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Since our opening in January of 2001, we have received compliment after compliment commending us on our farm fresh products. From our milk, to our butter, and everything in between, our calling card after all of these years remains our ice cream.
Anyone who has ever made ice cream can tell you that it is a science. A SWEET science. In my lifetime, I have eaten countless cones of ice cream. I must admit, I have never had a ‘bad’ ice cream. Sure, I have had some flavors that were not that great; but nevertheless, I still managed to finish my cone.
What makes ice cream good? More important, what makes ice cream memorable? Our philosophy at Homestead Creamery is that we want our products to stand out. When you drink a glass of our milk, or eat a scoop of our ice cream, we want you to remember it. So what makes up the sweet science of ice cream?
First and foremost, taste. Ice cream has to taste good. We have spend many hours testing sample batches with different ingredients from various companies and I personally have tried to taste every single batch (no need to thank me, it was my pleasure) to decide which flavor matched our ingredient and taste profile on what we wanted our ice cream to taste like.
Secondly, texture plays a huge part in your ice cream enjoyment. When you eat ice cream, to be memorable, it needs to be creamy and rich. The FDA has a set of legal limits on the labeling of dairy products. For example, to be labeled Ice Cream, it must contain a minimum butterfat of 10%. Anything less than that cannot be labeled as ice cream. If you have ever tried 10% butterfat ice cream, you would notice that it has a thin texture, and it does not coat your tongue much. As you go up in price and quality of ice creams, 12%, 14% butterfat, you will begin to see the texture get creamier and the taste get richer. Now imagine if the butterfat level was at oh, say, 17%. What you get is an unbelievably creamy, silky smooth, super-premium, ultra rich, frozen delicacy.
Lastly, a factor in ice cream that the general public is not aware of is overrun. Overrun is the amount of air that can be whipped, churned, or pumped in to the liquid ice cream mix as it is being frozen to increase the volume in the finished product. Legally, 100% overrun can be put into the ice cream essentially doubling the volume. That’s right, 100%. This means you can take 1 gallon of liquid mix, and make 2 gallons of finished ice cream. Overrun does, however, add an important factor to the quality of ice cream. It adds mouth feel. If ice cream contained no overrun, it would be more like a block of frozen milk or cream. Overrun adds the light, airy texture that enhances the experience of eating it. However, if you have ever had any ice cream that was so light that when it melted, it virtually disappeared, then you had a high-overrun ice cream. Homestead Creamery ice cream contains around 20-30% overrun. This adds the mouth feel and texture but still gives a richer, heavier, ice cream. Let’s face it, no one really wants to pay for and eat air.
Since 2001, Homestead Creamery has produced 17% butterfat, low overrun, ultra premium ice cream and we have developed quite a following. An accomplishment that we are proud of is converting 12 flavors to All Natural status, containing no corn syrup, no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Along the way we have had countless volunteers as taste testers, and with their input, we have a product that has become synonymous with quality, summer, and fun.
I tried to search threads here to see if this is old news but didn't see anything, so here goes. I saw Blue Bell in a freezer today at Walgreens, of all places.
Bought a small container b/c everyone says it's great. It is!! Best ever.
No wonder so many people were asking about it a while ago and where to find. It's good!
Hope this isn't duplicate info.
best,
toodie
Ditto ... this some real goooooood ice cream. Before this I thought Breyers was the best, but after I tasted Blue Bell .. well let's just say Blue Bell ruined me for all other ice cream
Breyers isn't even ice cream anymore, for most of their flavors. Read the packaging carefully. It is now "Frozen Dairy Dessert" because it doesn't contain enough real cream to be considered ice cream. This change was made earlier this year. It now has a very syrupy disgusting texture to it.
If you ever travel up north (even to VA) try to get to a Wegmans and buy their store brand ice cream. It is made by Perry's in upstate NY and is excellent for a basic affordable ice cream. Otherwise, buy Haagen Dazs.
Breyers isn't even ice cream anymore, for most of their flavors. Read the packaging carefully. It is now "Frozen Dairy Dessert" because it doesn't contain enough real cream to be considered ice cream. This change was made earlier this year. It now has a very syrupy disgusting texture to it.
If you ever travel up north (even to VA) try to get to a Wegmans and buy their store brand ice cream. It is made by Perry's in upstate NY and is excellent for a basic affordable ice cream. Otherwise, buy Haagen Dazs.
Thanks for the info. I was wondering what Bryers was doing different lately. I thought maybe it was my imagination that their quality changed so much. Frozen dairy dessert, yikes. It's really good to have all of these suggestions about brands to try. Funny how hard it is just to get some decent ice cream these days! I will be looking at ingredients more thoroughly for ice cream like I do for most other things.
best,
toodie
I really wanted to try their "Southern Peach Pie" flavor, but couldn't find it.....maybe next season.
Yum, huge chunks of peach in every last bite.
Here in northeast Tn we just got these in. I have spiced pumpkin pecan, coconut fudge, christmas cookie, southern peach cobbler, and banana pudding that I plan to work my way through. The gingerbread sounds yummy too, hope we carry that soon.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tarp
Breyers isn't even ice cream anymore, for most of their flavors. Read the packaging carefully. It is now "Frozen Dairy Dessert" because it doesn't contain enough real cream to be considered ice cream. This change was made earlier this year. It now has a very syrupy disgusting texture to it.
If you ever travel up north (even to VA) try to get to a Wegmans and buy their store brand ice cream. It is made by Perry's in upstate NY and is excellent for a basic affordable ice cream. Otherwise, buy Haagen Dazs.
Yes, I stay away from the Breyer's that say "frozen dairy dessert" ones. Instead, if you stick with the ones that say ice cream, they have much better ingredients. These include vanilla, chocolate, coffee, mint chocolate chip, and I think strawberry. The key is for ice cream or any product is to read the ingredients, even if they used to have good ingredients.
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