Triple Caramel Chunk, a caramel ice cream with a swirl of caramel and fudge-covered caramel chunks. It's from B&J's and I want it!!
sacbee.com:80/lifestyle/news/lifestyle07_19990616.html
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Scoop du jour: Forget low-fat
and fat-free. The ice cream of
this summer has a gourmet
taste.
By Gwen Schoen
Bee Staff Writer
(Published June 16, 1999)
The best way to soothe a broken heart, melt down
a hot day or calm a screaming kid is with a big,
drippy ice cream cone. Yes, when the going gets
tough, the tough get going. The rest of us head
for the freezer.
Last year must have been a tough one. Americans
drowned their sorrows in 1.6 billion gallons of ice
cream and frozen desserts. The year was especially
difficult in Portland, Ore., where residents ate more
ice cream per capita than any other city in the
United States, according to Victor Zaborsky,
spokesman for the International Ice Cream
Association in Washington, D.C.
"Apparently, vanilla was the most comforting flavor,
at 29.2 percent of U.S. sales," Zaborsky says. Nut
flavors and chocolate each accounted for about 10
percent of sales. Other categories were fruit, then
candy flavors such as caramel or peppermint.
As long as we're discussing comfort, which is
better, fat or fat-free?
"The preference is for high fat," Zaborsky says.
"The health trend is over as far as the ice cream
industry is concerned. The sales of low-fat and
nonfat have declined in the last couple of years.
Sales of premium and super-premium ice creams,
which are much higher in fat, have increased 13
and 15 percent, respectively. If Americans are
going to indulge in ice cream, they want the real thing, they want flavor, not
something that resembles it."
That bit of news was an invitation for producers to fatten up the ice cream
offerings with a long list of new flavors.
While nothing has nudged vanilla and chocolate out of the top three spots,
according to Zaborsky, the biggest trend in gourmet ice cream is coffee flavors.
Caramel is another strong trend, especially Dulce De Leche.
"Dulce De Leche caramel is now being made by several ice cream
manufacturers," Zaborsky says. "The flavor is very much like Mexican custard or
flan, and it is definitely moving up on the popularity scale."
From a consumer's standpoint, the market seems to be overrun with new ice
cream flavors, yet manufacturers say that to stay competitive, they need to
continue adding new flavors to their production. Ben & Jerry's begins each year
with an idea bank of 150 to 200 potential new flavors.
"We whittle our list down to just a handful," explains Ben & Jerry's development
director, Mary Kamm. "Our new flavors just making their appearance in the
supermarket right now are actually the result of a year's worth of work. We pay
close attention to culinary trends around the country, and conduct market
research to see which concepts are the best. We even tested a jalapeño sorbet
once."
There is no Ben & Jerry's Jalapeño on this year's hit
parade, but there are four new premium ice creams:
Triple Caramel Chunk, a caramel ice cream with a swirl
of caramel and fudge-covered caramel chunks.
Southern Pecan Pie, a brown sugar ice cream with
pecans and chunks of pecan pie pieces and a pecan
caramel swirl.
Bovinity Divinity, a milk chocolate ice cream with white
chocolate cows swirled with white chocolate ice cream
and dark fudge cows.
Pistachio Pistachio, a pistachio ice cream with lightly
roasted whole pistachio nuts.
Godiva is one of the latest manufacturers of sweet
stuff to jump into the freezer. The maker of gourmet
chocolates and coffees has joined up with Dreyer's and
is selling what it calls ultra-premium ice cream. The new
lineup includes Belgian Dark Chocolate, Chocolate
Hazelnut Praline, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Pecan
Caramel Truffle, Ivory Chocolate Chip and White
Chocolate Raspberry.
As best as we can tell, ultra-premium ice cream isn't
nutritionally different from super-premium ice cream. A
4-ounce serving of Haagen-Dazs chocolate
(super-premium) contains 270 calories and 18 grams
of fat. An equal serving of Godiva Belgian Dark
Chocolate (ultra-premium) has 280 calories and 17
grams of fat. When you're dealing with numbers that
high, 10 calories and a gram of fat aren't going to
make a big difference.
At $3.30 for a 12.5-ounce carton, Godiva's
ultra-premium ice cream costs slightly more than
Haagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry's, which come in
16-ounce containers for about the same price.
Not all ice creams are created equal. There are choices
in today's ice cream case to suit a variety of consumer
tastes. Here's what they all mean, according to the
FDA:
Ice cream is a frozen food made from a mixture of
dairy products, containing at least 10 percent milk fat.
Low-fat ice cream contains a maximum of 3 grams of
total fat per serving (1/2 cup).
Nonfat ice cream contains less than 0.5 grams of
total fat per serving.
In addition, there are commonly used marketing
phrases that describe ice cream products in terms of
"quality segments," such as super premium (or ultra
premium), premium and economy. These distinctions
are based on the quality of the ingredients, package
style and how much air is incorporated into the
product during its manufacturing.
In the ice cream industry, the amount of air that is
whipped into the product is called the overrun. Adding
air, or overrun, is important because air keeps the
product soft enough to serve and eat. Overrun is
governed by federal standards that limit the amount of
air allowed in a product labeled as ice cream.
Super-premium ice cream tends to have very low overrun, higher fat content
and uses top-quality ingredients. That list would include such brands as Ben &
Jerry's, Haagen-Dazs and Godiva.
Premium ice cream tends to have low overrun and higher fat content than
regular ice cream, and uses high-quality ingredients. Premiums are brands such
as Dreyer's Grand and Breyers.
Economy ice cream meets required overrun and generally sells for a lower price.
