Nostalgia
(Note: I'm using spam-like spelling in an attempt to prevent google-finding.)
Why do companies have to ruin a good thing?
I'm not a gourmand by any stretch of the imagination. I rarely can tell the difference between "fine" foods and cheaper foods. If the store brand is made with enough similarity to the name brand, I won't notice.
This is not true for ice cream.
Now, I am an equal-opportunity ice-cream fan. It doesn't have to be Ha@gen Daas. (Actually, I think HD is over-hyped, like God!va chocolates.) I love soft ice-cream cones in the summer. But I hate the store brands. They use the seaweed & the chemicals & the what-not in an attempt to reproduce the creamy feel of real milk. Ick. Gummy, grainy -- and the taste isn't very good either.
High-end branding doesn't guarentee good ice cream. I've already mentioned the HD. Or the high-end version of 3dy's, Dre@mery -- the one they put in the pint containers and charge more than twice as much for. It's not worth it. It's not as grainy or gummy as store-brands sold in half-gallons, but the liberal Vermont ice-cream makers BJ's, and even HD, taste and feel much better.
But, as I mentioned, it doesn't have to be "gourmet," or whatever the branding word is now. My favorite, for a very long time, was 8reyers. I lovelovelove the Twirl: a perfect combination of vanilla and chocolate, with a lovely, creamy mouth-feel. Not high-end-creamy, but real-milk-creamy. My second-favorite was the mint chocolate chip. Minty, white, and nice big chocolate chips.
No more.
The company has re-formulated its recipe. They now use stabilizers -- some sort of gum -- and the chocolate is now flakes, thin bits of flabby stuff that feel like unmixed stabilizers instead of chips.
Next they'll be making it green.
Ick.
Why do companies have to ruin a good thing?
I'm not a gourmand by any stretch of the imagination. I rarely can tell the difference between "fine" foods and cheaper foods. If the store brand is made with enough similarity to the name brand, I won't notice.
This is not true for ice cream.
Now, I am an equal-opportunity ice-cream fan. It doesn't have to be Ha@gen Daas. (Actually, I think HD is over-hyped, like God!va chocolates.) I love soft ice-cream cones in the summer. But I hate the store brands. They use the seaweed & the chemicals & the what-not in an attempt to reproduce the creamy feel of real milk. Ick. Gummy, grainy -- and the taste isn't very good either.
High-end branding doesn't guarentee good ice cream. I've already mentioned the HD. Or the high-end version of 3dy's, Dre@mery -- the one they put in the pint containers and charge more than twice as much for. It's not worth it. It's not as grainy or gummy as store-brands sold in half-gallons, but the liberal Vermont ice-cream makers BJ's, and even HD, taste and feel much better.
But, as I mentioned, it doesn't have to be "gourmet," or whatever the branding word is now. My favorite, for a very long time, was 8reyers. I lovelovelove the Twirl: a perfect combination of vanilla and chocolate, with a lovely, creamy mouth-feel. Not high-end-creamy, but real-milk-creamy. My second-favorite was the mint chocolate chip. Minty, white, and nice big chocolate chips.
No more.
The company has re-formulated its recipe. They now use stabilizers -- some sort of gum -- and the chocolate is now flakes, thin bits of flabby stuff that feel like unmixed stabilizers instead of chips.
Next they'll be making it green.
Ick.
posted by ceresina at 10:52 AM
1 Comments:
Have you considered making your own ice cream? Basic ice ceam makers aren't too expensive (I've seen the Cuisinart for around $50), and the ice cream can be divine--especially if you go the slightly more labor-intensive route and make a custard base.
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