Vanilla base for different Ice cream flavors

[SatchBoogie3]

I'm a vanilla ice cream nut. I live for Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.

The vanilla ice cream used in the various different mixes (choc chip, cookies and cream, caramel swirls, etc etc) always taste different from plain vanilla. I'll pick a super premium ice cream brand and will try it's plain vanilla, then try it's various flavor's with a vanilla base. I almost always find that the vanilla in the other mixes tastes different, more bland. Why is it?

One thing I was thinking was maybe a lot of companies use a sweet cream base vs vanilla, or simply choose not to make the vanilla in mixed flavors as strong as just plain vanilla ice cream. Is it because they can get away with having a cheaper vanilla?

I just can't stand when I dig into choco chip, cookies and cream, etc etc and the vanilla ice cream tastes very bland and not even close to as bold and creamy as it is in their just plain vanilla ice cream.

There might be more to it, I just need to know WHY!

[Andy M.]

With vanilla ice cream, the vanilla is the focal point. That's the flavor you want to present first and foremost. With other flavors the vanilla is in a supporting role and the focus of the ice cream is intended to be on the other flavors.

[JillBurgh]

Looks like you need to start making your own Ice Cream!

If you love vanilla so much, pop a vanilla bean in a cup or two of sugar. I like to scrape the seeds into the sugar then shake it through a fine sieve. Then save the spent pods and cover them with the sugar. Next time you have cookies n cream or choc chip, you can dust a little of your vanilla sugar right on top! And in your coffee, too!

[mcnerd]

I've just started making my own ice cream. Less than 30 minutes to pure ecstasy and at the very end I can go with the mood on what I want to toss in to tantalize my taste buds. Nothing better for increasing your waistline!

[JillBurgh]

Originally Posted by mcnerd

Nothing better for increasing your waistline!

I doubt that most of us food-lovers here have any trouble finding new ways to increase our waistlines...

[college_cook]

Andy pretty much hit it on the nose... and of course that's if they're actuallyusing vanilla as a base. Just because it's white doesn't mean it's vanilla. And if you think about it, if you were an ice cream manufacturer why would you spend the extra money on vanilla flavoring for your flavored mixes when the flavor is not supposed to be vanilla. I think I'd just use the cream and milk and sugar and eggs and forget the vanilla entirely. I think this especially applies too the premium brands who would be more likely to use better vanilla in the first place. If you've ever bought vanilla beans, you know how big they are and you definitely know how expensive they are.

[mcnerd]

If you have ever tried making ice cream with imitation vanilla or even no vanilla at all, you would notice it immediately and it probably would not be pleasant.

[JPolito830]

Originally Posted by mcnerd

If you have ever tried making ice cream with imitation vanilla or even no vanilla at all, you would notice it immediately and it probably would not be pleasant.

Agreed...I tried making it with no vanilla before as a experiment, and it tasted like trash