Latest news with #Baskin-Robbins'
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The 3 Best Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Creams: A Blind Taste Test
All products featured on Bon Appétit are independently selected by Bon Appétit editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate commission. Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Leslie Raney Garetto It's entirely possible mint chocolate chip ice cream is the most divisive flavor ever created. Should its base be pastel green or a soft ecru? Should it be flecked with standard chocolate chips, bigger chocolate chunks, or lithe flakes? Is mint chip ice cream even good? These questions and more were hotly debated just moments before our latest blind tasting began. In this article How we picked the products How we set up the taste test How our editors evaluated The budget pick The splurge Our favorite mint chip ice cream We also tested The flavor is at least 80 years old. One of Baskin-Robbins' original 31 flavors, 'Chocolate Mint' made its debut in 1945 in Glendale, California, at Irv Robbins's Snowbird Ice Cream before Robbins merged concepts with brother-in-law Burt Baskin to create the frozen dessert juggernaut we know today. Now codified in most people's minds as 'mint chocolate chip,' the combo is the seventh most popular ice cream flavor in the United States, according to a 2024 study from the International Dairy Foods Association, ranking ahead of chocolate chip, rocky road, and peanut butter cup. These days mint chocolate as a flavor concept has gone international, particularly in South Korea, where it has gained popularity in recent years. You can find the combination in cookies and ice cream, of course, but the duo has also joined forces in savory dishes, such as fried chicken and steamed buns. Not ready to dive into the wider world of minted-chocolate treats? Stick around. We'll be focusing on ice cream from here on. In our latest blind taste test, we sampled 12 brands of mint chocolate chip ice cream to find our favorites. What we found out is that one pint won't suit all. How we picked the products We began our search for the best mint chocolate chip ice cream by soliciting recommendations from the Bon Appétit staff. We combed through our vanilla ice cream taste test and cookies and cream ice cream taste test for tried-and-true favorite brands. We also scoured mint chocolate chip ice cream roundups across the web and kept an eye out for lesser-known brands when shopping, like Alec's Ice Cream, a relative newcomer. Just as important are the brands we chose not to test. We excluded some brands with limited distribution that could be difficult for many of our readers to find. We also eliminated any brands that included nontraditional chocolate elements (such as Oreo cookies or fudge swirls) and avoided any plant-based formulations. How we set up our blind taste test About 30 minutes before testing, we scooped the ice creams one by one into individual bowls and returned them to the freezer in turn. When our testers were ready, we presented one sample at a time for tasting. Each taster tried a spoonful of ice cream before discussing its pros and cons. In the end, our panel named three favorite mint chip pints—each with their own merits—as well as one ice cream deserving of an honorable mention. How our editors evaluated Our tasters had strong opinions on the proper color for mint chocolate chip ice cream, but not all shared the same opinion. Some insisted it should be green. ('That's just how things are; how they have always been!' being the implied takeaway.) Others thought a more natural white hue was the better option. On other facets our panel was more aligned. A great mint chocolate chip ice cream should be creamy and rich with a robust, refreshingly minty flavor. Ice creams deemed too saccharine or that veered too into toothpaste territory weren't welcome. There should also be an even distribution of chocolate throughout—and that chocolate can make or break the ice cream. It should be high-quality dark chocolate, nothing waxy or overly sweet. Our tasters preferred thin chocolate shards that shattered when chewed, creating a textural riot with each bite. No unwieldy chocolate chunks, overwhelming ripples, or unpleasantly gritty, grainy bits of chocolate. The Nostalgic Pick: Edy's Slow-Churned Mint Chocolate Chip Known as Dreyer's on the West Coast, this brand has been making ice cream for nearly a century. The