"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.

We're the first ones to admit when we're wrong. Heck, we actually enjoy it because it just means that we've found something more delicious. Last week, we posted our Vanilla Ice Cream Taste Test and within 24 hours, we had hundreds of comments telling us we had missed a crucial brand of ice cream: Blue Bell.

We didn't leave Blue Bell out purposely. The Slashfood staff is located in New York City, therefore, we don't have access to many of the brands available in the south or even the west. But since there was such an outcry for Blue Bell, we immediately went to their website and ordered ourselves four half-gallon tubs. We focused on the Homemade Vanilla and Natural Vanilla Bean flavors.

We dug our ice cream scoop into both on Thursday afternoon -- along with our editor's pick, Breyers -- for a scoop-to-scoop match-up.

Did we make a mistake or do we still think that Breyer's is the best one vanilla ice cream? Find out after the jump ...

Who makes the best vanilla ice cream? In the hot summer months, walking down the ice cream aisle of a supermarket can make your head spin -- so many flavors and varieties to choose from. Slashfood decided to help you narrow those possibilities down. We took the most simple flavor -- vanilla -- and put it to the test. Did you know that vanilla ice cream is the most popular flavor of choice? In fact, "30% of Americans prefer vanilla over any other flavor," John Harrison, Edy's flavor guru, says.

We gathered 16 different brands from local supermarkets in New York and New Jersey (most brands are available nationwide), and rated them on a scale of one to five for creaminess and vanilla bean flavor. After the editors did a round of testing themselves, we decided to organize a blind taste test with our co-workers here at AOL. More than 20 people showed up to determine which vanillas were the best -- and which ones were deemed the worst.

In the end, we came up with two winners for the best -- the editors chose one and the testers chose another -- and one for the overall worst (we were all in agreement there).

After the jump, our picks for the best and worst vanilla ice creams ...

• If you've bought an ice cream cone recently, you may have experienced a little sticker shock.
• As long as we're on the subject, have you had egg-free ice cream lately?
• L.A. has been taken over by guerillas -- in the form of LudoBites, and they like it.
• California Chardonnays aren't what they once were, and for some people that's a good thing.
• Tamarind Tribeca takes you from Punjab to Madras to Calcutta.

Happy National Ice Cream Sandwich Day!

Making use of childhood appeal and refreshing freezer temperatures, ice cream sandwiches are the pinnacle of summer desserts. The playful portable treats can easily be made two ways: either by simply stuffing individual soft-baked cookies with tablespoonfuls of ice cream and freezing or creating two pans of rolled-out cookie sheets, icing the bottom layer with ice cream, topping it with the second cookie pan and freezing.

Get inspired by these quirky ice cream sandwich recipes or do your own mix-and-matched concoctions!

• Lemon ice cream sandwiches with raspberry-swirl (pictured at left)
• Brownie-mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches
• Chocolate macaroon ice cream sandwiches with caramel ice cream
• Gingerbread cookies stuffed with vanilla ice cream
• Vanilla ice cream with ginger-molasses cookie sandwiches
• Mango-curry ice cream sandwiches with gingersnaps
• Gingersnap lemon sherbet sandwiches

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