It’s hot, and ice cream sounds perfect. I know because I’ve researched it for the past few months. Some 95% of us in the U.S. eat ice cream—whether purchased at a store or ordered at a restaurant. That’s according to a consumer survey conducted for the Mintel report I wrote, Ice Cream and Frozen Novelties—U.S., July 2012.
Flavor is the most important thing we look for when we buy ice cream, followed by price. That elevated interest in price has the Ben & Jerry’s, Edy’s/Dreyer’s and Breyers of the world a little concerned. They know and you know that perfectly delicious store-brand ice cream is available for cheaper.
- Almost half (49%) of survey respondents say that private label/store-brand ice cream is just as good as name brands.
- Worse for the brand manufacturers, 67% of consumers prefer to buy whatever ice cream is the best value/price.
- But not everyone is entirely price focused. Some 67% also are willing to spend more on better quality ice cream.
- If you are one of those who looks closely at the label to see if you can pronounce all the ingredients, you’re not alone. A high 48% look for all-natural ingredients.
- What about the effects on our waistlines? Only 38% look for reduced/low fat and/or reduced sugar ice cream. (There’s obviously a time and place for suspended concern over diet and weight.)
Indulgence often reigns when eating out, and flavorful who-cares-about-calories ice cream is well represented in restaurants. I talked to innovative chefs who make their own ice cream for the July/August article I wrote for National Culinary Review magazine.
From a culinary perspective, fat and sugar are where the flavor is and can easily be maximized.
- Jeffrey Jake at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif., makes olive oil ice cream using the olive oil produced right there at area wineries. He says the olive oil has buttery qualities with a slight almond flavor.
- And why not foie gras ice cream? Chef John des Rosiers of Inovasi, Lake Bluff, Ill., and Moderno restaurant in Highland Park, Ill., developed foie gras ice cream with pepper almond brittle to go with seared hot foie gras, so the customer experiences it two ways.
- He also makes bacon ice cream in which he sous vides the bacon to separate the fat. He mixes the fat into the base and tosses in chopped bacon as it spins.
- Goat cheese also makes interesting ice cream. Jeffrey Jake at Silverado Resort and Spa makes goat cheese ice cream using goat cheese from a popular local dairy and serves it with very rich chocolate and red wine pudding.
- Going from fat to sugar, pastry chef Tom Laurell at Chicago’s Bin 36 makes marshmallow ice cream, which he toasts off at the end with a blow torch to create a brown, toasted skin.
- Baklava ice cream makes perfect sense at the Greek restaurant Molyvos in New York. There chef/owner Jim Botsacos takes the trimmings from his perfectly shaped baklava and adds them to a syrup he folds into his vanilla ice cream base. Hey, he’s saving waste. Eat up.
If you’d like to read more about these interesting ideas, click on my article at the right “The Scoop on Ice Cream.”
Then tell me what you think.
Jody
Comments