has the fun quirk of getting thicker as it warms, for the added property of keeping your ice cream fluffy and areated as it warms up on your drive home.
Finally, you can tweak the fat blend. This one isn’t as common because milk fat is already insanely cheap since we subsidize the hell out of the dairy industry.
Changing the blend to use fats that are solid at higher temperatures does have utility for things you expect to be eaten slower, at higher temperatures, or if you want parents to not be mad that your ice cream makes kids extra sticky.
By far the biggest way that I’ve cream will save costs is by putting as much air in it as possible. It lets them sell you less in the same size box for the same price.
It’s a case where shrinkflation means making things bigger, which is fun.
The brands that didn’t take that route invariably rebranded as “premium” ice creams, so they can charge more for the same thing without raising consumer ire.
This reminds me of this ice cream I used to buy as a kid called the Snow Storm. I’ve eaten 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 an frozen dessert or treat which a lot of “ice creams” now have on their packaging here at least in the US.
Lots of stuff in the store isn’t even labeled ice cream anymore…
Haagen Daaz has been the only brand worth buying for at least a decade now.
Haagen Daaz is always disappointing though because they use skim milk instead of full fat. Tillamook is so much better.
I recently started buying Tillamook, and it is sooo much better than the other brands. It kind of ruined the other brands for me now, I’ll buy them on sale and then be disappointed that I did when I eat it.
Aren’t they owned by Nestle though?
Try Acme Valley ice cream. I just bought a pint and it’s great. No injected air!
There are social media videos I seen where the cheaper brands of ice cream no longer melt, even after days of sitting on the counter. Same for the cheap ice cream sandwiches. Days and they don’t lose their shape.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out they no longer need refrigeration beyond the preference of enjoying it cold versus warm.
Many parts of the EU often has North American travellers amazed how well they feel while eating their during their vacations and how awful they feel when coming back to the north American diet. What’s a few chemicals many will say.
It just seems everything from bread to pasta, dairy, meat, desserts etc doesn’t seem to make you feel as awful as north American food can.
I love Haggen Das vanilla ice cream. It’s not the cheapest but it’s one of the cleanest I can find among the big brands. Walmart etc usually has it the cheapest.
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: 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.
I’ve found that most generic store brand ice creams are high quality. Double check the label to make sure it actually says “ice cream” and not “frozen dairy dessert” or something. Ice cream is a regulated term and requires a minimum percentage of buttermilk to be called such.
My experience has been the exact opposite.
I like to pay extra for a good ice cream that has just natural ingredients in it and not a bunch of chemicals.
guar gum, xantham gun, locust bean extract, etc - all emulsifers or texture additives used to mask lower product quality.
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.
Those aren’t typically used to mask anything, or to let you increase the air quantity. They’re typically used to keep the product stable during freezing, otherwise it can either turn into a brick because they froze too solidly, or because all the air escaped during cold storage.
In terms of cost savings, it does let them shorten the time needed to let the mix sit before churning, but that’s just because it helps the fat globs come back together easier.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with using the gums. Xanthan is the only one really that isn’t available in an organic formulation, since they’re just bean powders mostly.
What’s the difference between using coconut oil or pectin like Hagan dazs does (a fat solid at higher temperatures that works as a stabilizer, and a fruit derived gelling agent) and using guar or locust bean gum? They’re all just plant powders and roughly equally processed.
You’re not alone
Thank you, I knew I had seen this question before
Ice cream is always about churning air into cream. But nowadays the air ratio has definitely gone up. Seemingly across the board.
And that assumes that you’re not buying a brand that has gotten into the fakery.
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
Freezers are far more efficient and able to compensate for the ambient temperatures. I appreciate the softer stuff. But remember having to de ice freezers in my youth.
Depending, it could be your freezer, if you’re storing it there for a bit.
No, but that’s also just after I lost my sweet tooth so you’re probably asking the wrong person here. If you’d asked me a decade earlier I’d probably have a much more cromulent answer
whodatdair@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 days ago
You aren’t imagining it, they add various types of gum and additives to slow real I’ve cream, and a lot of ice cream is straight up fake - “frozen dairy dessert” is a euphemism for fake ice cream.
Honestly now-a-days one of the few ways those of us in the states are going to protect ourselves is to rely on the ingredients list and familiarize ourselves with what products are actually what they claim they are, and whether they contain anything questionable.
Here’s hoping 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.
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 days ago
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.
VirusMaster3073@lemmy.autism.place 5 days ago
Another NoStupidQuestion, what are trans and saturated fats anyway?
whodatdair@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
TIL - Thank you!
VirusMaster3073@lemmy.autism.place 5 days ago
Oh, Jesus. I’m autistic and rely on safe foods, I can’t wait for them to start killing me now
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 4 days ago
Cook meals at home when possible. You’re not the only one that doesn’t like what corporations do to food, autistic or not.
fadingembers@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
I mean if they gut the regulatory agencies the companies will probably just remove the ingredient list altogether
whodatdair@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
Yep, hoping he’s not stupid enough to do that. However, on the other hand brain worms…
GroundedGator@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Corn syrup has wrecked ice cream for me. I can’t stand it and actively avoid buying ice cream with it.
I miss the old Bryer’s
whodatdair@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
It still has a bit of gum in it (hard to find without these days) but that talenti stuff in the US appears to be real cream still - honestly that’s the big kicker for me with ice cream, too much gum or any vegetable product just makes it not worth the calories 🤢
someguy3@lemmy.world 4 days ago
It’s “frozen dessert” because they can’t say ice cream when they take out dairy.
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
It’s actually because icecream has a defined air and fat content, and if you leave those guidelines you stop being icecream.
CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
For now. I fully expect rules like this to be fully rolled back so that I’ve cubes will be legally “ice cream”.
dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 4 days ago
Drag wishes they sold more fake ice cream, but unfortunately the vast majority of what you can find at the supermarket isn’t vegan.