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from the I-don't-think-I-want-to-eat-it-anymore dept.
Alternet tells us
Technically, ice cream follows the laws of thermodynamics, but what would you think of an ice cream that didn't melt on one of the hottest days of the year? Cincinnati station WCPO recently reported on Christie Watson's discovery that her Walmart Great Value ice cream sandwich wouldn't melt even in 80-degree heat. What's that? Ice should melt.
"I thought it was quite weird so I looked at the box and it said no artificial ice cream," Watson said. "So I thought to myself what am I feeding my children?"
Watson couldn't fathom how that could happen so she left out an ice cream sandwich outside again and came out with same results. Then WCPO reporter John Matarese did a test with a Haagen-Daaz ice cream sandwich, a Klondike Bar and the Walmart Great Value sandwich. After 30 minutes in the sun, the Walmart sandwich still resembled a sandwich, the Klondie bar melted some and the Haagen-Daaz was more like a milk puddle. [...] Matarese contacted Walmart and was given the following statement: "Ice cream melts based on the ingredients including cream. Ice cream with more cream (sic) will generally melt at a slower rate, which is the case with our Great Value ice cream sandwiches. In the frozen aisles, Great Value ice cream sandwiches are one of the top sellers, and we are glad to be able to offer a great treat that families love."
Virgina Tech food chemist told the L.A. Times that the less fat the ice cream has, the slower it will melt. Although the Great Value ice cream doesn't quite melt, the ingredients meet all FDA requirements and and have less fat, too. The Great Value ice cream includes corn syrup, guar gum, and cellulose gum, which are common food stabilizers that help keep the sandwich's shape.
The Haagen-Daaz ice cream [ingredients] include cream, milk, sugar, and eggs, and vanilla, "but no corn syrup or gums of any type." This is why it passed the melt test with ease, but not the cost test. It's about $3 more to purchase Haagen-Daaz, Matarese says. But, in this case, melting is included.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 31 2014, @01:48PM
Breyers is disgusting and cheap-tasting. Try out some Bluebell ice cream. As a bonus, it comes in an actual half gallon instead of the fake half gallon promulgated by manufacturers like Breyers. And on top of that, the Bluebell ice cream is less aerated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 31 2014, @02:22PM
I used to be a breyers dude too. Until they started shrinking the packaging and messing with the formula. I also noticed it made me feel sick (think I have an allergic reaction to one of their additives).
The easiest trick is look for the words 'ice cream'. That is usually a good start. As to put the words ice cream the gov makes them have particular sets of ingredients. At that point you can see what else they added. If you see corn syrup or what ever gum just put it back on the shelf. Look for a high 'fat' content too. As cream is just that, milk fat.
Usually the 'store' brands are good place to look too. They many times are real ice cream. Not always though as the store may change out but leave the 'generic' on them. So you have to keep an eye on it.