dual names, according to the company's website, honor founders William Dreyer and Joseph Edy. Many Edy's flavors are sold as 'frozen dairy desserts' because the FDA requires ice cream to have a minimum amount of dairy fat and regulates weight per gallon. Edy's 'Slow-churned' line is a 'light ice cream,' which is reflected in the products' fat and calorie content compared to the standard. The way many of these types of ice cream fill out a pint is through overrun—that's the amount of air mixed in to make the ice cream soft and scoopable. Why it won us over: For tasters who expected a shock of fluorescent green when they pop the top off a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream, Edy's hit the mark. Scattered throughout were formidable shards of dark chocolate that pleasantly contrasted the creamy base and balanced mint flavor. 'This is what I expect from mint chocolate chip ice cream,' beamed associate visuals editor Marc Williams. Senior cooking and SEO editor Joe Sevier appreciated how light and scoopable the ice cream was, even directly from the freezer, and other tasters said Edy's cool, creamy flavor took them right back to childhood. We'd love it in: Sandwiched between two thin chocolate wafer cookies in homemade ice cream sandwiches. BUY IT: Edy's Slow-Churned Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream; $6 for 1.5 quarts at DoorDash The Highfalutin Favorite: Jeni's Green Mint Chip Bon Appétit has ridden hard for Jeni's for years—it also placed in our cookies and cream ice cream taste test—so it's not wildly surprising to see this pint among our winners. Jeni's sets itself apart from other ice creams in that it doesn't use eggs; instead, it builds luxurious creaminess from extra-high-quality milk and cream. It's worth noting that Jeni's uses natural food coloring (spirulina makes for a gentle sea green hue in this mint chip). Why it won us over: Mint chocolate chip ice cream fanatic and food director Chris Morocco was Jeni's biggest advocate in this tasting. He described its color as a delicate turquoise (pronounced 'tur-kwaz'), comparing its color to the Caribbean Sea and describing its flavor as measured and well-calibrated. Other tasters were less effusive but agreed that Jeni's refreshingly minty yet incredibly creamy base benefited from a contrast of really good bittersweet chocolate shards. 'That feels like an adult ice cream,' said director of creative development Ian Stroud, 'I feel classy eating that.' We'd love it in: An ice cream like this deserves to be the main character in your dessert. Try it bathed in hot fudge, layered in an ice cream cake, or tucked into a baked Alaska. BUY IT: Jeni's Ice Cream Green Mint Chip; $10 for 1 pint at AmazonFresh BUY IT: Jeni's Ice Cream Green Mint Chip; $12 for 1 pint at Jeni' The Mint Chip Champ: Trader Joe's Mint Chip Ice Cream Trader Joe's mint chocolate chip ice cream carton is emblazoned with the words 'super premium,' which is ice cream parlance for 'there's a lot of dairy fat and very little air whipped into this ice cream.' The list of ingredients is short: cream, milk, cane sugar, chocolate-flavored chips, sugared egg yolks, peppermint extract, and a few stabilizers. Why it won us over: Interestingly, Trader Joe's mint chocolate chip is the only ice cream among our three top picks that isn't green. Do we finally have an answer to the green vs. white mint chip ice cream debate? Perhaps. What really put this ice cream over the top was its chocolate. Like the chocolate in Italian stracciatella, this ice cream boasted thin, wide flakes that shattered with each bite before gloriously melting away. Joe praised their 'rich chocolate flavor,' and associate test kitchen manager Ines Anguiano said the way the thin shards melted made each bite an 'integrated experience.' Other tasters loved this quart's luxe creaminess and its balanced mint flavor. We'd love it: Substituted into a Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Cake or nestled into a banana split with a scoop of chocolate and vanilla to round it out. BUY IT: Trader Joe's Mint Chip Ice Cream; $5 for 1 quart in stores Honorable Mention Graeter's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream features large, irregular pieces of chocolate. While some tasters loved the fudgy bits ('I think the irregular chunks are charming,' Chris said), others found them slightly overwhelming: 'The piece I got was big enough to be a brownie,' Joe said. Still, Graeters won enough ardent fans that the panel agreed it was worth recommending. BUY IT: Graeter's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream; $14 for 1 pint at 365 Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: Although it had a nice scattering of chocolate shards, tasters didn't detect enough mint flavor. Alden's Organic Mint Chip Ice Cream: The texture was simply too light; tasters missed the dense, creamy consistency found in other contenders. Alec's Ice Cream Mint Chocolate Chip: Although tasters had a lot of nice things to say (good flavors, big chunks of chocolate), ultimately the elements didn't work well together. Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip: With its delicate flavor, Breyer's lost out to more robustly minted competitors. Häagen-Dazs Mint Chip Ice Cream: Tasters praised Häagen-Dazs on first bite, but ultimately deemed it too sweet, with unbalanced flavor. McConnell's Fine Ice Creams Mint Chip: Tasters found the chocolate here too finely ground, which made the ice cream taste gritty instead of luxe. Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream: With a slightly gummy ice cream base, Tillamook fell short in texture. Van Leeuwen Mint Chip French Ice Cream: With a higher egg yolk content than traditional ice cream, Van Leeuwen's French ice cream is ultra creamy and sweet, but its chalky-tasting chocolate didn't deliver. Fresh Mint and Chocolate Ice Cream Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
Eater
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
How Thai Ice Cream Took Over Los Angeles
My favorite ice cream flavor growing up was not rocky road or cookies and cream. Instead, it was the standard ice cream flavor in Thailand, equivalent to vanilla in the United States: Coconut. Although scoops of coconut ice cream were hard to come by throughout my childhood (outside of Baskin-Robbins' Nutty Coconut flavor, which is still a nostalgic favorite), that's not the case anymore in Los Angeles. In fact, in recent years, Thai ice cream has taken off at scoop shops like Kanomwaan, Coco's Kanom Thai, and pop-up-turned-standalone-shop Moom Maam. Ice cream has long been a tabula rasa to introduce Americans to new ingredients and international flavors. Los Angeles has an abundance of these successful experiments: There's Wanderlust, the Filipino-owned ice cream brand making flavors inspired both by heritage and travel, like a pandan tres leches ribboned with condensed milk and hojicha candy bar with kinako-based caramel; Iranian and Egyptian-inspired scoops at Kinrose Creamery, whose rosebud-adorned ice creams in flavors like honeyed baklava have become extremely popular; and guanabana (soursop) and maracuya (passion fruit) paletas at Mateo's Ice Cream. And at last, more Thai ice cream makers are throwing their own hats in the ring, celebrating the fruits and flavors of Thailand. 'Coconut is one of the most important ingredients in Thai desserts, which is why we decided to call the shop Coco's,' says Kontee Sridaranop, one of the operational managers of Coco's in Thai Town, which opened last year. Nidarat Thaiprasongsak, who manages Coco's alongside Sridaranop, chimes in: 'It's a flavor that's easy to eat. It's not too sweet, it's nuanced, and it pairs well with the toppings we offer.' Many Thai people love fruity, seedy, and crunchy toppings on their ice cream for textural contrast — Coco's leans into this Thai tradition by offering three toppings with each scoop. Options include toddy palm seeds in syrup, cubes of grass jelly, sweetened egg floss called foi thong, shredded jackfruit, coconut, roasted peanuts, and sticky rice. You can also get the ice cream scooped into a white bread bun, the Thai version of an ice cream sandwich. And although coconut is a signature flavor, the team at Coco's is particularly proud of all their fruit ice creams, which include whole and real fruit. There's a passion fruit flavor, roselle flavor, and custard apple, as well as riffs on coconut like coconut taro and durian and coconut. Single scoops start at $5 and include three toppings (mango and durian cost and additional $2). 'We just saw Taiwanese dessert shops and Korean bingsu places opening, and we thought, why don't we do that?' Sridaranop says. 'I'm biased, but I think Thai sweets and our ice cream are some of the best.' Down the block at Kanomwaan, which opened in 2023, coconut ice cream is also on the menu. 