# Is there any real ice cream in stores anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [April 8, 2025, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794 "2025-04-08T13:52:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/41 "2025-04-08T18:40:47Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > My two go-to’s: Häagen-Dazs and Oberweis. If your gonna sin, go top shelf! LOL Yeah - Oberweiss Espresso Caramel Chip (or somesuch) is likely my current favorite. But you gotta hold your nose over the namesake’s politics… (I believe it was sold somewhat recently.) My wife is quite the ice cream snob, but never seems to have difficulty bringing home the good stuff. One brand we used to love but can no longer find it conveniently is [Homemade brand.](https://rechmb.wpengine.com/our-craft-ice-cream/) The stores we used to find it at have stopped carrying it. Can’t swear as to the OP’s purity requirments, but it is good stuff. The chocolate chips are unlike any I’ve found in any other brand. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > And don’t even get me started on the shrinkflation: Drives us absolutely nuts! When is a pint/quart, not a pint/quart? 😠 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/42 "2025-04-08T19:10:02Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Drives us absolutely nuts! When is a pint/quart, not a pint/quart? Mind your p’s and q’s. Yes I know it refers to typesetting not liquid measurements ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/43 "2025-04-08T19:20:17Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Not if you buy some food-grade liquid nitrogen, it doesn’t. It used to take me 30 minutes of churning with my ice cream machine using rock salt and ice. How much faster is it with liquid nitrogen, and how much extra is it going to cost me? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/44 "2025-04-08T19:30:48Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > No they don’t. They use gums to thicken the ice cream. What is wrong with that? The thing is- store ice cream gets shipped and then sits on store shelves. It really has to be a little different than the stuff you make at home. We had some home made ice cream from the back of someones freezer once- and it was just plain wrong. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Isn’t that [beaver ass juice](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/does-vanilla-flavoring-actually-come-from-beaver-butts-180983288/)? Not for decades. And your cite says not used hardly at all. > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Sorry, I can’t answer your OP but I’m curious, is this a bias against anything but ‘pure’ ice cream or are you saying unless it’s pure, it doesn’t taste good? > > Because, personally, I only care about taste and texture, I could care less what it’s got in it. Yes, since you cant taste the tiny amount of gums they use to stabilize the Ice cream- and some use natural gums from seaweeds. > [@Jasmine](#): > > The percentage of cream in an ice cream pretty much determines its quality. Yes, good point. But not the presence of gums. > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > I think the OP’s best hope is to obtain an ice cream machine and go wild. Yep. But even that stuff- while great- cant sit in the freezer for an extended period. ---
**Author:** ![Procacious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Procacious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procacious)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/45 "2025-04-08T19:32:12Z")
As others have said, Breyers used to qualify. Their ads when I was a kid used to have a child reading the ingredients. I remember one in particular, “Milk, cream, sugar, and strawberries.” Now their ice cream is full of extra ingredients, so it isn’t any different than the other brands. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/46 "2025-04-08T19:33:54Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I checked the ingredients list and there are no gums or other artificial ingredients, just all natural ones, but man, gotta watch that fat content. The combination of saturated and unsaturated fats is enormous! Yes. Real ice cream is not a health food. It’s basically a form of candy. Perfectly fine for occasional consumption, not good for you to eat daily. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/47 "2025-04-08T19:44:18Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > It used to take me 30 minutes of churning with my ice cream machine using rock salt and ice. How much faster is it with liquid nitrogen, and how much extra is it going to cost me? I have a friend who does a giant ice cream making party every year, and uses liquid nitrogen. It only takes a minute or so. It’s fun, but also a little scary. The electric ice cream makers are not as fast as liquid nitrogen, but they do all the churning for you. You turn it on, dump the stuff in, and walk away. How long they take varies by model. The commercial ones are incredibly fast, home ones less so. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, since you cant taste the tiny amount of gums they use to stabilize the Ice cream- and some use natural gums from seaweeds. The gums don’t have much flavor, but they make a big difference in texture. And using them makes it easy for the manufacturer to cheat in other ways. Maybe you don’t notice any difference, but many people do. Some prefer ice cream stabilized with gums. (Especially people with bad freezers – the gums really help if your ice cream is subject to defrosting and refreezing.) But others prefer ice cream without gums. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/48 "2025-04-08T20:12:43Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > not good for you to eat daily… Unless you’re on vacation. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/49 "2025-04-08T20:21:13Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > You turn it on, dump the stuff in, and walk away. How long they take varies by model. And what you put in. Be careful when using alcohol for flavor because that stuff will thin out the mix. It’s been so long that I’ve used our Cuisinart electric churn that I don’t recall how long it takes. Stopped using it when we got a new refrigerator/freezer; the churn’s bowl doesn’t fit in the new freezer. We do have a countertop backup freezer now but that’s usually full of other things which don’t fit in the main one. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/50 "2025-04-08T20:28:28Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Or a stand mixer and liquid nitrogen except I have no clue how to get liquid N2 for home use. I once attended a convention where after giving a great presentation with a Van de graaff generator, a science teacher made ice cream for folks using liquid nitrogen. After hours, people lined up in the hall by his door- especially after he said that if you brought your own alcohol he could add it to the miox before freezing. Nucelllo is a walnut lquer. It is amazing when you use it to make ice cream! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/51 "2025-04-08T20:29:51Z")
