Saturday, August 10, 2013

Breyers Lactose Free* Vanilla Light Ice Cream


There are two things people like to talk about on the Breyers facebook page:

1) their immense hatred of frozen dairy desserts.
2) the fact that a giant ice cream company makes two flavors of lactose free ice cream.

I'm usually more than happy to harp on #1, but tonight let's focus on #2 (pfffftttt)

Breyers lactose free* light vanilla ice cream
(the * means it's technically 99% lactose free)


I see vanilla bean flecks!

It looks normal enough and scoops like normal light ice cream. I take a few bites, and, well, it's soft, cold, some vanilla flavoring.... not really sure why they make it a low fat flavor, unless it's easier to get rid of the lactose when using skim milk maybe?

It ain't bad, that's for sure. The texture is obviously not going to be that of regular ice cream, instead there is that bit of unnatural whatever to the texture. I also keep thinking I taste... I don't know. Part of my brain thinks I taste an ice cream cone.

If you have to avoid lactose, you could do way worse then this. One question though. What is lactase enzyme?? According to wiki, lactase helps break down lactose.... ohhhh, they've added lactase enzyme to counteract the fact that there is lactose from the skim milk in here. Wiki says it allows companies to still label things as lactose free despite having a milk product in them. I guess you learn something new everyday! (and learning knowing is half the battle!)

On Second Scoop: Hey there! So, it's not like anyone is going to mistake this for a premium ice cream, it still has that light texture and that bit of skim milk taste to it, but still, for someone who can't handle lactose but doesn't want to resort to say rice dreams or coconut milk ice cream, this is just fine. Plus, with the soft consistency this one has, it leaves the door open for experimentation.
The reality is that if the only two choices you have for ice cream are either plain vanilla or plain chocolate, most likely you're going to get creative at some point. (Full disclosure: I totally stole this idea from Nick, but hopefully he won't get mad at me!) I took the softened base vanilla, threw in some Breyers Mixed Berry Topping, and a bunch of Raspberry fudge creme Oreo chunks. I mixed it all together and then stuck it back in the freezer for a bit.... ok, technically I didn't let it freeze long enough, and I used way too many cookies, but BOOM! I've got me a lactose free berry flavor. The possibilities are endless: jelly, jam, peanut butter, cookies, whatever lactose free product you can get your hands on, it's all fair game.

Verdict? respectable lactose free alternative
Buy Again?  half tempted to try the chocolate one as well

14 comments:

  1. I'm not mad, I'm furious. A plague on both your houses! In all seriousness, I'm just happy it actually worked.

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  2. Do you think you can review more Rice Dream and Almond Dream flavors in the future?

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  3. what are your all time favorite vanillas?

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  4. @stride: I actually have been debating a rice dreams post for about 2 years since it's always in my fridge... I'll try to get it done!

    @Mitch: well for starters it has to make liberal use of vanilla bean. For me, you cant beat graeters plain vanilla ice cream. (I still need to try the talenti version!)

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  5. @Mitch and Dubba: Talenti all the way!

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  6. @nick. The tahitian vanilla bean? it was pretty damn good but at the moment I think HD vanilla bean edges it out. I have not tried graeters though

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  7. @Mitch, Blasphemy! Wait, are you talking about their gelato or ice cream. Their gelato doesn't hold a match to Talenti's but I've never tried their ice cream version.

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  8. I'm guessing you are referring to HD vanilla ice cream. if vanilla is your thing, do yourself a favor and track down plain graeters (no chips). it'll sound dumb, but it's one of my favorite reviews it was just that surprisingly good (and now I've hyped it up to much.... NAH)

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  9. @nick definitely their premium ice cream. their gelato vanilla was decent but i agree it isnt as good as talenti

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  10. @Mitch: I guess I'll have to give their vanilla bean a go next time I see it.

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  11. @Dubba - Reading all the reviews on your blog and other blogs was what convinced me to try Graeters ice cream and Talenti gelato in the first place. To be perfectly honest I have not been impressed with either brand. Graeters Cherry Chocolate Chip did not taste like cherry at all IMHO, and I do not like the 'chips'. They taste incredible, but they are so big that I feel like I'm eating a chocolate bar, not ice cream. The pieces need to be much smaller. I also feel like I need to drink a glass of water after I eat one. I've tried a lot of the Talenti flavors, and I have not been very impressed with the taste or texture. Most of the gelato that I bought had icy spots, not small ones, big ones. If I'm paying more for the product I want to feel like I got my money's worth. And yes, I did try their most popular flavor, the Salted Caramel Truffle, and I HATED it. It tasted like I was eating a cold Goetze's caramel cream. Ugh. Oh well, different strokes and all that. Ok rant over, sorry. :)

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  12. @Data: ha! well educated rants are fine as long as you don't call me names :)

    if you go further back in the graeters review, you'll notice I'm a big fan of their CHIPLESS flavors, I find the chips way too distracting and take away from the amazement that is their french pot process. (why some places don't carry chipless flavors is beyond me)

    as far as talenti, sounds like you are running into the age old problem of not enough people trying it, so you are picking up old product. its not for everyone, I don't think my wife was convinced til she had the banana flavor... and the pops, oooo the pops. caramel cookie crunch is one of my favorites, mint too, but no worries, it's not for everyone.

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  13. I've been buying this all my life due to my lactose intolerants, and I've always loved it! The chocolate one recently came to my area (I've been wondering why there was one flavor for the longest time!) and it's not too shabby.

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  14. Well I did the same thing ......I added chopped oreos to make it my own... I did Luke the taste and texture however I still has..(.excuse my un-lady like manners) but it still gave me gas!!!!! The container is very deceptive....

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