Breyers Ice Cream was on sale again at Safeway: buy one- get one free. I couldn’t pass up a good deal. I bought some French Vanilla and some Mint-Chocolate Chip. You’ll have to wait for the review of the mint-chip, as today I’ll tell you about the French Vanilla.

Breyers French Vanilla is similar to Breyers Vanilla Bean in that it had vanilla bean specks and now our favorite tara gum. But, it tastes thicker, creamier, and custard-like. (And has a few more grams of fat and calories than the natural vanilla.) Not knowing what makes “French Vanilla” “French” I Googled it. Answer Bag had the answer:

“What is “french vanilla”? What is different about it from regular vanilla?”

Chef Ottevanger answered:

“The difference is lots more egg yolks.”

This makes sense when one considers that French Vanilla is actually “not a type of vanilla. It is a term used to describe an egg-custard base for ice cream.”

Also:

“French vanilla” is often used to designate preparations that actually have a strong vanilla aroma, and possibly contain vanilla grains.”

So, there you have it. French Vanilla has more egg yolks which would explain the texture feel and taste. It’s a good flavor to try if you’re in the mood for plain vanilla ice cream. However, I wouldn’t recommend it for malts, sundaes, etc. It’s too strong.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Originality: 1.5
• Texture: 4
• Overall: 4
• Cost: 5.99 or free (buy one get one free sale at Safeway)

Now that the tara gum and other additive controversy has taken hold, I have made a point to check labels when at the supermarket. Not long ago I was at Whole Foods and noticed that their Breyers Natural Vanilla didn’t have tara gum in it. I immediately purchased it. At home I compared it to the Breyers Natural Vanilla I already had in my freezer (with tara gum). The containers look virtually identical (though not quite). However, the expiration date on the more recently purchased ice cream (without tara gum) was 6 months earlier than the date for the container with tara gum. This lead me to conclude that either a) the ice cream I had gotten without tara gum was made before the ice cream with tara gum and had just been distributed later b) the ice cream without tara gum goes bad more quickly than that without and/or c) Whole Foods can still get the ice cream without the tara gum. Quite frankly, I have no idea what the answer is. I can, however, tell you the difference in taste as I tasted them side by side (in a blind taste test so I didn’t initially know which was which).

Breyers with tara gum tastes different than that without. No question. It is creamier, but not it a good way. It has an artificial texture to it. You know when you’re eating the inside of an Oreo or Twinkie and you just know it isn’t natural, it’s got a lard-ish texture, creamy, but in a sticky way. That’s what it feels like– a little sticky. It also tastes slightly less intensely vanilla. I’m not sure if that is because of the tara gum or a new freezing method. Breyers Natural Vanilla with tara gum doesn’t taste like Breyers Natural Vanilla anymore. It reminds me more of the yellow-colored artificial vanilla ice creams. It’s not nearly as bad as those, but it’s not very good. Unilever needs to bring back Breyers Natural Vanilla Bean without tara gum.

From now on I am going to start buying Turkey Hill Vanilla Bean. I don’t know how extensive their distribution is in DC I have only found it at Shoppers. But, it doesn’t have tara gum and tastes much better than the new Breyers. Actually, my top choice for vanilla would be Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean. Unfortunately, that has too many calories for a daily scoop. What other gum-free vanilla ice cream brands have you found that you would recommend?

The ice cream container on top contains tara gum, the one pictured below it does not.

I had forgotten how summery strawberry ice cream is.  When I was younger I used to get strawberry ice cream from the Lake Harriet concessions stand and walk around the Minneapolis lake with my family.  Eating Breyers Strawberry ice cream brought those summer memories back.  Breyers Strawberry has a creamy strawberry flavor.  Not intensely strawberry, but subtle in the way it blends with the cream.  There are a good number of chunks of strawberry, but not so many as to ruin the creamy texture.  I really enjoyed this ice cream and how refreshing it tastes.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $5.99 at Safeway

Since Edy’s slow churned thing has created such excitement, it seems everyone wants a share.  After trying Breyers Double Churned Chocolate, I’m not so convinced that it’s anything special.  The only thing I can really say about the consistency is that it is softer.  This ice cream wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be.  It was softer and a little fluffier (not a lot, just a little fluffy).  The flavor was good.  A hot coco milk chocolate flavor.  I just wasn’t left feeling like Breyer’s double churned was anything different.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $1.79 on special at Safeway

