The ICE CREAM DIARIES, #1

[teaberryblue]

So in lieu of yogurt, I’m moving onto ice cream.

This weekend, while my parents were doing their vegan thing, we had vegan ice cream…and it was to die for. So I thought I would do some non-dairy ice creams. The first one I’m trying is Good Karma Organic Rice Divine.

Good Karma Organic Rice Divine

I’m trying to get all these ice creams in mint flavors, since that’s what we had this weekend.

A serving of this ice cream is 1/2 cup and it has 150 calories, 60 from fat. A serving has 15 grams of sugar– less than most servings of yogurt! It is all natural, no corn syrup. The label says that it is dairy free and lactose free, but it is also made on equipment that is also used for dairy items, so if that is of concern to any of you, well, at least you know, right?

Good Karma Organic Rice Divine Opened

It is very icy and very light in texture. The mint flavor is very strong and very sweet– it tastes sort of like a Junior Mint. You can tell that this is not ordinary whole milk ice cream, but it would be difficult to guess that it has no dairy if I didn’t know– I would probably just guess it was low-fat ice cream or ice milk. It seems to melt a little faster than dairy ice cream and gets a little gluey when it melts.

All in all, I would rate this a yum, though it is extremely sweet. I don’t know if this would be my favorite, but I would recommend trying it if you are looking for a good non-dairy ice cream.

I also tried Rice Dream, another rice-based frozen dessert. It has 160 calories and 55 from fat per serving, so in the same range. 12 grams of sugar, though, which is a significant enough difference. Again, no corn syrup– sweetened with agave and malt. It does warn of trace amounts of milk, due to the carob in the ice cream.

Rice Dream

This is seeming silly to me that all these products that one would think would be specifically and most importantly non-dairy would all have dairy as their biggest risk for food infiltration.

Rice Dream Opened

This one has a very distinct and different flavor from the first. It is still very minty, but it tastes more like those flaky mint pillow mints than like a Junior Mint– it sort of has a more obvious rice flavor to it. I am not a fan of carob, and this is no exception– there is carob instead of chocolate for the chips, and it has a distinctly bitter taste– one of those things where it is not bad if you swallow it down fact, but who wants to do that when eating ice cream? I like to savor my ice cream and let it melt on my tongue. I think this carob is actually a bit more problematic than carob usually is for me. I usually don’t consider it unpleasant, just boring.

I feel like the Good Karma is definitely the better choice. I forgot to keep track of prices on these, but they were both in the $3-$3.50 range for a pint, so fairly inexpensive (cheaper than a pint of Haagen-Dazs). I think the Good Karma was more expensive by about $.20 but definitely worth it. It was a little on the sweet side for me but it wa delicious and refreshing. The chocolate was tastier whereas the carob in the Rice Dream was a bit noxious.

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

Comments

[kandigurl.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I cannot wait to read more of your reviews. I am always looking for yummy ice cream alternatives. I will have to check out the Good Karma ice cream! I love Junior Mints!

[kittehkat.livejournal.com]

Dude, there's this non-dairy ice cream partnered with Celestial Seasonings, the tea company, and it is amaaaaaazing. I had spiced chai, I think. (It was a long time ago.) You should get your hands on it and review it. Cannot disappoint, imo.