'We always tell first timers to try our coconut milk or pandan milk flavor,' says Champ Jansaeng, the co-founder of Kanomwaan and the next-door Ruen Pair restaurant. 'They're very mild and sweet flavors.' But Jansaeng doesn't adhere to only simple flavors. He's experimented with a pork floss and chile crisp flavor, introduced a tom yum sorbet, and launched a pumpkin curry flavor last fall. For the summer, his menu is a celebration of Thai fruits with a mango sorbet, jackfruit gelato, and durian and sticky rice flavor. The ice cream he is most proud of — one that remains a staple on the menu — is the kanom tien kai kem flavor, or Thai dessert candle-smoked ice cream with salted egg yolk. 'It's a new thing for a lot of people, but a lot of Thai bakery items tend to have this signature candle scent,' Jansaeng explains. The trick is striking a balance between the perfumey and floral scent of the Thai culinary candle as well as ensuring the salted egg yolks didn't add too much salt. 'Gelato making is a mad science project,' Jansaeng says, laughing. For Saran 'Darwin' Wai, the owner of Moom Maam (which serves at Smorgasburg every Sunday since the summer 2023 and has a retail location in Torrance that opened in September 2024), ice cream actually does scratch his itch as a scientist. 'I have a background in genetics engineering and a degree in molecular biology,' Wai explains. 'I discovered the whole world of the science of ice cream, and it's so fun. You can manipulate every single thing in ice cream, and when you taste that first bite, it made me want to start my own ice cream brand.' In fact, his degree from Kasetsart University in Bangkok is key in one of Wai's signature flavors, the riceberry horchata. Riceberry is a variety of rice from Thailand known for its purple hue and antioxidants, and was invented at Kasetsart. 'So it's a flavor inspired by a Mexican drink, using Thai rice, turned into an Italian gelato, and made by a Thai guy,' Wai says. 'I feel like that's a pretty good representation of LA. Los Angeles is a playground to create and build bridges to new cuisines.' Aside from the horchata flavor, Wai churns a Thai pesto gelato made with sweet Thai basil, a durian and mezcal flavor, and a Thai tea flavor — one of the first flavors he ever developed. But in the world of Thai ice cream, all roads lead back to coconut. 'Coconut is the flavor that got me started, and coconut ice cream is my favorite thing,' Wai says. 'But ice cream is a blank canvas. Once you know how to draw it, you can draw anything.' See More:
Boston Globe
29-06-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
John Robbins, author of ‘Diet for a New America,' dies at 77
Advertisement The book's message, Mr. Robbins wrote, was 'that the healthiest, tastiest and most nourishing way to eat is also the most economical, the most compassionate and least polluting.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy in 1988 compared 'Diet for a New America' and its impact on the way we think about food to Rachel Carson's classic 'Silent Spring' (1962), which warned how the unlimited use of agricultural pesticides like DDT had contaminated the soil and water and threatened the health of wildlife and humans, and which helped spur the modern environmental movement. Through the years, food writers for The New York Times have described 'Diet for a New America' as 'groundbreaking.' But Mr. Robbins's methods of raising awareness of the healthful effects of a vegetarian diet drew some criticism from Marian Burros in a 1992 Eating Well column in the Times. Advertisement 'Much of what Mr. Robbins has to say about diet in this country,' Burros wrote, 'is unremarkable: We eat too much meat and dairy products. Much of what Mr. Robbins has to say about the inhumane treatment of animals on factory farms is correct. But Mr. Robbins undermines his case by exaggerating; facts mix with factoids and anecdotes.' Burros cited experts who challenged Mr. Robbins's contentions that raising cattle was responsible for the deforestation of the United States, and that meat and dairy products contained more pesticides than plant foods. Mr. Robbins, quoted in the column, acknowledged that his message was 'a little complicated for the bumper-sticker mind and the sound bite.' John Ernest Robbins was born on Oct. 26, 1947, in Glendale, Calif. His father, Irvine, was a founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream company with his brother-in-law Burton Baskin. His mother, Irma (Gevurtz) Robbins, ran the household. The family pool