Ice Cream Tasters: Two Dips Ice Cream Tasters

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FEATURED ICE CREAM REVIEW

Edy's 'Slow Churned Light Strawberry'

"America loves strawberry ice cream, so we set out to make the best version around! Sweet, creamy and bursting with great strawberry taste... how can the fruit lover in you resist? With 50% less fat and 30% fewer calories than regular ice cream, you can't!"
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KRIS - Total: 10 (out of 20)
Consistency/Texture 2
Presentation 3
Taste 2
Value 3
Edy's has come out with a new line of Grand Light ice cream that promises all the taste of a "full-fat" ice cream. Has Edy's cracked the code? They boast a new process of slower churning and colder processing that will make the light ice cream taste more like traditional ice cream but with 50% less fat and 33% less calories than our favorite fatty flavors. There are 15 flavors of Grand Light to choose from; we chose Strawberry.

What better way to kick off the summer than to sit down with a nice bowl of classic strawberry ice cream? Who doesn't love strawberry? We uncapped the container to find a bubble-gum pink ice cream with darker pink swirls. I never knew a strawberry to actually swirl into streaks before, but maybe it was a puree? The carton certainly smelled like strawberry, mmmm, mm!

The ice cream had also pulled away from the side of the carton just a little at the top. Again, this is probably due to the amount of air in the slow churned processing of the ice cream The air looses its position in the ice cream and escapes, causing shrinkage.

The taste of the ice cream was a little disappointing. I had expected a truer strawberry taste. Unfortunately, I found I could taste the creaminess over the strawberry. The flavor reminds me of a Dreamcicle, but instead of orange and cream flavors, this is strawberry and cream. The consistency is hard to describe. The ice cream filled my mouth such that it was hard to manipulate the movement of it around. It didn't really melt too much. It was as if I had two large marshmallows in my mouth. I couldn't chew or swish the ice cream to one side and it wouldn't melt. The forced me to take baby bites. It was very odd.

The strawberry gel threw me off too. Remember the puree swirl? It was more like a thin strawberry jam swirl. I did not like this feature at all. Strawberry ice cream should have real strawberries in it. When I scooped a spoonful out trying to get a bunch of the jelly substance, as the spoon went deep under the swirl, it caused a strawberry jam-like eruption at the surface. What was this? This freaked me out. The taste of the gel blended with the rest of the ice cream. It held no punch. I was not impressed. All I can assume is that including this strawberry wave is a way to sweeten the ice cream.

The packaging was eye-capturing and definitely conveyed that this was a new ice cream using a new technique. The price was right. Edy's does very frequent promotions in the grocery stores. At least once a month I can find a "buy one get one free" offer on all Edy's brand ice cream.

If I was rating light ice creams, Edy's Grand Light Strawberry would fare just fine. However, I am observing all ice cream, so I have to give this flavor a less-than-desirable critique. I missed the strawberries, got freaked out by the gel and the texture for me was all wrong.
- Kris
FRED - Total: 18 (out of 20)
Consistency/Texture 4
Presentation 4
Taste 5
Value 5
Maybe I was just ready for some old fashioned, good tasting, smooth, rich, and delightful ice cream after the bad experiences Kris and I had with the Blue Bunny and Keto brands of Cookies and Cream. Or maybe this really was some good ice cream. No matter what the source, Edy's Grand Light Slow Churned Strawberry ice cream (the name itself is a mouthful!) was a welcome and wonderful change from the series of disappointments we had to start out our Summer Celebration Ice Cream Party.

From the outside, this is your typical Edy's Grand Ice Cream container; typical off-white base with a striped lid. However, on a nice swooping pink graphic, the words "Rich and Creamy" and "Slow Churned" stand out and piqued my interest in this ice cream. Let me say that given my choice, I'm going for the vanilla and chocolate sections of Neapolitan ice cream. It's not that I dislike strawberry flavor -- I enjoy strawberry jam with peanut butter on a sandwich and I like a good strawberry daquari -- but I've never been a fan of strawberries, the fruit, and I've always preferred the other 2/3 of that all-time favorite. So while the container had me interested in its contents, I was a bit hesitant about the impending tasting experience.

Upon opening the container of Edy's Grand Light Slow Churned Strawberry (breathe), my interest was further piqued by the appearance of this ice cream. It was a light pink in color and had some deep pink swirls that curved around the top. Looking back at the side of the container, I was pleased we had finally found another ice cream that looked on the inside just as it did on the outside. Truth in advertising!

So on to the tasting. The reason I have written so much to this point is because there's not much to write about the taste of this ice cream other than my initial comment: "Hell yeah! This is strawberry!" And it was! Every last bite of this ice cream tasted just like I expected and just like I like my strawberry to taste. It is important I say that it tasted just like I like MY strawberry to taste because, as I mentioned before, I'm not a huge fan of strawberry. Given a strawberry ice cream, I don't want to find huge chunks of strawberry like I would expect to find cookies in a Cookies and Cream ice cream. I want the flavor more than I want the strawberry. I want hints here and there of strong flavor mixed in with the subtle flavor. This is my idea of strawberry ice cream and Edy's Grand Light Slow Churned Strawberry (breathe) delivers!

Aside from the taste, there are other aspects of this ice cream that I thoroughly enjoyed. This ice cream has a wonderful consistency. From the first bite to the last, I had the same flavor experience and had the same amounts of swirl. Also, I'm usually one to go for the more firm ice creams, but I was pleasantly surprised by the smoothness of this ice cream. When you swallowed a melted bit, it was like drinking a strawberry malt; so smooooooooooooth. Though it doesn't replace what I normally like in my ice cream's texture, it was still good. Some of you may think I'm odd, but when I was a kid, I would occasionally snag a bit of butter and eat it. It's a wonder I never keeled over from an instant heart attack since my mom used the REAL butter, not the fake stuff. Anyhow, if any of you out there have ever had a bit of butter to eat, you'll be glad to know that this ice cream has the same texture and smoothness as a bit of butter. For those of you who have never tried this, you'll have to take my word for it and trust me that this is a good thing.

Overall, I was blown away by Edy's Grand Light Slow Churned Strawberry (breathe) ice cream. I'm wondering if it is simply coincidence that this is the second Edy's strawberry ice cream that has had this effect on me -- Dreamery's New York Strawberry Cheesecake being the other one -- or if I should open my eyes and realize that maybe I'm okay with all parts of a Neapolitan ice cream as long as it's a good brand. Either way, this ice cream is on my ever-growing list of ice creams to consider when purchasing for my own eating; even if its long name takes up two lines on my list.
- Fred
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