What Is Your Ice Cream Metric?

Parent Cafe
41

It amazes me how many ice cream brands have popped up in the last 5 or so years, even at giant chain stores like Albertsons. You used to only see like 3 or 4 brands tops… now there are probably at least a dozen. Tons of different types too: frozen yogurt, custard, low carb, gelato, etc.

To be honest, I like pretty much all of it (even though I rarely eat the stuff). The only one I tried that I was not a fan of was this super low carb “Arctic…” something or another. My favorite is probably Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food… mmmmm

42

I’m thinking @myloves must be a fellow Ohioan! YES, to Graeter’s as well - so many “chocolate chip” flavors!!!

http://www.graeters.com/our-handcrafted-ice-cream-flavors

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You got it, @abasket ! We have such good choices here.

44

When I was growing up, we used to go over to the dairy barn on the Michigan State campus and get fresh-made ice cream and visit the cows. Our town also had a great frozen custard place, where the hoods hung out (such as they were.)

The best custard I’ve found lately is Andy’s Frozen Custard which opened a place near where we used to live. Nothing like that out here in San Diego, but we did recently get a Hammond’s which imports their ice cream from Hawaii. Apparently they ship it in using the containers that are coming back empty after shipping frozen products to the islands, so they get a good rate. They sell flights - tiny cones in some very unusual flavors.

One of my favorite recent ice creams is StoneCold Fudge Truffle, which is only available around Valentine’s Day. It’s intensely rich, like a top gelato. And the best gelato I’ve had was from a little shop in an alley in Fort Lauderdale.

45

Yes

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I like ice cream but it has to be the good stuff to be worth the calories.

Here are my ice cream particulars:

Cake cones are gross. Must be a sugar cone when getting ice cream out. Just a bowl when at home.

No soft serve for me. Only premium ice cream or high quality gelato. I’ve tried frozen custard while visiting the midwest from all the famous places but it just doesn’t do it for me.

Store bought - I’ll go for Haagen Dazs or Ben and Jerry’s or a locally made product sold in stores

We have a summer only ice cream drive-in stand in the town I grew up in which is 1 hour away. They make their own ice cream and generously scoop it. It’s my favorite and I’ll go there a few times during the summer.

Flavor preferences lean towards the coffee (although I don’t like or drink coffee) and chocolate based flavors. Chunks of stuff can be good.

Plain vanilla premium ice cream is a must on warm fruit crisps, cobblers, and pies. No to ice cream with cake.

I do occasionally make homemade, hand churned ice cream in the summer. Great stuff. Uses eggs but they aren’t raw since they are cooked into a custard base.

My dessert of choice for a last meal on death row would probably be a hot fudge brownie sundae but I am very particular about the components, see below.

When I entertain, I often do an ice cream sundae bar which is universally appealing to all ages. Several types of premium ice cream including vanilla, coffee, chocolate, maybe strawberry and dulce de leche. Several homemade ice cream sauces (hot fudge (basically ganache), pecan praline, peanut butter, strawberry), freshly whipped cream (no cool whip, no stuff from a can), tasted nuts, cherries. From scratch, warm brownies as a base. Good stuff. Never fails to make people happy. Foreign visitors especially enjoy it.

47

Elaborating slightly, I usually prefer the exotic flavors, although most will do. Best I can remember recently was on a college visit (on topic?) at Princeton, the bent spoon.

Dark chocolate habanero, lemon avocado, coffee goat caramel.

Probably the real reason I lamented DS '14 getting rejected by Princeton.

48

Oh, yeah, @thumper1 ! I forgot to list East Coast Custard! Yum! I’m all about the turtle sundae there.

@Dave_N , you’d like Jeni’s, then.

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@doschicos, please, an invite to your next sundae bar!!!

H went to Michigan State and yes, I well remember the dairy store there that sold huge ice cream cones of very creamy delicious ice cream at a very good price- if I remember correctly, black cherry was a huge favorite!

50

I remember visiting Cornell as a prospective (back in the day) and enjoying ice cream at their dairy lab. As a grownup I got the best ice cream at UW-Madison when I was there for a conference. I have to say I love Graeter’s buckeye sundae. Yum-o.

