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Halo Top 240-Calorie-a-Pint Luxury Ice Cream - For Sale at Whole Foods


DonRocks

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I was suspicious of Halo Top ice cream, which tastes good, but has a very light mouth presence, so I performed a little home experiment: I bought a pint, let it sit out and melt, and then refroze it again. Here is what the results were when it was placed back in the freezer after melting: The picture speaks for itself:

Halo Top.jpg

That's right - it's whipped, and loaded with air. You're not buying a pint of ice cream; you're buying about 8-10 ounces of ice cream, and the rest of it air: Not one, single bit of ice cream has been removed from this carton.

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1 hour ago, Bags said:

You're right the Halo Top is whipped and loaded with air-- as is every other ice cream and frozen dairy dessert you've ever eaten.

Not familiar with overrun?  

FDA standards on ice cream labeling

From the photo, looks like Halo Top qualifies as "Light Ice Cream."

I was not familiar with "overrun," and Halo Top says "Light Ice Cream" right on the label. Thank you for pointing this out.

I should also add: This vanilla has only 240 calories per pint, last night I ate the entire pint (it's *good*), and it's made with cane sugar; not corn syrup (there are other "things" in it, such as fiber, but overall, the ingredients list looks pretty solid). 

Halo Top is expensive at Whole Foods, but I'll continue to buy it and enjoy it, because the few dollars don't mean all that much to me, and it's a very good-tasting ice cream (or dairy product, or whatever it is). Honestly, I was looking at it in the same way I look at Philadelphia Whipped Cream Cheese - yes, it's somewhat deceptive to the buying public, but no different than many other places are doing, and it's *really good* - I just thought people would be interested in knowing that they're only getting about 10 ounces when they pay for 16.

I was a bit disturbed by them not saying "whipped" on the label, but I guess "Light Ice Cream" takes care of that.

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Hahahaha, have you ever looked at the ingredient list for "light" juice (e.g., grape juice)? Mostly the same stuff, just with water as the first ingredient. It's literally diluted juice with extra sugar/additives to make up the flavor. Quite remarkable from a marketing perspective!! So yes, I'd expect that air is a main component of the light versions of fatty stuff like ice cream. The trick is whether they can keep up a decent mouthfeel, even with all the air whipped in. I actually find that Dreyer's/Edy's slow-churned ice cream is decent tasting for light ice cream, though they have lots of junk as ingredients. The net carb counts and ingredient lists for Halo look really promising so I'll have to try some! 

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1 hour ago, Sundae in the Park said:

Hahahaha, have you ever looked at the ingredient list for "light" juice (e.g., grape juice)? Mostly the same stuff, just with water as the first ingredient. It's literally diluted juice with extra sugar/additives to make up the flavor. 

They used to (and still do) have the exact opposite of this: It's called Coca-Cola Syrup, which you buy concentrated, and dilute yourself.

Don't marketing and PR *suck*?

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When I finally ran down a few pints last year, I didn't think it lived up to its advance billing.  The high protein content was supposed to boost mouthfeel, but I'd describe it as adding weight but not creaminess.

If your normal ice cream is a big brand like Breyers, Turkey Hill, Blue Bunny, something like that, Halo Top may seem like a fair replacement.  If you're accustomed to dense superpremium (high milkfat) ice creams, or gelato (low milkfat, but minimal overrun), it's not even close.  IMHO.

(Elsewhere this week I saw a photo of a scoop of Chesapeake Wild Berry Ripple, and felt a longing for an overdue visit to the UMCP Turner Lab scoop shop...)

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Meh. I've tried four flavors now, and they are getting less, not more appealing. The sea salt caramel is probably the best, followed by the mint "chocolate chip." The almond crunch and cookies and cream both taste strongly of almond extract and coconut, respectively, and I'm really only finishing them because they were expensive. The icy texture (their admonition to wait a bit before eating to let it come up to temperature reminds me of Cakelove's re: their buttercream, with similar effect - I got the ice cream out because I want to eat it now) isn't improving on acquaintance. I do like the ingredient list, which is a whole less synthetic than a lot of the low-carb/sugar stuff I'm eating these days, but not enough to keep buying them (it doesn't help that I have to go to a separate store to get them). 

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Pretty good discussion about why Halo Top and its competitors are storming the nation's ice cream shelves in Slate.  Still don't care for the stuff but I think the this article hits the nail on the head why - I would love to guiltlessly eat a whole pint of ice cream several times a week, but would prefer to eat smaller quantities of better-tasting/higher quality/more real food products. Apparently that is NOT the norm and the market is responding accordingly.

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I fell for this stuff initially, but it's starting to lose its luster for me now. At first my Costco only sold the vanilla flavor, and I didn't bother, but then they started selling the birthday cake flavor (whatever that is), so I gave it a shot. I thought it was pretty good at first, and I COULD EAT THE WHOLE PINT. I have to admit that that was a huge part of the allure, like the article posits. I've now come to the conclusion that it's pretty meh. I think the icy texture is what turns me off the most. I've only tried the birthday cake flavor and might be up for trying another flavor out of curiosity, but I'm not as excited about it as I once was.

Unfortunately I'm not that person who can buy a pint of high quality (and extremely fattening) ice cream, eat a reasonable amount, and put it back in the freezer, which will probably mean that I'll just go back to not buying ice cream for the house. I'll have to get my ice cream fixes/treats when I'm out and about. Thankfully (or maybe not) we live near some good ice cream shops (Moorenko's, Tropical Ice Cream, Yummy in My Tummy), so that'll be pretty easy to do.

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