Graeter’s Vanilla Chocolate Chip Small Batch French Pot Ice Cream Review

I’ve often over-consumed vanilla chocolate chip ice cream, and this brand of it is no easier to resist.  Indeed, this   Graeter’s Vanilla Chocolate Chip Small Batch French Pot Ice Cream   ranks among the best for its texture, flavor, absence of artificial colors, and high density.  This ice cream looks like vanilla chocolate chip (generally cream-white in color).  They’ve used no light orange or yellow coloring to emphasize the vanilla here.  No artificial colors, period.

This is a deliciously sweet dessert with the notably vanilla taste, that could easily become a main course if one is overly lured in by its chocolaty vanilla combination taste.  Graeter’s knows that the addition of a moderate amount of chocolate chips to ice cream can appeal to customers, as they offer a complete line of chocolate chip ice creams of various flavors.

 

Benefits, Features, Advantages, and Pros

  • This ice cream smells just as it tastes; chocolaty and sweet with a modest amount of vanilla.  Like the flavor, the aroma does not overly dominate but is prominent enough to recognize instantly.  The smell is rather subtle and so, truthful about the taste sensations to come.
  • Lots of large and small dark chocolate clumps herein that compliments the vanilla extract flavoring nicely.
  • The  red, vanilla -like, and white colors on the package do not mislead about how delightfully chocolaty vanilla this treat tastes.
  • They hit a high quality balance between the vanilla, sugar, and chocolate in this all natural ice cream.
  • It’s definitely not excessively sugary, but still sweet enough to have kept me returning for more, at least, until I had finished up the entire pint container.
  • This is a very heavy ice cream.  It’s quite rich.  So you won’t get the feeling that you’re eating low-fat or diet ice creams when indulging here.  It’s not at all airy.
  • Also, this is a slow-melting ice cream. So you can take it outside with you on a hot day for a few minutes without worries that it will melt too fast.
  • But even in melted form, it’s still notably thick and creamy.
  • No corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup here.  The bulk of the sweetness comes from cane sugar.
  • The label says that Graeter’s makes this ice cream in small, 2-gallon batches.  This suggests that this dessert is less mass-produced than other, less premium brands, and closer in process to home-made ice cream. It sure tastes like it.

 

Disadvantages, Concerns, Problems, and Cons

  • This ice cream is very hard when first taken from the freezer.  Thus, It was quite difficult to spoon out.  But I’d prefer that Graeter’s not change anything, if softening it up would at all degrade the natural flavor harmonies.  I just let it warm up for a few minutes before serving.
  • I paid roughly $5 for a pint.  That’s indeed pricy and by no means the cheapest available.  But it was convenient, as I purchased this at a local Sheetz convenience store near my office.  Plus, this is definitely a premium ice cream.  So I expected to pay extra for it. I would however, have preferred paying $3 instead of $5.
  • At 10 grams of saturated fat per serving (and there are four servings in the 1-pint container), I get more than my entire day’s allotment of this bad fat in just this one canister.  It’d be great if they’d fashion this to taste as good as it does, but without so much saturated fat.  However, to be fair, saturated fat and great-tasting ice cream always seem to go together.  Thus it’d be quite difficult to manufacture a good-tasting ice cream without that all naturally occurring saturated fat.
  • Each serving has 30 grams of sugar, and roughly 120 grams for the whole container of 4 servings.  It could definitely be lower, and I wish it was.

 

Ingredients

Contains: cream, milk, cane sugar, semi-sweet chocolate (sugar, chocolate liquor processed with alkali, cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin, and natural flavors), skim milk, eggs, soy oil, vanilla extract, carob bean gum, and guar gum.

 

Nutrition Facts

  • Serving size: 1/2 cup or 114 grams.  Servings per container: 4.
  • Calories: 300.  Calories from fat: 160.
  • Total fat: 18 grams, 30% DV.
  • Saturated fat: 10 grams, 50% DV.
  • Trans fat: 0 grams.
  • Cholesterol: 60 grams, 20% DV.
  • Sodium: 50 milligrams, 2% DV.
  • Total carbohydrate: 31 grams, 10% DV.
  • Dietary fiber: 0 grams, 0% DV.
  • Sugars: 30 grams.
  • Protein: 3 grams.
  • Vitamin A: 10% DV.
  • Calcium: 10% DV.
  • Vitamin C: 0% DV.
  • Iron: 0% DV.

 

Ice Cream Rating

Though significantly fatty, I found this natural ice cream to be quite exceptional, and would therefore highly suggest it to anyone seeking a rich, full consistency in their dairy desserts.  It satisfies with the right amount of everything (except for perhaps the saturated fat content), without going overboard on much.  Not too much sugar, and not too much vanilla.  So check it out the next time you get a hankering for some all-natural ice cream, and I think you’ll probably enjoy very much this classic cold dessert.  I’d rate this product at 92 out of 100.

 

Where To Buy Graeter’s Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream 

I bought mine at a local Sheetz convenience store.  But it’s available in many larger grocery stores also.

Look for it in the red, white, and striped light peach, round pint-sized canister.

 

References

 

Revision History

  • : Moved this post to the   Tom’s Diet Quest   blog, added whitespace, adjusted ad placement, and extended content.
  • 2012-07-19: Originally published.