51

Yup… good thing we no longer live near Babcock Hall anymore, either! But we always stop in any time we’re up in Madison for nostalgia!

52

When I think of places I have been, ice cream plays a role. When I was in college (MIT), a Saturday afternoon trip to Bailey’s for vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce was a luxury. We stood in line at the original Steve’s on hot summer nights. When my kids were little, we lived a very short drive from a farm stand (now Kimball’s in Carlisle, MA) and often indulged. They were open from Memorial Day to Labor Day and we always went on opening night, even if it was cold and rainy. When my daughter was looking at colleges and we stopped at Smith, I wanted her to go there just because there was a Herrell’s in town (and I took home three jars of their hot fudge sauce). Here in Portland, Salt and Straw has a few flavors I really like, and my rule is that I have to go there by bike AND then bike home. Otherwise, I’d go too often! (Worse, they’re across the street from Portland’s finest pie shop. It’s always a decision. One or the other or both?)

I will also admit to a fondness for Dairy Queen’s chocolate-dipped cones, the ones with the waxy, vaguely-chocolate, probably bad-for-you hard shell coating. It’s a vice I try to hide from my family.

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@doschicos, what’s your favorite brand of vanilla ice cream to go with those pies and cobblers?

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During college, I worked for Dairy Queen in two summers. We could eat as much as we wanted. So not really much of a treat for me nowadays, although I can still get that twist at the top at self serve machines.

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@dmd77 The answer is definitely both! You’re biking it off after all, right?! :wink:

I have only frequented DQ about every 5 years in my adult life, but I do have a thing for those Buster Bars with the peanuts and caramel. A lot of it is nostalgia.

@katliamom As far as vanilla goes, for stuff available in my local grocery store, my preference is for Haagen Dazs over B&J. They also sell a local brand from Maine, Gifford’s, but the company has grown a lot and I find it isn’t quite as good as it used to be.

56

I haven’t tried B&J vanilla; I like HG, but also Bryer’s, with vanilla bean.

The ice cream I like the least is Dryer’s… the texture seems gummy to me, the flavors fake. OTOH, my in-laws love it. Go figure.

57

If you compare the Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen Daz labels these days, HG is a lot more straightforward, which is easy to notice on something simple like vanilla. I still like my Cherry Garcia and Phish Food, though. :slight_smile:

I’m not a fan of Breyer’s. I think for bigger, cheaper tub ice cream that Friendly’s is better.

58

This thread saved 4 pints from melting on me. I got home from the grocery store and the phone rang. 30 minutes later I pulled out my iPad and saw this thread. It reminded me I hadn’t put the ice cream I bought in the freezer. ( I only bought ice cream since I read this thread first before going to the grocery store)
I bought 2 pints of Ben and Jerrys and 2 pints of Talenti. Both brands were on sale. We have a local brand MCConnells (Turkish coffee being the best ) that we love but the pints have reached 8 bucks so I don’t buy it unless it is on sale. I also like to try small brands that our smaller grocery store sell if the price is decent. I usually stick to coffee whether plain or with chocolate chips. If I’m serving cobbler or a crowd I buy Haagen D vanilla and coffee.
Not much soft serve in my area. We used to have Fosters Freeze. When my H and I were first dating we would go and share a hot fudge sundae.
My girls are big ice cream eaters. H and I not as much. A pint will last in our house for weeks if the girls aren’t visiting. H likes to eat his out of a tiny bowl. If we go out for ice cream I usually get a cup. H a sugar cone. Kids like a waffle cone if Dad is paying.
During my recent trip to France I had Apple gelato several times. Served with a scoop of salted caramel. Yum. I didn’t think I would care for the apple but it was divine.

59

McConnells, yes!! Summer cobbler flavor, please (raspberry and peach).

60

I should have known better than to start reading this thread! I’m visiting my parents for a few days and @myloves and @thumper1 have reminded me that East Coast Custard is less than a mile away. How can I arrange to stop there and Honey Hut before I leave tomorrow afternoon?
Other happy ice cream memories…Bridgeman’s in Northfield, MN in the late '70s, adzuki bean ice cream from Ashley’s in New Haven, Ted Drewes in St. Louis, the bent spoon in Princeton.
My office is above an ice cream shop, but I pretend it isn’t there.