Snack Review: Breyers Vanilla Fudge Brownie Ice Cream
OK, this is my own fault. I do nothing but complain about the passing of the Good Old Snacking Days and yelling at those new-fangled ice cream flavors to get off of my lawn. I even wrote in my peach ice cream article about my fear that one of my favorite old flavors, vanilla fudge twirl, might be extinct.
So what do I do when faced by a virtual wall of flavors that includes my favorite old standby? Do I stick faithfully to the old friend when he shows up, after all that complaining that he never calls and never writes? Do I rejoice at his return?
No. What I do is get distracted by all the choices and pick another flavor. Because look - vanilla fudge brownie. It’s exactly like vanilla fudge twirl except that it also has pieces of brownie in it. How can you lose?
Well, it turns out that how you lose is that the little pieces of brownie are so unpleasant that I have to pick them out. They taste very familiar, though - a taste that reminds me that not everything was better in the Good Old Snacking Days. They taste like those little individual packaged supermarket brownies that I have not tasted in years and that I hope, for the sake of America’s snackers, no longer exist.
But otherwise, this is a good old friend. I thought I remembered the chocolate swirl as being darker but I might just be spoiled by all the expensive dark chocolate I’ve eaten in recent years. I like Breyer’s vanilla ice cream - the light texture and clear dairy taste. And I like the contrast of chocolate and vanilla. It didn’t need brownies added to it. What was I thinking?
Further investigation revealed that I would have saved 20 calories per serving (130 without brownies, 150 with) which would have made me even sadder till I remembered I was picking most of the brownies out so, no harm. However, I also found this weird sentence in the online nutrition facts that does not appear on the ice cream carton:
“Nutrition Facts may vary in high altitude areas.”
I’m not sure how this is possible. I know that water boils at a different temperature at a high altitude and that baking recipes need to be changed, but is ice cream digested differently? Inquiring minds need to know, especially: is it fewer calories? If so, how high an altitude do we need? Because I could totally eat my ice cream in the attic if I need to.
5 Comments
Linda on October 23rd, 2008
On the other hand, it could have MORE calories in the attic…
We need to get to the bottom of this!
Angie on October 29th, 2008
Higher altitudes make the ice cream expand. I lived up in the mountains growing up and whenever we bought ice cream in town, by the time we got home, ice cream would expand due to the air pressure and pop the lid off of the top. It was a treat to eat the overflow so we could close the container. I guess more air would mean less calories at higher altitudes?
Linda on October 29th, 2008
OMG really? How high are we talking? I want to see expanding ice cream!
Candy Addict » Snackerrific Roundup: The New Reese’s of the Snack World, How to Lose Weight Without Trying, and Japaenese Syllabic Poetry! on November 7th, 2008
[...] Breyers Vanilla Fudge Brownie Ice Cream [...]
Jenn's An Ice Cream Maker on October 23rd, 2008
Thanks for the review…and the comment on nutrition facts varying at high altitudes.
I’ve never heard of that!
But I’ll totally join you in the attic or on the roof if that gives ice cream fewer calories!