Chocolate Ice Cream
Vanilla ice cream may be the standard-bearer, but it’s chocolate ice cream that arouses passion. With the freezer case practically buckling under the array of brands, though, which one should you buy? To find out, we gathered the eight best-selling chocolate ice creams—pitting premium brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs against mass-market choices like Edy’s and Turkey Hill—and called 22 lucky cooks and editors from America’s Test Kitchen for a blind judging. We thought the premium brands would easily best the mass-market ice creams. As it turned out, the qualities that define “premium” were not decisive.
Every product in our lineup uses Dutch-processed cocoa powder as its sole source of chocolate flavor, so it’s not the type of chocolate that distinguishes premium ice creams. It’s richness, which comes from the presence of egg yolks (mass-market brands replace egg yolks with emulsifiers), and lower overrun, the industry term for the amount of air churned into ice cream. Premium brands, such as Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs, have about 25 percent overrun (meaning that added air increases the volume by just 25 percent) and are dense and creamy as a result. Lighter, fluffier mass-market brands have overruns that approach 100 percent. Our winner had the lowest overrun (22 percent) in our lineup and also contained egg yolks. Still, our overall rankings showed that neither of these factors was significant. Why?
Because while our tasters did care about texture, their overriding passion was for deep chocolate flavor. Mass-market brands, which finished just behind our winner, may be light, fluffy, and sweet, but they definitely taste like chocolate. One ice cream, despite its density and decadence (it had the most fat per serving), had wan chocolate flavor. Manufacturers are reluctant to share information about the type and quantity of their cocoa, but chef Jerome Landrieu of Barry Callebaut’s Chicago Chocolate Academy tells us that flavor and texture vary hugely as a result of the cocoa used: “Cocoa that is drier has less fat and can result in grainier ice cream. Different cocoa powders have very different flavors and intensities.”
So if, like our tasters, you want deep chocolate flavor, go for our winner; pick up our other favorites if you prefer lighter, sweeter, but still very chocolaty ice cream.
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RECIPE
Grasshopper Ice Cream Cake -
RECIPE
Magic Vanilla Ice Cream -
TASTE TEST
Supermarket Vanilla Ice Cream
| Product Tested | Origin | Price* | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highly Recommended | |||
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Columela Extra Virgin Olive OilOur favorite premium extra-virgin olive oil from a previous tasting, Columela is composed of a blend of intense Picual, mild Hojiblanca, Ocal, and Arbequina olives. This oil took top honors for its fruity flavor and excellent balance. Tasters praised its “big olive aroma, big olive taste” with a “buttery” flavor that is “sweet” and “full,” with a “peppery finish.” One taster said: “It’s very green and fresh—like a squeezed olive.” Another simply wrote: “Fantastic.” |
Spain | $19 for 17 oz |
| Recommended | |||
|
Lucini Italia Premium Select Extra Virgin Olive OilTasters noted this oil’s flavor was “much deeper than the other samples,” describing it as “fruity, with a slight peppery finish,” “buttery undertones,” and a “clean, green taste” that was “aromatic, with a good balance.” “It has the flavor that some good EVOOs have,” said one admiring taster. |
Italy | $19.99 for 500 ml ($39.98 per liter) |
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Colavita Extra Virgin Olive OilVirtually tied for second place, this oil was deemed “round and buttery,” with a “light body” and flavor that was “briny and fruity,” “very fine and smooth,” and “almost herbal,” with “great balance.” “Good olive flavor. I could smell it and taste it,” approved one taster. In a word, “pleasant.” |
Italy | $17.99 for 750 ml ($23.98 per liter) |
| Recommended with Reservations | |||
|
Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive OilA clear step down from the top oils, tasters noted “overall mild” flavor and “very little aroma,” with only a “hint of green olive” and a “hint of spiciness at the end.” In pasta, it was initially “not complex,” but gradually “bloomed in your mouth.” Overall, it was “worthy of a second bite.” |
Italy, Greece, Spain, and Tunisia | $12.49 for 750 ml ($16.65 per liter) |
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Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive OilWhile some tasters found this oil “sweet” and “buttery” with “medium body” and “slight spice at the end,” others complained that it had “zero olive flavor” and was “so floral it’s almost like eating perfume”; still others noted a “bitter” aftertaste. In pasta, it was “extremely mild” to the point of being “boring.” |
Italy, Greece, Spain, and Tunisia | $10.99 for 750 ml ($14.65 per liter) |
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Goya Extra Virgin Olive OilComments: The best comments tasters could muster were “mild” and “neutral.” Some liked it on pasta (though one called it “Snoozeville”), but complaints were myriad: “metallic,” “soapy,” “briny,” “hints of dirt.” Carped one taster, “I can’t imagine what is in here, but they have a nerve calling it EVOO.” |
Spain | $13.99 for 1 liter |
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