No mushy middle for Ben & Jerrys

At the intersection of activism and confectionary delight is none other than Ben & Jerry’s. The company has stood up for everything from climate change to same sex marriage to Black lives matter and defunding the police. And in June 2020, the brand took a bold stance against white supremacy, proving that in business, silence is no longer an option.

Ben & Jerry have been consistently amazing with their support for many things from climate change to systematic racism. I do wish more companies would learn from them examples. It can easily dismissed as PR in glance but their consistently is the key.

The continuous ability to be better is something which I see is missing in many places. The status-quo must be challenged and Ben & Jerrys are all about this.

When did coconut milk end up in Vanilla ice cream?

vanilla icecream

Over the last few months I have bought Vanilla ice cream to cool down during the summer months. But for some reason I was feeling pretty sick after eating it. I assumed it was something else I was eating (theres a blog  about that). I never thought it could be a problem with the ice cream, I have eaten enough ice cream in my life.

But then I happen to look at the ingredients list of the ice cream I bought from Tesco.

Reconstituted Skimmed Milk Concentrate, Partially Reconstituted Buttermilk Powder (Milk), Sugar, Coconut Oil, Palm Stearin, Palm Oil, Dextrose, Palm Kernel Oil, Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids), Flavouring, Stabilisers (Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum), Vanilla Pods, Colours (Carotenes, Beetroot Red, Curcumin).

Coconut Oil is 4th just after sugar… (yeah I know but its ice cream people)

Carte D’or Vanilla Ice Cream is the same…

Reconstituted skimmed MILK, water, glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, sugar, coconut oil, whey solids (MILK), emulsifiers (mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids), exhausted vanilla bean pieces¹, stabilisers (guar gum, locust bean gum), natural vanilla flavourings¹, colour (carotenes)

Walls soft scoop vanilla

Reconstituted skimmed MILK, water, glucose syrup, vegetable oils(palm, coconut), glucose fructose syrup, sugar, whey solids (MILK), emulsifier (mono and diglycerides of fatty acids), stabilisers (tara gum, guar gum, locust bean gum, carrageenan), colours (annatto, curcumin), flavourings

So I need to be more careful in the future because I had no idea and although not a instant reaction like my other allergies. My body really doesn’t like coconut.

I did noticed there is a bunch of vanilla ice creams which don’t have coconut milk oil.

Kelly’s Clotted Cream is all good however

Cornish Whole Milk, Sugar, Clotted Cream (Milk) (10%), Butter Oil (Milk), Dried Skimmed Milk, Emulsifier (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Stabilisers (Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum), Natural Flavourings, Colours (Annatto, Curcumin)

https://www.londondrugs.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-londondrugs-master/default/dwf0b6b924/products/L6807176/large/L6807176.JPG

Haagen-Dazs Vanilla ice cream is also perfect for me.

Fresh Cream (39%), Condensed Skimmed Milk, Sugar, Egg Yolk, Vanilla Extract

Tesco Finest Ice Cream Madagascan Vanilla also looks good

Whole Milk, Double Cream (Milk) (27%), Demerara Sugar, Dried Skimmed Milk, Pasteurised Egg, Maltodextrin, Vanilla Extract, Sugar, Ground Vanilla Pods.

The lesson seems to be, look and read. Also generally it seems cheaper ice creams use coconut milk oil. I knew I should have stuck to Haagen-Dazs.

Correction!!! Sunday 8th November

My friend Cristano pointed out to me that I mixed up coconut milk with coconut oil.

This is what happens when you get excited about the US election and are not paying as much attention to what you are writing.

Both are dangerous for me, to tell the truth., depending on the amount coconut oil can be worst than milk. Thanks Cristano.

Coldstone icecream Tokyo vs the States

I discovered a Cold Stone at the base of the Tokyo Skytree. The last time I was at one was in the states. The American store didn’t include singing like this!

As James pointed out the nearest coldstone is unfortunately Istanbul in Turkey. Somewhere I’m not keen to visit again anytime soon to be honest. But it was fun to find the video of the one in the states as a comparison.

Coldstone with no singing but the same great icecream. Think the Japanese win this one.