"chocolate ice cream" news and stories

Who makes the best chocolate ice cream? Following up on our taste test to find the best vanilla ice cream, we decided to tackle chocolate. We gathered 16 different brands from local supermarkets in New York and New Jersey and even had ice cream express delivered from Texas (most brands we tested are available nationwide).

After a round of testing among the editors of Slashfood and KitchenDaily, we did another blind taste test with our co-workers here at AOL. More than 20 people showed up to determine which brands were the best and worst. The editors rated each brand on a scale of one to five for texture and chocolate flavor. Then we asked our coworkers to rank their favorite and least favorite brands from one to five. The top pick for each category received five points, the second four points, the third three points and so on. The highest score for each category translated to the worst and best choices. We've included the final score for each pick so you can see how close the race was for certain brands.

In the end, we came up with one overall winner and loser.

Supermarket chain Kroger Co. recalled containers of its Kroger Deluxe Chocolate Paradise Ice Cream because it may contain tree nuts not listed on the label, the Huffington Post reported.

Customers allergic to tree nuts "could have a serious or life-threatening reaction if they consume this product, " the company said in a statement. Customers who are not allergic to tree nuts are not affected.

The affected ice cream was sold in Kroger markets in 17 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Customers can return the ice cream -- Kroger Deluxe Chocolate Paradise Ice Cream in 48-ounce containers with a sell-by date of Jan. 24, 2011 with UPC Code: 11110 50712 -- to Kroger stores for a full refund.

Happy National Chocolate Ice Cream Day!

Though ice cream varieties cover the rainbow these days -- no longer limited to black or white, chocolate or vanilla options -- chocolate is an eternal favorite, especially as the varieties of chocolate ice cream available become more unique and exciting.

It's obvious people are fanatic about chocolate ice cream -- as made apparent by the vast, tempting variety of chocolate ice cream recipes posted on our Slashfood Flickr pool. We would imagine some of these exciting recipes might even sway the vanilla inclined. Proceed with caution...

• Nutella Ice Cream
• Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream
• Chocolate Daim Ice Cream
• The "Best Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Ever"
• Dark Chocolate Ice Cream with Cocoa Nibs
• Chocolate Mocha Mint Chunk Ice Cream
• Chocolate, Bananas and Baileys Ice Cream

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured on the site.

What does your favorite ice cream flavor say about you?

To help find out -- and to promote three new ice cream flavors -- Starbucks brought in StrategyOne and Food-ology researcher and behavioral food expert Juliet A. Boghossian, who authored the "What Flavor Are You?" survey.

"The seemingly simple preference for vanilla, chocolate or strawberry ice cream says a lot more about us than you might think," Boghossian says.

Every so often I go through phases where I try to reduce the amount of refined white sugar I eat (this is obviously not one of them, given the fact that I was baking a cake last night). It's during those times that I've acquired a variety of different sweeteners, including sucanat (basically slightly healthier cane sugar), a very large bottle of honey and a smaller squirt-bottle of agave nectar. I'm not a huge fan of the chemically constructed artificial sweeteners, I've never been able to get over their bitter aftertaste, so I haven't done any cooking with them.

Agave nectar (Nicole wrote about it here on Slashfood last February) has become my favorite substitute for sugar in drinks like iced tea and chai and now the very clever David Lebovitz has found a way to use it in agave-sweetened chocolate ice cream in order to create a frozen treat that rests at the low end of the glycemic index. I think I need to make room in my freezer for my ice cream bowl and try this one out.