There’s nothing quite like ice cream to soothe a sore throat and tonsillitis. Who needs chicken noodle soup when you have Breyers Natural Vanilla? Continuing with the saga of super cheap Breyers ice cream on sale at Safeway, today I went for the “pure” stuff: just milk, sugar, cream, and vanilla bean. It is this simplicity that lends the “natural” to Breyers Natural Vanilla. (Breyer’s Natural Vanilla now contains additives.  See discussion below). The vanilla flavor isn’t extremely strong, it’s more of a plain flavor (like when you buy plain instead of vanilla yogurt). It was still quite good, but there is something about the texture that makes it different from other vanilla ice cream. I think it’s maybe that they use skim milk. Like the Breyers Cookies and Cream, it’s just tastes a little watery. But overall, it’s a light tasting, not too vanillay, vanilla ice cream that I really enjoy.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 3.5
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 1
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $1.79 on sale at Safeway

I wouldn’t call it Rocky Road, I’d call it Chocolate and Almonds. But, who am I to decide what to name Breyers ice creams? This is day two of four in my taste tests of Breyers ice creams. It’s not that I was dying to try any of the Breyers flavors, but the Safeway down the street had its grand re-opening this weekend and half gallons of Breyers were $1.79; down from their usual price of $5.99. I would have purchased more than four, but there’s not enough room in my freezer for all of this ice cream…

The Breyers Rocky Road looked particularly “gourmet” and so I decided to give it a shot. It is chocolate ice cream with marshmallow twirls and chocolate covered almonds. The difference between a “twirl” and a “swirl” is unknown to me, but either one wouldn’t have replaced real marshmallows in my ice cream. The twirls of marshmallow had no distinctive flavor or consistency and I think the ice cream would have been better off without them. However, the chocolate covered almonds were amazing. The chocolate covering was on the sweet side and was about the thickness and texture of the chocolate that covers chocolate covered raisins. And, there were a lot of them. Truly, the chocolate covered almonds were good. While it was littered with these wonderful “accessories”, the chocolate ice cream still stood its ground. It was rich and flavorful and even creamy. Overall, though Breyers Rocky Road wasn’t really deserving of the “rocky road” title, it was still quite scrumptious.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 3
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $1.79 on sale at Safeway

Very Mediocre. That’s the way I’d describe Breyers Cookies and Cream. The cookies don’t have a very strong, or tasty, cookie flavor. I mean what we are really going for when we say “cookies” is Oreo cookies, right? All cookies and cream ice cream uses cookies that try to taste like Oreos. But they never seem to measure up. That is especially the case with the cookies in Breyers Cookies and Cream. They are almost flavorless and very mushy. But there are a lot of them in there, and the ice cream itself is pretty good. My only complaint about the ice cream itself (as opposed to the stuff in the ice cream) comes from a general feeling about Breyers ice cream: it’s kind of watery. I’m not sure what it is, but Breyers has always tasted a little less than creamy. It’s more like drinking skim milk when you’re used to 2% or maybe even whole. When it comes to ice cream, I usually prefer the 2%.

• Flavor: 3
• Flavor Intensity: 2.5
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 3
• Cost: $1.79 on sale at Safeway

I’ll be honest here. When something is called “Very Chocolate Cherry” I expect it to be “very chocolate” with some cherry; not very cherry with a little chocolate. But that’s what this is: very very cherry. If you like cherry flavored things, than this is for you. If you don’t stay away. Personally, I love Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. It was the first ice cream I ate when I came home from Ireland. Why? Because it’s practically one of my comfort foods. However, I don’t like all cherry flavored things, say Cherry Runts. Not a fan. Regardless, I could have gone either way with the cherry part of Breyer’s Very Chocolate Cherry. Well, turns out I didn’t like this cherry. I don’t know what it was about it, maybe it tasted too much like real cherries to me. It was intense. It was also smooth and the chocolate chunks weren’t too bad. But, I didn’t like it. It might be good in an ice cream sundae or maybe in a malt, but not on it’s own.

• Flavor: 2
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 3
• Overall: 2.5
• Cost: $5.99 at Safeway