was shaped like an ice cream cone. At age 5, John contracted polio. He was in a wheelchair for about six months, his left leg was impaired, and he walked with a limp as a boy, Ocean Robbins said in an interview. But through yoga, exercise, and a healthier diet, Mr. Robbins as an adult built his body to the point where he could run the equivalent distance of a marathon and complete the swimming, biking, and running stages of an unofficial triathlon. Mr. Robbins worked in the family ice cream business in his younger years, helping to concoct a popular flavor, jamoca almond fudge, and to popularize Baskin-Robbins' distinctive pink spoons. But, as a devotee of Thoreau, Emerson, and Whitman, he later mutinied against materialism, telling the Times in 1992 that, in his family, 'roughing it meant room service was late.' Advertisement He also said that he wished his father had spent more time with him and less time on his company; sometimes, he said, he thought that 'my primary importance to him was that I would carry on the business.' Months after Baskin died of a heart attack in 1967, Baskin-Robbins was sold to the United Fruit Company. Irv Robbins remained with the company until he retired in 1978. According to Ocean Robbins, his grandfather had offered not to sell the company if his son would join him in business. But John Robbins declined. He was concerned, he said in a 2019 interview with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, that the consumption of large amounts of ice cream, loaded with saturated fats and sugar, had contributed to Baskin's cardiovascular problems, and also concerned about the treatment of cows at commercial dairies, where they produced ice cream's primary ingredient: milk. 'It broke my heart to see them treated so poorly,' he told PETA. 'I found the idea of profiting from such cruelty to be appalling.' Irv Robbins was angered by John's rebuff, Ocean Robbins said. 'He thought he had fallen prey to the hippie counterculture world where you just reject everything.' Upon graduating in 1969 from the University of California Berkeley, where he studied political philosophy, Mr. Robbins sought a simpler life. He and his wife, Deo, moved to Fulford Harbour, British Columbia, where they built a one-room log cabin that was later expanded to three rooms. Advertisement Ocean Robbins said that his parents did not own a car and lived on $500 to $1,000 a year, teaching yoga and meditation classes, growing what crops they could and taking one delivery per year of food they couldn't grow themselves. By the mid-1970s, John Robbins had reentered academia. He received a master's degree in humanistic psychology in 1976 from Antioch College (now University) in Ohio through its affiliation with Cold Mountain Institute in British Columbia and began a career as a psychotherapist. The family moved to the Santa Cruz area of California in 1984. Around that time, Mr. Robbins began reading books about the treatment of animals at factory farms, which led to further reading about the links between food, health, and the environment. From that sprung the idea for 'Diet for a New America.' In 2001, Robbins wrote a follow-up, 'The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World.' In 2012, he and his son founded the Food Revolution Network, an online education and advocacy organization dedicated to healthy, ethical, and sustainable food that claims more than a million members. In 2019, Ocean Robbins said, his father began experiencing symptoms of post-polio syndrome, losing strength and suffering chronic pain in his legs and later enduring sleep and cognition issues. In addition to his son, Mr. Robbins is survived by his wife, whom he married in 1969, and two sisters, Marsha Veit and Erin Robbins. In the late 1980s, his son said, John Robbins reconciled with his father: Irv Robbins, suffering from weight issues, heart disease, and diabetes, was given a copy of 'Diet for a New America' by his cardiologist. The doctor had no idea that the book had been written by his patient's son. Advertisement Irv Robbins read the book, gave up sugar, reduced his meat consumption, lost weight, improved his golf game and lived another 20 years, Ocean Robbins said. He died in 2008. It was confirmation, John Robbins liked to say, 'that blood was thicker than ice cream.' This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Baskin-Robbins offering $1.99 scoops for parents this summer
