10 luxury vanilla-flavoured ice creams were put to a ‘blind taste test’ by 63 research participants – with supermarket Aldi seeing off the competition to secure top spot
Ice cream is top of many people’s shopping lists lately as a result of the ongoing hot weather in the UK. The problem is it can be pricey. Thankfully consumer experts from Which? have identified where you can snap up the best quality for the lowest price.
Which? revealed they carried out a “blind taste test” of 10 vanilla flavoured offerings before determining the winner. “To find out which is best, we gathered 63 ice cream fans at our test lab to try 10 luxury vanilla ice creams,” they explained. “We pitted seven supermarket own labels against the brands Häagen-Dazs, Jude’s and Yeo Valley.
Six of those seven supermarkets were as follows: Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose.
Marks & Spencer, meanwhile, informed Which? after the experiment that they had since revamped their West Country Madagascan Vanilla Luxury Ice Cream formula.
Yeo Valley
Of the branded items, Yeo Valley faired best – with participants awarding the Organic Madagascan Vanilla Ice Cream (£4.75 for 500ml) it fourth place overall.
“Yeo Valley was easily the most favoured brand, and scored only one percentage point less than our Best Buy,” Which? said. “Their Organic Madagascan Vanilla Ice Cream scored an impressive 76 per cent.”
“Our tasters liked the colour and texture,” they elaborated. “Two thirds said its sweetness was spot on. And while its texture was rated well overall, some thought it lacked creaminess.”
Waitrose
In joint-second place was Waitrose, whose No.1 Madagascan Vanilla Ice Cream (£4.50 for 500ml) also scored 76 per cent. “A well-liked all-rounder with looks, flavour and creaminess all winning approval from two thirds of our tasters,” Which? continued.
“This ice cream’s sweetness was also about right for most, and three-quarters were fans of its texture.”
Sainsbury’s
Joining Waitrose as runner-up, meanwhile, was Sainsbury’s with it’s Taste the Difference Vanilla Ice Cream (£3.50 for 480ml), again boasting a 76 per cent score. “It had a good flavour and a well-balanced sweetness,” Which? added. “Although over half of our tasters were satisfied with the texture, it didn’t quite match up to our top-scoring tub on creaminess.”
Aldi
And the winner is… Aldi. The supermarket pipped the rest by one per cent with it’s Specially Selected Madagascan Vanilla Ice Cream (£2.69 for 480ml) impressing most amongst the 63 taste testers.
“A delicious crowd-pleasing ice cream that’s also the joint cheapest on test,” Which? closed. “Most thought the strength of flavour and sweetness were just right. Texture was a high point too, with nearly three quarters finding it had the perfect creaminess.”
