[Magdalen] Creme de la Creme.

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

I've had occasion to taste and evaluate the two national (USA)
premium ice cream brands this week.  True, there are other  national
brands, but they don't have quite the same exalted reputation.
 
The brands are Haagan Daz and Ben and Jerry's.
 
I think the best way to evaluate ice cream is to sample their vanilla
flavors.  IMHO this is the basic ice cream, and if the brand  doesn't
do well with vanilla, the rest of their production is suspect.
 
I thought this would be a quick and easy toss-up, but it wasn't.
Both brands melted in the mouth, but there the characteristics of
each brand surfaced.
 
Haagan Daz (which I understand is an artificial term made up to
give a sort of Scandinavian luster to the brand) melted away in
the mouth and left a faint vanilla taste but no other residue.   The
vanilla flavor was good but not overpowering.  I sampled the
plain vanilla flavor; they have a vanilla bean flavor, as well.
 
The Ben and Jerry's, OTOH, melted in the mouth but left an odd
oily, even waxy residue.  The vanilla flavor of the Ben and  Jerry's
was so subtle as to almost be non-existent, leaving an egg and
cream taste, not necessarily bad, but not identifiable as vanilla.
 
I looked at the ingredients, and found oils and wax listed for the
B&J but not the Haagan Daz.  
 
I'd therefore rate the Haagan Daz as the superior product since
I didn't find the oil/wax consistency pleasant.
 
I know that B&J's has a lot of unusual and unique flavors, but
I wonder if they haven't forgotten about the basic ice cream in 
their rush to mix in all sorts of stuff?
 
 
David S.