Reddit Is In Love With This Costco Vanilla Ice Cream
Over the years, we've come to enjoy pretty innovative ice cream flavors. Thanks to the Milk Bar dessert wizard Christina Tosi, you can now eat cereal milk, pie, and birthday cake flavored ice creams. While the world is pushing the boundaries of what ice cream can be, YouGovAmerica found that most Americans still prefer the classics — chocolate and vanilla — with vanilla being the second most-loved ice cream.
Considering vanilla ice cream is as simple as an ice cream can be, there's no room to hide any flaws in the ice cream. Done right, it can beat all other ice cream flavors — but even the slightest flaw can be glaring. Interestingly enough, Costco seems to have nailed its Kirkland Signature Super Premium Vanilla Ice Cream. Fans are loving Costco's vanilla ice cream so much that it's inspired a Reddit thread praising in its favor. Some even called it the best ice cream they've ever had.
"You can really taste the difference between the cheap grocery store brand of basic vanilla ice cream and the Costco premium vanilla ice cream," wrote one user. Others mostly agreed that the ice cream was also good value for money, especially compared to other vanilla ice creams that you'd find in supermarkets. As it turns out, the ice cream's raving reviews might have something to do with its "Super Premium" label.
Costco's vanilla ice cream is "Super Premium"
The Kitchn explains that ice creams with a "Super Premium" label mean that they have an overrun that is less than 50%. Overrun signifies the amount of air in an ice cream, so an overrun percentage means that the ice cream has less air — and that means that the ice cream is of superior quality, hence the "Super Premium" label. Less air also means that the ice cream has more space for butterfat, the dairy fat that gives ice cream its creamy texture (via Dream Scoops). "Super Premium" ice creams can have as low as 15 to 20% of overrun and a huge amount of butterfat, which perhaps explains why Costco's Super Premium Vanilla Ice Cream has been a huge hit.
However, some Costco fans on Reddit are complaining that while the ice cream certainly is creamy, the creaminess seems to come from stabilizers like guar gum which makes it taste noticeably gummy. "It is a fake thick texture that leaves a film in my mouth," said one Redditor with another quick to agree: "Gummy and chewy and only vaguely vanilla." One comment said that a possible reason for the fake gumminess could also be due to the use of egg yolks in the ice cream.
If you do plan to taste the creaminess of Costco's vanilla ice cream yourself — fake or not — Reddit suggests topping it with peanut butter and chocolate sauce or even some apple strudel.