Taste Test Tuesday — Vanilla Ice Cream

Oh, this taste test was so fun! But I might have gotten a *little carried away with this one. We had ELEVEN competitors in this taste test…yes, that’s ELEVEN different brands of vanilla ice cream that our judges had to taste. {Life is hard sometimes!}

And here’s what we found: Not all vanilla ice cream is created equal.

For this taste test I looked for titles like: vanilla, Homemade Vanilla, Old Fashioned Vanilla, All Natural Vanilla, Natural Vanilla, etc. (No french vanilla in this taste test. No frozen yogurt. No gelato.) And I also wanted high-end brands and generic to be fully represented, as well as everything in between.

The idea was: if you were serving vanilla ice cream as dessert to some important guests, which vanilla ice cream would you serve?

I purchased a special MINI ice cream scoop for this event…I figured 11 tiny scoops of ice cream would equal about 1 regular scoop or so…not enough to give all the judges a stomach ache! There would be no casualties after tasting ALL this ice cream!

See all those silver cups in the photo above? Those were all labeled with a number 1-11, the ice cream was given a corresponding number, and those were delivered to the judges. We also supplied water and the judging form.

Let me introduce you to all the contenders (with approximate retail prices for each):

1) Kroger Brand Generic Artisan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. $3.49 for 1.5 qt. (48 oz)

2) Turkey Hill Homemade Vanilla. $5.49 for 1.5 qt. (48 oz.)

3) Graeter’s Vanilla. $5.49 for One pint (16 oz.)

4) Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla. $4.49 for one pint (16 oz.)

5) Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. $6.99 for half gallon.

6) Blue Bunny All Natural Vanilla. $6.49 for 1.75 qt.

7) Baskin Robbins Vanilla. $4.99 for 1 qt.

8) Haagen-Dazs Vanilla. $4.79 for 14 oz.

9) Breyers Natural Vanilla. $5.99 for 1.5 qt.

10) Dreyers Vanilla. $5.99 for 1.5 qt.

11) Tillamook Old Fashioned Vanilla. $5.99 for 1.75 qt.

One thing I’ve found while conducting all these taste tests is that not all the judges always agree. In fact, there was some debate over which ice cream was TRULY the best. But in the end, the majority ruled and the winner was declared. So here are the top 3 choices (who’s got the drumroll?):

CROWNING THE WINNERS:

Tillamook makes a delicious cheese (one of my favorites!) but I had never tasted their ICE CREAM before, so I was quite surprised that it took first place. [Note: The only place I was able to find Tillamook was at Bashas.] Baskin Robbins has always been a favorite since I was a kid, but I NEVER choose vanilla when I go there (have you tasted their World Class Chocolate and Gold Medal Ribbon?! Wow). And Dreyers is a well-reconized brand, so that was expected, however one judge reported that it tastes like “store-bought syrup.” Other judges reported that it was “creamy and had a great ‘real’ flavor.”

THE LEAST FAVORITES:

The lowest rated ice cream brands were:

Turkey Hill got zero votes. Zero. The judges found it was “too bland,” “tasteless,” and “boring.” Another surprise was Blue Bell rated one of the lowest! One judge said “Yuck!” But I’ve always thought Blue Bell was one of the best around. They do also carry a Vanilla Bean flavor…so maybe that one is much better than their homemade vanilla? (Can someone report on this?) The Generic brand was rated on the low end as well, but to be fair, one judge loved it for it’s creamy consistency.

DEDICATED – BONUS REPORT

After our taste test, I decided I’d better try some of my highly rated brands again. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: “that girl is dedicated to her craft.” And it’s true. In the interest of reporting accurate and true results to you, dear reader, I opted to taste a few again and try them against each other. I did this bracket style: the winner of the first competed against the winner of the second, and so on. And I kept coming up with the SAME WINNERS time after time. So I thought I’d better give to you the Editor’s Top Picks:

My winner each time was Haagen-Dazs. And before this taste test I DID NOT think I even cared for that brand. They must have changed something, or perhaps my taste buds are getting more refined with age?! I also really enjoyed Graeter’s (Linda’s top pick) and Ben and Jerry’s. But let’s be honest here: who chooses VANILLA Ben & Jerry’s when they have all those other tempting and interesting flavors? Not me. I’ve never even tasted their vanilla plain before.

EDITOR’S LOW PICKS:

To give you the complete picture: other low picks from me and a few other judges were Breyer’s (I know, I thought that was a favorite! But when pitted against these other competitors, it tasted artificial and “off.”) and Blue Bunny (also artificial). I shed a little tear over this one because Blue Bunny has one of my current favorite flavors: Bunny Tracks!! Have you had it? Oh, so delicious.

Please share YOUR favorite Vanilla Ice Cream…or go out and try our winner(s) and let me know what you think.

So there’s the report on Vanilla Ice Cream. It was a pleasure to bring this report to you (really!) and I am open to suggestions for future taste tests. Just comment below.

Stay in touch to hear about our next taste test upcoming: ROOT BEER! It was meant to be: what could be better to create with the REMAINING vanilla ice cream than root beer floats? See you next time.