I decided to purchase store bought ice cream after years of just buying from places like Cold Stone. It seems to me most ice cream manufacturers have very soft ice cream now despite storing it in a freezer for a week straight. I could easily drop a spoon in the tub and watch it cut straight through to the bottom. The consistency is now kind of disgusting because it feels like I’m eating whipped cream instead of something that should be semi solid. So far I’ve tried Tillamook, Dryer’s, and Target’s in house brand and they all have that same mushy texture.
Before anyone suggests it’s my freezer, I’ve kept it relatively uncluttered and everything else stays frozen just fine. I also make sure not to purchase those tubs of “Frozen Dairy Dessert”. What happened? Is this some cost cutting measure or are customer’s preferences really going to extremely soft textures?
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I can buy some ice cream and put it in my freezer, and it’s extremely soft, I can just put a spoon in it with no resistance. I put that exact same ice cream in my parents freezer and it gets so hard that I can’t even scoop it with an ice cream scoop unless I let it thaw out for a few minutes. The temperature it’s stored at absolutely plays a huge difference.
All ice cream (and related desserts) will get harder as they get colder. This is because more water freezes and the fat viscosity increases. If your ice cream isn’t hard enough, your freezer isn’t cold enough.
Take a reliable thermometer and check the temp of your ice cream tub. Is be willing to bet it’s a lot warmer than the USDA recommended 0°F (253 K).
All ice cream (and related desserts) will get harder as they get colder.
It feels like you’re comparing ice cream/desserts that are completely frozen to ice cream/desserts that are partially frozen, which is not what this post is about…
Although if the ice cream does get slightly liquidy before re-freezing, it will be much harder than it was before. This is why one of the most important factors when making ice cream is to continually mix up the ice cream while it freezes.
It’s your freezer. I’ve also been buying Tillamook lately because it is softer and creamier: I can scoop it with an ice cream scoop. I certainly can’t drop a spoon in it, nor can I usually scoop it without destroying a normal spoon. I have to assume that you’re either using hyperbole or your freezer is not working correctly
Yes.
Many products are now whipped to increase the volume with less product as a form of shrinkflation and/or include ingredients to reduce ice crystal formation from repeated melting and refreezing to reduce waste and the impact of understaffing in supply chains and grocery stores that lead to product being left out for extended periods. Haagen Dazs recently finally converted all of their flavors. The plain vanilla and vanilla swiss almond were a few of the last ones to change. But it’s been a slow progression of different manufacturers over the last couple of decades really.
It’s sad because ice cream is my favorite dessert. I eat a lot of it, or at least used to. There are only a few brands with a few flavors remaining that make good “hard” ice cream outside of ice cream shops. But the good shops are so expensive.
Where are you finding this magic ice-cream. I fucking love soft fluffy ice-cream but everything i buy turns to stone in short order.
You may also have a freezer not working correctly: should follow OP’s recommendation of de-cluttering, but also clean the door seal and make sure it’s in good shape, and remove any ice accumulation.
Most consumer freezers will run a de-icing stage. They intentionally warm up for a little bit to melt accumulated ice. However when you melt ice cream then refreeze without churning, it freezes harder. A non-cluttered freezer should complete its de-icing without melting ice cream. A freezer with an effective door seal will have more consistent temperatures (and use less energy), without melting ice cream.
Alternatively, many chest freezers do not have a de-icing cycle so ice cream should remain softer despite the lower temperature those run at. Unfortunately I can’t claim to have verified this because ice cream gets consumed too quickly and never makes it to the chest freezer
I’m actually using a cheat freezer, it’s brand new too lol. I’m pretty sure the ice-cream gods just hate me
If you really want it harder, you can just turn your freezer’s temperature lower.
Of course store-bought ice cream is soft. Have you noticed that they sell ice cream by volume and not by weight? They just add some more stabilizers, and basically “blow up” the mass with Nitrogen. Every liter of Nitrogen is a liter of ice cream more sold. Basically profit from the air. It is hard to get a cheaper ingredient except maybe water. And that is a bit harder to conceal.
Several years ago when I lived in PA I frequented an independent ice cream shop that made their own in house. He complained about all the air added to commercial ice cream lately. He had a conversion rate for how many pounds a gallon should weigh and would weigh his containers to ensure he sold the correct amount. Some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had, and had exotic flavors too such as Kulfi (cardamom) and ginger. Search Nutz about Ice Cream in Bethlehem PA. I was just thinking about him the other day and his ginger ice cream. The eggnog at the end of the year is amazing too. The “regular” flavors year round are good as well. I know he ships across the country, I’ve never looked into it yet.
Oh man, I used to be able to get ginger ice cream at our local Trader Joe’s! (Ginger people brand) that was so damn good!
Before anyone suggests it’s my freezer, I’ve kept it relatively uncluttered and everything else stays frozen just fine. I also make sure not to purchase those tubs of “Frozen Dairy Dessert”. What happened? Is this some cost cutting measure or are customer’s preferences really going to extremely soft textures?
It’s both. Commercial ice cream is either overchurned to add more air, making it lighter and softer, or uses a lot of additives. You have to buy “premium” brands to get real ice cream, or get it from a local ice cream place.
It also sounds like your freezer is not cold enough. I know because I’m dealing with a similar issue. My freezer is cold enough to keep everything frozen, except ice cream. My freezer was only getting down to 20°F which is cold enough for most things, but ice cream needs 0°F to stay frozen/hard. It’s time to buy a new freezer.
Dunno, I don’t eat ice cream much anymore, but this sounds preferable to the solid blocks that bend spoons and you need steel wedges and a splitting maul to get out of the carton.
Varies a lot by brand. Some brands started whipping more air into the chemical slurry they call ice cream in order it to rip us off. You can tell by the weight. Try the heavier pints.
Might depend on the flavor as much as anything else. I buy the Tillamook Mountain Huckleberry from time to time and never noticed it being soft.
Ingredients are pretty much what I expect from any good ice cream:
https://www.tillamook.com/products/ice-cream/mountain-huckleberry
“Cream, Skim Milk, Milk, Sugar, Huckleberries, Water, Pasteurized Egg Yolks, Cornstarch, Guar Gum, Vanilla Extract, Citric Acid, Tara Gum, Natural Flavor, Fruit Juice (color).”
Your fridge is not working like it should.
The ice cream I buy is always either so hard your spoon bends or so soft I have to check if the freezer is working. Idk if it’s a brand thing or what.
Could be your freezer cycling up and down. Mine gets real warm right after I load in a week of groceries. I also should probably store more stuff in the freezer for thermal mass.
Do buy in bulk and until recently we only had the little freezer on top of the fridge, so that could very well be it.
Luckly we just recently got one of our big freezers moved into the basement and just got another old one.
I fill milk cartons with water and freeze to fill the voids. Added benefit of having ice blocks for camping/tailgating.
I usually have to set mine out for a while to not bend my spoon, and we usually just get whatever’s on sale or store brand. 🤷🏻♂️
You want Trader Joe’s. That stuff is so hard that I often use a hot scoop to get it out. I’m OK with a slightly softer texture. Tillamook is my go-to brand. I’ve never found it to be absurdly soft, but it is easier to scoop than a Häagen-Dazs or TJ’s.
