Which Ice Cream Packs Flavor, Least Fat?

Everyone has a food they hate. But nobody -- at least nobody I've ever met -- hates ice cream. It may not be your very favorite dessert. It may be something you haven't eaten in years, but you don't hate it.

According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the average American consumes 21.2 quarts of ice cream per year, for a total of 1.6 billion gallons. The favorite flavor, as it has been as long as such statistics are kept, is vanilla, with 26 percent of the market.

That figure includes all the vanilla ice cream pumped into ice cream sandwiches, Nutty Buddy cones and the like. It's a safe bet that actual home-purchase consumption is a bit more varied, if you go by the way your average grocery store freezer is stocked.

However, every maker sells vanilla, so any self-respecting flavor test must include it. My panel tested plain vanilla and "chunky" ice creams loaded with extras. Ben and Jerry's "Vanilla For A Change" flavor was awfully tough to find, however.

The real difficulty came in comparing "chunky" flavors. In the end, every brand got a fair shot. Moose Tracks, that classic combination of fudge, peanut butter cups, chocolate and various other ingredients, served as a starting point. Three of the brands actually had a "tracks" flavor of some sort.

The tasting panel consisted of four adults, and each flavor was rated on flavor and mouth feel on a 1-10 scale, for a possible perfect score of 80.

Not-So-Plain Vanilla

Anyone can load handfuls of chunks and gobs of swirls into ice cream, but it takes real artistry to make the perfect vanilla ice cream. Contrary to its reputation, vanilla is actually a very potent flavor, and too much of it can overwhelm the taste buds. Too light a touch and you're left eating frozen milk.

Breyer's Homemade Vanilla: (all nutrition per ½ cup serving) 140 calories, 7 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium.

Breyer's has come out of nowhere for me. A few years ago, I couldn't find it anywhere. Now it's all over, with some of the most kicked-up flavors around. What I didn't suspect was that the vanilla would be absolutely sublime. With a mouth feel that earned a near-perfect 39 out of 40 points and an exquisitely balanced vanilla flavoring, Breyer's took the category by a wide margin with a total of 73 points.

Edy's Grand Vanilla: 140 calories, 8 grams fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 35 mg sodium.

Edy's Slow Churned "light" ice cream is a personal favorite. However, the vanilla left quite a bit to be desired. The flavor was described as "plastic" and "metallic," and the mouth-feel was a bit rubbery before melting. The final score of 38 was the second-lowest.

Blue Bunny Homemade Vanilla: 150 calories, 7 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium.

Blue Bunny's ice cream treats are some of the tastiest around, and the vanilla -- contained in a lot of those treats -- continues the tradition. The mouth feel was a bit of a weak point, being somewhat blah according to the testers, but the flavor was outstanding, garnering 36 out of a possible 40 points. The overall score was 56, for second place.

Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean: 290 calories, 18 grams fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 75 mg sodium

Here's a fun fact for you: Haagen-Dazs is not an imported ice cream. It originated in New Jersey. The company claims the origins of the Scandinavian-sounding name are a mystery, but there's no denying that it has lured in customers by the millions looking for supposedly imported gourmet goodness.

However, Haagen-Dazs delivers in richness and flavor, especially in caramel-infused flavors. The Vanilla Bean, however, despite having by far the highest calories and fat of any tested, scored a third-place 54, hurt by a "cloying" flavor and "greasy" mouth feel. I guess there is such a thing as too much butterfat.

Pet Vanilla Bean: 140 calories, 8 grams fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 45 mg sodium.

Pet is best known for evaporated milk, millions of cans of which dance off store shelves every holiday season for all manner of rich casseroles and desserts. They also make ice cream, however the test results indicate they might want to stick to the canned dairy products. The mouth feel and flavor were both spurned by the testers, and the total score of 47 put Pet in next-to-last place.

Full Circle Organic Vanilla: 150 calories, 8 grams fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 45 mg sodium.

This ice cream reminded me strongly of the first time I tried to make homemade ice cream and didn't stir it properly. The texture was ruined by ice crystals that formed in the mixture. The flavor, which I'd derived from imitation vanilla, was best not spoken about.

Full Circle scored a last-place 36, which is especially notable because the Full Circle products tend to be the most expensive in the freezer case.

The Chunkies

Ben and Jerry, bless their furry little New England souls, changed the world of ice cream with their insanely loaded pints of decadence. My personal favorite, Chubby Hubby, was actually conceived as a joke: pretzels, peanut butter and fudge jam-packed into delicious malt ice cream. It's like an ice cream addict's fantasy come true.

While not every one of B&J's flavors tickle my tastebuds, in general, they are the ones I turn to when it's time for some serious indulgence.

Going into this test, I was convinced ahead of time that Ben and Jerry's Turtle Soup would walk away from the field. I was mistaken.

Breyer's Brownie Mud Pie: 140 calories, 4.5 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium.

This flavor is truly remarkable, and not just for the taste. By using light ice cream as a base, Breyer's comes up with the same calorie count as its vanilla and less fat per serving. The flavor is still outstanding, and the mouth feel of the ice cream is every bit as rich and smooth as its fatter counterparts. Brownie Mud Pie netted a total score of 74 out of 80, winning the category easily.

That's a sweep for Breyer's.

Pet Moose Tracks: 190 calories, 12 grams fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 65 mg sodium.

Pet's vanilla difficulties continued here, with the chocolate fudge ribbon having a jarringly over-sweet taste that bulldozed all the other flavors. The texture didn't improve from the vanilla offering, and Pet netted a last-place 51 points.

Edy's Grand Turtles: 160 calories, 9 grams fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium.

There was certainly nothing wrong with Edy's offering. It was just unremarkable. The much-vaunted Nestle turtles didn't impress as much as the candy bits in other offerings, although the texture was quite pleasant. The amount of bits, even near the bottom of the container, was fairly small, also. Edy's Grand Turtles got a fourth-place score of 59.

Ben & Jerry's Turtle Soup: 240 calories, 15 grams fat, 60 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium

The Vermont gourmets put forth a hearty, satisfying effort here, but the mouth feel was a bit too heavy. Super-premiums like B&J and Haagen-Dazs are much higher in fat, leading to additional richness, but sometimes that works against a harmonious flavor picture.

The Turtle Soup still scored a respectable 69 points to land second place.

Blue Bunny Bunny Tracks: 190 calories, 11 grams fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 95 mg sodium

Blue Bunny's next-to-last-place finish was truly surprising here, as the brand's Peanut Butter Panic is a staple in my freezer. The problem here was actually a bit of overkill, with too many flavors stomping on each other. A bit more ice cream to separate the mass quantity of chunks would actually have been welcome. The final score was 53, but I may have to conduct a retest at some point -- purely for scientific reasons.

Haagen-Dazs Caramel Cone: 320 calories, 19 grams fat, 100 mg cholesterol, 190 mg sodium.

America's older gourmet ice cream fared pretty well with this entry, with the famous smooth Haagen-Dazs texture peppered with outstanding bits of chocolate-covered waffle cone and nutty bits. The caramel flavor of the ice cream base was a bit too sweet for two of the testers, but the pint still scored a 68 to nip at the heels of Ben & Jerry's for third place.

Remarkably, the clear winner in both tests was not of the super-premium, high-butterfat brands. While both of those fared well, Breyer's was in both cases the clear winner.

My apologies to fans of Blue Bell, Mayfield and other regional brands. This was a face-off among the national heavyweights. No insult or disparagement whatsoever is implied, especially to the two outstanding brands mentioned above.