And the winner in the chocolate category is ….. drum roll, please …. Friendly’s  Classic Chocolate!

Late last September I entertained a moment of frivolity and decided to pursue my own personal ice cream taste challenge, based on a link a friend had sent me where brands had been rated, first chocolate, then vanilla. Recently, I was asked whatever happened to that? I did take the challenge – tough as it was, consuming chocolate ice cream – I just never posted the results. So here we have them.

Although I never did get down to Trader Joe’s to sample their chocolate, and I did have to substitute Blue Bunny for Blue Bell, I still sampled the site’s top ranked flavors. Being a huge Haagen Dazs fan, I was pretty sure that it would rank tops on my personal list, but it did not. Indeed, the Friendly’s Classic Chocolate was the best in my book, too! Creamy, chocolate-y and quite yummy!

As for vanilla … I did try Haagen Dazs, (not exactly for the first time!),  Blue Bunny and Friendly’s Vanilla. I’ve had Breyer’s in the past and there’s so much air, it’s soup in a short time. Friendly’s? Can’t really compare to their chocolate.  But my vanilla fave, and I wasn’t surprised, is Haagen Dazs. So rich, creamy and vanilla-sweet.

Someday I hope to sample Trader Joe’s, and I will continue in my research, sampling both flavors because …. well, it’s ice cream, and it’s there! Happy summer scooping!!

It’s not that I don’t have more serious things to write about, (Ooooh, like a great movie I just saw!), but sometimes, who wants to be serious!?

Not long ago, a friend had sent me a link where the staff had conducted a taste challenge for chocolate ice cream – a delicious subject for both my friend and me. It didn’t take long to see that these folks had also reviewed and rated vanilla ice cream! In vanilla they only rated 4, not 5.  Though one brand of ice cream is not sold in my area at all – no prob, I have a substitution in mind – and another can only be found an hour away, I decided to do my own rating. Ahhhh, what a dreary task – consuming and rating ice cream!

Below are the rankings for the ice cream as slashfood.com rated them. So far, I have consumed and ranked 2 of them, with my next food shopping bringing home  a third selection.

Chocolate Ice Cream:
1. Friendly’s Classic Chocolate
2. Trader Joe’s Ultra Chocolate (Nearest Trader Joe’s is an hour away in Princeton – I’ll get there!)
3. Turkey Hill Dutch Chocolate
4. Haagen Dazs  Chocolate
5. Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate (not in this area, planning to substitute Blue Bunny)

Vanilla Ice Cream:
1. Trader Joe’s French Vanilla
2. Stonyfield Farm’s Gotta Have Vanilla
3. Blue Bunny Homemade Vanilla
4. Haagen Dazs Vanilla

Perhaps you’d enjoy this little taste test at your home – enjoy! I’ll be back with results when I’m done.