Baskin-Robbins is celebrating parents with a sweet summer deal! From June 16-27, the beloved ice cream chain is launching its Parent Pass promotion, offering $1.99 scoops exclusively to Baskin-Robbins Rewards members at participating locations nationwide, the company announced in a press release Wednesday. "The kids are home and the days are long," Baskin-Robbins' website reads. "Parents, you deserve a sweet break this summer. With Parent Pass, you can treat your child (and yourself) to $1.99 Scoops June 16-27 (M–F) with Baskin-Robbins Rewards." In a statement included with Wednesday's press release, Nicole Boutwell, vice president of brand marketing and culinary at Baskin-Robbins, acknowledged the often chaotic gap between the end of the school year and the start of summer camps. "The days between the last school bell and the first day of summer camp can be long, loud, and full of 5 a.m. wake-up calls," she said. "That's why we're giving parents a break with the Parent Pass. It's our way of saying, 'You've got this -- and we've got the ice cream to help you through it.'" The company describes the Parent Pass as "your permission slip to keep things cool during summer's most unpredictable stretch," and reminds parents that "scoops are not just for kids -- enjoy one yourself." The promotion follows the June 1 debut of Trolli Sour Blast, the chain's Flavor of the Month and its first-ever collaboration with Trolli candy. Inspired by the iconic Sour Brite Crawlers, the limited-edition ice cream swirls sweet and sour flavors to evoke the nostalgic thrill of childhood summers. Would you try the new Baskin-Robbins flavor of the month, Chick'n and Waffles? "Our new lineup is a tribute to the bold, playful spirit of summer," Boutwell said of the new flavor, in a May 28 press release. "We all remember those carefree moments -- from grabbing candy at the corner store to hanging out with friends until the streetlights came on. The new limited-edition Trolli treats are a sweet way to reconnect with that energy and make new memories along the way." In addition to Trolli Sour Blast, Baskin-Robbins also introduced Trolli Sour Blast Fizz and the Trolli Dirt 'n Worms Sundae to its summer menu. Baskin-Robbins offering $1.99 scoops for parents this summer originally appeared on
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
Baskin-Robbins offering $1.99 scoops for parents this summer
Baskin-Robbins is celebrating parents with a sweet summer deal! From June 16-27, the beloved ice cream chain is launching its Parent Pass promotion, offering $1.99 scoops exclusively to Baskin-Robbins Rewards members at participating locations nationwide, the company announced in a press release Wednesday. "The kids are home and the days are long," Baskin-Robbins' website reads. "Parents, you deserve a sweet break this summer. With Parent Pass, you can treat your child (and yourself) to $1.99 Scoops June 16-27 (M–F) with Baskin-Robbins Rewards." In a statement included with Wednesday's press release, Nicole Boutwell, vice president of brand marketing and culinary at Baskin-Robbins, acknowledged the often chaotic gap between the end of the school year and the start of summer camps. "The days between the last school bell and the first day of summer camp can be long, loud, and full of 5 a.m. wake-up calls," she said. "That's why we're giving parents a break with the Parent Pass. It's our way of saying, 'You've got this -- and we've got the ice cream to help you through it.'" The company describes the Parent Pass as "your permission slip to keep things cool during summer's most unpredictable stretch," and reminds parents that "scoops are not just for kids -- enjoy one yourself." The promotion follows the June 1 debut of Trolli Sour Blast, the chain's Flavor of the Month and its first-ever collaboration with Trolli candy. Inspired by the iconic Sour Brite Crawlers, the limited-edition ice cream swirls sweet and sour flavors to evoke the nostalgic thrill of childhood summers. "Our new lineup is a tribute to the bold, playful spirit of summer," Boutwell said of the new flavor, in a May 28 press release. "We all remember those carefree moments -- from grabbing candy at the corner store to hanging out with friends until the streetlights came on. The new limited-edition Trolli treats are a sweet way to reconnect with that energy and make new memories along the way." In addition to Trolli Sour Blast, Baskin-Robbins also introduced Trolli Sour Blast Fizz and the Trolli Dirt 'n Worms Sundae to its summer menu.
