Can store bought ice cream be better than some ice cream from an ice cream shop or soft serve? Can it be better than some frozen yogurts which are very popular these days?
My opinion? Definitely. Fresh and Easy's Ice Creams are a tasty option in the store-bought category. It's more expensive than the competition at $3.99 a tub
Due to the fact it was recently on sale (and even once mistakenly put on sale as 1.99...which they then had to retract), we stocked up, getting the two tubs of ice cream you see above. Previously, we had tried the Neapolitan ice cream which allowed us to sample three flavors. We liked the vanilla and chocolate flavors the best though. Strawberry, the third flavor, actually has real pieces of strawberry in it, but there is only a hint of strawberry flavor in it. I wish they can some more strawberry juice or strawberries into the ice cream for more strawberry flavor; otherwise, it tastes more an ice cream base with only a hint of strawberry.
An interesting thought on scooping the ice creams: after getting the ice cream, we went to another place for about 15 minutes until finally opening the ice cream. The vanilla ice cream was easy to scoop; it was creamy, and the scoop was able to handle the ice cream easily. (unusually, the vanilla ice cream can also be quite easy to scoop straight from the freezer) However, with the chocolate ice cream, one will still need to apply some more pressure in order for the scoop to scoop ice cream.
After scooping we put both scoops in one bowl for a comparison test. Do you see how the chocolate looks more firm with more of the ripples, while the vanilla ice cream has very little ripples?
The vanilla ice cream this time had much more vanilla bean in it this time- there were a multitude of specks, which we did not see that much of before. Fresh and Easy also claims they use bourbon vanilla extract for the ice cream, but on the ingredient list it just lists it as vanilla extract. No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives too, which is not too common among most store bought ice creams. Many use artificial colors and flavors, which is a bit unusual.
With so many specks this time in the vanilla bean ice cream, the ice cream definitely had a very vanilla-y flavor. It was also very creamy with a milky flavor too. We have eaten the vanilla ice cream with some warmed-up nutella before- a tasty topping.
Fresh and Easy's chocolate ice cream uses dutch cocoa as well as no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
What is interesting about Fresh and Easy's chocolate products is that they are all very, very chocolate-y. It's not just this product; their dark chocolate gelato is almost as flavorful as eating real chocolate! This was definitely chocolate-y, but it was toned down a bit compared to the dark chocolate gelato; it however used to be just as potent (probably toned it down due to high cost). Fresh and Easy's chocolate cream tends to be firm and a bit creamy, but not as creamy as the vanilla ice cream.
Comments
Haha...my favorite is vanilla too :).
And there is ton of vanilla bean specks! Incorporated really well too :).