Would dry ice work for this? It’s certainly less expensive, less dangerous, and easier to find. It can still be dangerous but not as readily or at the scale of nitrogen. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/52 "2025-04-08T20:35:36Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > (I always wanted to try Guinness Stout ice cream). Best ice cream I have ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/53 "2025-04-08T20:40:34Z")
This is my favorite thread this week!! Whoo hoo! I’m eating icecream vicariously thru you guys. (The Lil’wrekker made adult sundaes. A fig newton, a scoop of vanilla, and ½ jigger of bourbon, reveiws were great!) ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/54 "2025-04-08T20:41:22Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The electric ice cream makers are not as fast as liquid nitrogen, but they do all the churning for you. You turn it on, dump the stuff in, and walk away. How long they take varies by model. The commercial ones are incredibly fast, home ones less so. So if liquid nitrogen is not much faster than ice and salt in a non-commercial machine, and presumably costs a lot more, making ice in my freezer is almost free, what’s the point of using it?Is speed really worth the risk of burning yourself in the process? According to one source, “the primary risk associated with liquid nitrogen ice cream is the potential for burns or frostbite from direct contact with the liquid or very cold objects.” No thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/55 "2025-04-08T21:01:47Z")
Liquid nitrogen _instantaneously_ produces ice cream. You just pour some into the liquid mixture. You get a lot of fog and ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/56 "2025-04-08T21:01:53Z")
Tillamook. May be a west coast thing and I do not know what sugar they use, but it is made at the creamery where most of the milk ifrom NW Oregon dairy farms goes. Different cheeses and ice cream. Almost all local milk goes there. If you find yourself in Tillamook, on the Oregon coast, a tour of the creamery should be on your list of things to do. Watch them make cheese, see a bit of history, eat the most excellent ice cream you have ever had. It is a major tourist attraction. If you visit Tillamook (a native name) at the right time of year you may see fountains of cow manure being sprayed out on the dairy fields, you won’t forget that smell. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/57 "2025-04-08T21:13:37Z")
Huh, no, i didn’t say that. I said: > [@puzzlegal](#): > > It only takes a minute or so. It’s fun, but also a little scary. You pour in the nitrogen and stir and it’s ready. It makes good quality ice cream, too. Also, modern machines don’t use ice and salt, they use an electric condenser, like a freezer. They are enormously simpler to use than the rock salt manual things i used as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/58 "2025-04-08T21:19:03Z")
The Tillamook sold in the Midwest contains “Cream, Skim Milk, Sugar, Pasteurized Egg Yolks, Vanilla Extract, Tara Gum, Guar Gum, Natural Flavor” (for Tillamook Old-Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream) Turkey Hill Simply Natural Vanilla Ice Cream is getting hard to find locally, but it contains “Nonfat Milk, Cream, Sugar, Vanilla.” (Watch out because Turkey Hill has another line besides Simply Natural; the “Original Vanilla” in that line has Milk, Cream, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Whey, Nonfat Milk, Cellulose Gel, Cellulose Gum, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Mono & Diglycerides, Carrageenan, Annatto Color, Caramel Color.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/59 "2025-04-08T21:31:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Wegmans’ house brand says it is 99% lactose free. I’m severely lactose intolerant. I’ve had it and I think it’s very good, and never had problems with it. (Try the chocolate.) Since lactose is only 7% of milk, that means the milk is at most 0.0007% lactose. You might think that, but if it’s interpreted the same way as x% fat free, “99% lactose free” means “1% lactose”. > [@dolphinboy](#): > > It used to take me 30 minutes of churning with my ice cream machine using rock salt and ice. How much faster is it with liquid nitrogen, and how much extra is it going to cost me? Maybe a couple minutes, depending on the consistency you like, and liquid nitrogen is only around a dollar a liter. And liquid nitrogen really isn’t very dangerous, if you know how to handle it. There are three potential dangers with liquid nitrogen. The first is the cold, but accidental contact with liquid nitrogen will do much less damage than accidental contact with boiling water, and people handle boiling water all the time, usually without incident. The second danger is asphyxiation, but you can eliminate that just by doing it outdoors, or in a sufficiently-large room. And the third danger is explosion, which only happens if you store it in a container with a screw-on lid, so don’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794/60 "2025-04-08T21:41:34Z")
USDA ice cream standard. It’s worse than you think. > **[IceCreamIngredientStandardseffectiveOctober1977.pdf](https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/IceCreamIngredientStandardseffectiveOctober1977.pdf)** > > 19.82 KB [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-ice-cream-in-stores-anymore/1016794.md?page=4)