Ice cream, anyone?

Well, it's official.  Summer is here.  Can you believe those 100+ degree temperatures all across the country this week?  And, of course, with summer comes ice cream.  There was a time (in my previous life) where ice cream lived in my freezer in gallon tubs and we served it up in soup bowls.  But now that I'm much more conscious about the affects of sugar on health... no, I haven't given it up altogether.  I just buy it in pint tubs now instead of gallons, and I serve it up in custard cups instead of soup bowls.

Not only do I pay attention to serving sizes (did you know a serving is a half cup?), but I'm also more than a little concerned about the ingredients.  Have you actually paid attention to what makes up ice cream these days?

I counted 35 ingredients in the Kemps' Cookies N'Cream ice cream shown in the picture.  

The first question that comes to mind is, wouldn't it be less expensive to make if they didn't put in all those nonessential ingredients?  I mean, really, when did ice cream makers decide that guar gum (or tara gum, or locust bean gum, or any other gum) was crucial to the manufacturing of ice cream?

There are 16 ingredients in Kemps' vanilla ice cream (17 if you count mono and diglycerides separately)—you can't get more plain than vanilla:

Milk fat

Non-fat milk

Sweet cream buttermilk

High fructose corn syrup

Corn syrup

Whey

Maltodextrin

Mono and diglycerides

Natural flavor

Artificial flavor

Tapioca starch

Guar gum

Locust bean gum

Carrageenan (a thickener)

Annato color

Sucralose

Do they really need high fructose corn syrup AND sucralose?  And what about the maltodextrin?  It's a corn-based sweet additive-- so we have three kinds of sweeteners derived from corn plus an artificial sweetener.  In addition to these dubious ingredients, this tortured desert also includes trans fats in the form of mono and diglycerides.  What? You didn't know those were trans fats?  It says 0 trans fats on the label, doesn't it?  (Are we being deliberately misled?)  Finally, is it really necessary to put COLOR in vanilla ice cream.  What's wrong with the naturally occurring color of milk -- white?  Why in the world do manufacturers put all those ingredients into a product that requires only five basic ingredients—milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla?

Most of the brand-name ice creams are similar, I just happen to be picking on Kemps.

So (you're probably thinking), why not buy organic ice cream?  That would be better, right?  Okay, maybe.   Julie's Organic vanilla ice cream is made with only 8 ingredients, all prefaced with the word "organic" (except for the gum):  cream, skim milk, evaporated cane juice, egg yolks, vanilla extract, carob bean gum, guar gum.  Then I'm left to wonder... what does "organic" milk mean?  Is it from grass-fed cows, because it doesn't SAY milk from pastured cows?  What exactly makes it organic?  Is the label "organic" just an attempt to greenwash the food?  Who knows?

Now, what if you're allergic to milk products?  No problem, there's a whole spectrum of ice cream substitutes made from soy "milk," or almond "milk," or rice "milk," or coconut "milk," or hemp "milk."  Did I miss any? Each one is made with a laundry list of ingredients--and, yes, they all have some form of gum in them.  Since my husband is allergic to dairy, I've tried a few of them that I've purchased for him.  Each has its own distinct taste based on the main "milk" ingredient; and while they are all cold, not a one of them matches up to the lovely taste of real unadulterated ice cream made from cow's milk.  

...Unadulterated, being the key word.  And while I don't usually push a brand (and certainly don't get money or brownie points for doing so), occasionally, I just have to share my discoveries.  In my long and ardent search, I have found only one (so far) ice cream brand made the old-fashioned way, with simple essential ingredients-- Haagen-Dazs.  Haagen-Dazs brand vanilla ice cream has five—that's right, 5, not 17—ingredients.  They are:  skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.  My favorite is the Haagen-Dazs Coffee.  It also has five ingredients:  skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and coffee.  And their strawberry ice cream, which I haven't tasted yet but plan to soon, has five ingredients:  skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and ... strawberries – not strawberry flavor. The only catch is that it's not organic, and the milk is likely not from grass-fed cows.  But on the bright side... it has no guar gum, which counts for a lot.  When it melts, it looks and feels like cream, not goo.

Well, have a very happy 4th of July!  Be safe.  Enjoy your ice cream in moderation... and watch out for the guar gum.