Artisan vs. the Supermarkets- Vanilla Ice Cream #Artisan vs Supermarket

Briony Wilson
18th November 2016

It’s that time of the week again, the Artisan vs. supermarket challenge is back and this week we are testing vanilla ice cream, the perfect side for all your Christmas puddings. We put Backford Belles up against Morrison’s Vanilla, Carte D’or Vanilla, Asda Really Creamy Vanilla and finally Walls Soft Scoop Vanilla.

The tasting was conducted blind with the judges marking the products on; Appearance, Texture and Taste. So let’s start with Appearance, this was a challenging category as everyone has their favourite ice cream and knows what it looks like. Unfortunately, Wall’s came last as people believed in comparison to the other option it was just too yellow and so looked quite artificial, joint second was Morrison’s and Carte D’or praised for the noticeable vanilla pod speckles. Joint first was Backford Bells and Asda Really creamy as they had the palest colour and smoothest appearance.

Artisan vs Supermarket ice cream

Next the judges compared the ice creams on their texture, again unfortunately Wall’s came last as it lacked the silky texture of the others and the nature of the game is that judges do have others to compare against, in joint third was Asda’s Really Creamy and Morrison’s, and while they were both very smooth they were a bit too watery, in second place was Carte D’or and whilst people enjoyed the texture it was criticised for almost a rough texture from the vanilla pod speckles. In first place was Backford Belles, for holding its consistency even as it started to melt! but was still very smooth and creamy.

Finally, the deciding category of taste, once again Wall’s just didn’t cut the mustard so it came last overall, mainly because in comparison to the others it lacked any flavour. In fourth place overall was Carte D’or while commended for the evident vanilla in its appearance the taste was described as nothing special. In third place was Morrison’s vanilla which was enjoyed for its creamy texture but was very sweet and too much of it was rather sickly, lacking the real vanilla flavour you would expect. In second place was Asda Really Creamy, commended in all categories however it just didn’t compete with Backford Belles which had a real traditional texture and flavour, and really stood out from the Supermarkets.

Well the figures prove it, the artisan product once gain comes out on top! This was possibly the toughest tasting we have had yet, as ice cream is a very personal choice. But if you would like to try our winning ice cream, you can get it at Acres Diary just outside Chester, Rose Farm Shop Tarporley and a few local restaurants including The Chester Fields and the Cock O’ Barton