That list would include brands such as Borden, Sealtest or Meadow Gold.
Besides ice cream, the frozen food cases also include some other products that
are similar to ice cream.
Frozen custard or French ice cream is required to contain a minimum of 10
percent milk fat, as well as at least 1.4 percent egg yolk solids.
Sherbets have a milk-fat content of 1 to 2 percent and a slightly higher
sweetener content than ice cream.
Gelato is characterized by an intense flavor and is served in a semi-frozen
state. Gelato contains sweeteners, milk, cream, egg yolks and flavoring.
Sorbet and water ices are similar to sherbets, but contain no dairy ingredients.
Frozen yogurt consists of a mixture of dairy ingredients such as milk and
nonfat milk, which have been cultured, as well as ingredients for sweetening and
flavoring.
Cream of the crop
It was impossible to get through every single new ice cream flavor on the
market this summer, but here are a few that we liked best.
White Chocolate Raspberry
Made by Godiva
Price: $3.30 for three-quarters pint
Bad news: One serving is 250 calories, 110 of them from saturated fat. That's
36 percent of your RDV for fat.
Good news: This could be the best ice cream ever made -- except, of course,
for chocolate. Generous swirls of raspberries are marbled throughout. It's
Kosher.
Pineapple Coconut
Made by Haagen-Dazs
Price: $3.20 a pint
Bad news: There are 230 calories in a serving, 120 of them from saturated fat.
One serving supplies 40 percent of your RDV for fat.
Good news: Sweet, juicy pineapple is blended into coconut-flavored ice cream.
Close your eyes and you'll think you are on a Hawaiian beach sipping a piña
colada.
Java Chip
Made by Starbucks Coffee
Price: $2.70 a pint
Bad news: One serving is 250 calories, 120 of them from saturated fat. That
supplies 42 percent of your RDV for fat.
Good news: Coffee lovers will be in heaven. The flavor is like unsweetened
coffee but with generous amounts of sweet chocolate shavings.
Chocolate Chocolate Fudge
Made by Haagen-Dazs
Price: $3.19 a pint
Bad news: Each serving has 290 calories, 180 of them from saturated fat.
That's 55 percent of your RDV for fat.
Good news: Chocoholics may find that one serving is plenty. It's dark and
creamy with a semisweet fudge generously swirled through the chocolate ice
cream.
Triple Caramel Chunk
Made by Ben & Jerry's
Price: $3.30 a pint
Bad news: There are 290 calories in a serving, 140 from saturated fat. That
supplies 60 percent of your RDV.
Good news: Caramel lovers will flip. It's caramel ice cream with a thick swirl of
creamy caramel. Scattered throughout are chunks fudge-covered caramel.
Belgian Dark Chocolate
Made by Godiva
Price: $3.30 for three-quarts pint
Bad news: A mere 280 calories per serving, 110 from saturated fat. That's 36
percent of your RDV for fat.
Good news: This is a good one if you like semisweet chocolate. It's made with
melted Godiva semi-sweet chocolate so it's a dark chocolate color. It's Kosher.
Italian Roast
Made by Starbucks Coffee
Price: $2.70 a pint
Bad news: Just 230 calories a serving, 110 of them from saturated fat. One
serving is 34 percent of your RDV for fat.
Good news: Take a whiff and you'll think you've just opened a sack of dark
roast coffee beans. If you are looking for something that's not so sweet, this is
a good choice.
Bovinity Divinity
Made by Ben & Jerry's
Price: $3.30 a pint
Bad news: There are 290 calories in a serving, 160 from saturated fat. That
provides 64 percent of your RDV for fat.
Good news: Milk chocolate ice cream with white chocolate cows swirled with
white chocolate ice cream and dark fudge cows. Yes, the chocolate chips are
really shaped like little cows.
Note: A serving is a half cup, which everyone knows is just enough to get you
through the opening credits of a good tear-jerker movie. RDV is the
recommended daily value. All of the ice creams listed here were readily available
at local supermarkets, however prices did vary slightly.
FROSTY ICE CREAM PIE
Prep time:25 minutes. Cook time:25 minutes. Makes 2 pies or 12 servings.
Think creatively. Baked with fudge frosting and just a little water, a chocolate
cake mix makes two fudgy shells for ice cream pies. This recipe is from "Pillsbury
Best Desserts" by the Pillsbury Company, published by Crown Publishing
Group.
Ingredients:
1 (1 pound, 2.25-ounce) package, pudding-included devil's food or dark
chocolate cake mix
1 (16-ounce) can chocolate fudge frosting
3/4 cup water
11/2 quarts (6 cups) ice cream, slightly softened
Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease bottom, sides and rim of two
9-inch pie pans. (Do not substitute 8-inch pie pans.)
In a large bowl, combine cake mix, 3/4 cup of the frosting and water; beat at
low speed until moistened. Beat two minutes at high speed. Spread half of the
batter in the bottom of each greased pan. Do not spread the batter up the
sides of the pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or just until center is set. Do not
overbake. Cakes will collapse to form shells. Cool one hour or until completely
cooled.
Spoon ice cream evenly into each shell. In a small saucepan, heat remaining
frosting over low heat just until melted, stirring occasionally. Drop by
teaspoonfuls over ice cream; lightly swirl with tip of knife to marble. Freeze
about one hour or until firm.
Serve immediately or cover and freeze until serving time. If necessary, let pie
stand at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Per serving: 454 cal.; 5 g pro.; 72 g carb.; 17 g fat (7 sat.; 4 monounsat.; 2
polyunsat.; 4 other); 29 mg chol.; 523 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 34 percent calories
from fat.
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