Chasing the Ice Cream Man

Today, I will be testing various brands of Vanilla Ice Cream. The chosen brands are Bluebell, Creamy Creations, and Ben and Jerry’s. The best version will be one that is creamy and soft in texture, has rich flavor, and is pleasing to the palate; containing the perfect blend of vanilla and sugar. In order to make an unbiased decision, I had one of my roommates take a scoop of each brand and place it into three separate bowls. Then, they will label the bowl as 1, 2, or 3. In between each tasting, I will eat a saltine cracker, in order to cleanse the palate and not have remaining taste of any of the previous brand.

            Test bowl “1” contained Ben and Jerry’s Vanilla ice cream. The flavor contained a very vanilla bean like flavor. It tasted as more of a vanilla in the natural form than a vanilla that is loaded with sugar. Textually, it was slightly grainy, and a little rough. Visually, it had brown specs, which I am assuming to be the vanilla bean. Test bowl “2” contained Bluebell. Bluebell’s Homemade Vanilla ice cream had a very smooth and silky texture. The taste was strong vanilla wise, but you also could tell that there was some sugar. It was sweet but not too sweet; it had a very nice blend to it. Visually, it had some ridges, but I think it is to make it look more “homemade.” It was rather white in color, and did not contain specs like the Ben and Jerry’s. Test bowl “3” contained Creamy Creations Vanilla ice cream. Visually, the Bluebell and Creamy Creations looked almost identical. The Creamy Creations had a more sugar taste than vanilla. The vanilla flavor was still there, but it was probably the dullest of the three.

            When looking at the three, I believe that I almost did not like the Ben and Jerry’s just because it had the brown specs in it. To me that was weird and it felt like they were trying too hard to incorporate the vanilla that it became overpowering. I was a little freaked out that Bluebell and Creamy Creations looked almost identical because I had never tried Creamy Creations and I thought Bluebell was one of a kind (it must be that South Texas raising, Bluebell is perfection). I believe I might have had a slight bias however, because I have been raised eating Bluebell and believing it is the best ice cream (I grew up  45 minutes from Brenham, and frequented the Bluebell factory frequently as a child).

            Personally, I enjoyed Bluebell’s Homemade Vanilla ice cream the most. It had a very smooth and creamy texture, and the blend between the vanilla flavoring and the sugar was almost perfect. You could taste both, but the vanilla flavor still slightly overpowered the sugar taste. I would probably buy Creamy Creations again as well, simply because it was very similar to Bluebell, but it was also cheaper. If I was looking for a quick ice cream fix, I would probably buy Creamy Creations over Bluebell simply because of price, but if I were serving it for a party or looking to make an impression, I would choose Bluebell. I absolutely would not buy Ben and Jerry’s Vanilla ice cream again because the vanilla flavor was too strong. I suppose some may enjoy the extreme taste, but I personally could not do it. Bluebell came in first in my taste test, Creamy Creations held a close second, but Ben and Jerry’s didn’t even come in third, even though there were only three options.