Ice Cream
Ice cream is a much-loved treat that offers delicious relief on hot summer days. It doesn’t get any better than that—or does it? This frozen dessert can come in organic and even fair trade versions, making your warm-weather indulgence a little more virtuous.
Unfortunately, Toronto organic ice cream offerings tend to exist mostly in specialty, one-off locations such as Kensington Market Organic Ice Cream (650 1/2 Queen St. W. at Palmerston Ave.), not at your local grocery store. But OGH has found a few sweet grocery products that fit the bill, and we decided to profile “regular” ice creams as well for comparison due to the dearth of selection.
In addition to keeping an eye out for fair trade and organic ingredients, you should be aware that lower-quality ice creams such as “soft serve” versions tend to have water, sugar, and starch as main ingredients instead of cream and eggs. Ice cream is a balance of fats (cream), liquids (sugar, milk), and air. (More premium ice creams tend to contain less air, but some air is essential to give ice cream its creamy, lickable texture.) Stabilizers, therefore, are crucial to keeping the fats, liquids, and air mixed together—and stabilizers are generally the oddly-named ingredients you’ll see in ice cream. For example, mono and diglycerides, propylene glycol monostearate, and polysorbate 80 are all stabilizers. Our research has shown that none of them have been flagged as ingredients of concern; however, propylene glycol monostearate has a petroleum base.
Carageenan, guar, and cellulose gums are gums included for texture and stability. They help ice cream keep its texture and keep the cream fat from separating from the other ingredients. They are extracted from plants: guar from the guar bean, carageenan from seaweed and cellulose from plants or bacteria.
Of course, many of the health and ethical concerns associated with milk/cream and eggs (see corresponding Green Grocery Guide categories at greengroceryguide.ca)) are associated with ice cream. None of the ice creams we profiled claimed to contain free-run or free-range eggs. Also, be aware that vanilla and chocolate tend to be farmed in areas that could benefit from fair trade agreements.
You’ll be pleased to know that all paper ice cream cartons can go in the green bin in the GTA, so cleanup should be relatively earth-friendly. Plastic lids, however, need to go into the recycling bin.
Chapman’s Ice Cream
Aug 2010
Don’t let the smiling kids fool you: Chapman’s makes no claims to be organic or fair trade. Its website says it is currently transitioning to a “greener 2L packaging,” but we’re not sure what will make this smaller packaging more environmentally friendly. However, the ice cream is made with 100% Canadian Milk and is certified More >
Breyer’s Ice Cream
Aug 2010
While this ice cream is made with “natural vanilla bean”, it isn’t organic or fair trade, and contains several oddly-named stabilizers such as mono and diglycerides. It’s easily available at your local grocery store, but the company has not made any commitments to minimizing its environmental and social impacts.
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
Aug 2010
Long renowned for its commitment to better business, it may be surprising to find out that Ben and Jerry’s hasn’t gone fair trade or organic with its ice creams available in Canada (there are some organic flavours in the States). However, its Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream is made with brownies from New York’s Greyston More >
Nestle Parlour Ice Cream
Aug 2010
Comparing this Nestle product with the “Real Dairy” ice cream shows the differences between a premium and a mass-market ice cream. This product contains several stabilizers including propylene glycol monostearate, which has a petroleum base. There is no egg, cream, or natural flavour in this ice cream, and no efforts appear to have been made More >