Finding the right ice cream for me after becoming a vegan was a challenge. My first try was Rice Dream and it was a no go (the site does say 'new improved taste' so could give it another try. I do love their brand of rice milk).
As a new vegan, you look for the creamy consistency that cow milk based ice creams have. Why? Because you're used to it. Rice Dream was translucent looking and didn't have any of the creaminess. I gave up and realized that I probably just needed to 'forget' ice cream as I knew ice cream to be.
After over a year of not having any sort of ice cream, I decided to experiment some. A good place to experiment is Whole Foods because if you don't like an item, you can return it with no hassles. A big shout out to Whole Foods for having the best damn customer service of any grocery stores...hell, of any place I've ever been to!
Tofutti makes a few different types of ice creams. One being ice cream sandwiches, which are very tasty, but I'm not really an ice cream sandwich person. I picked up a box of their Marry Me Bars,which Whole Foods actually doesn't carry. Not sure why. It doesn't seem to have any artificial flavors or preservatives. It tastes exactly like the crunchy coated chocolate shell vanilla ice cream bars we had as kids. Safeway and Giant carries this. It's soy based but does NOT have a strong soy flavor at all. A big thumbs up for these bars!
I felt that if this soy based ice cream could do it for me, why not try others. Turtle Mountain brand makes two lines of soy based ice creams called Purely Decadent and Soy Delicious (now called 'So Delicious') Unfortunately it was very soy tasting and not very delicious. The hint of soy was too strong for me and the creaminess was very minimal. My carnivore friend, however, really enjoyed it.
Turtle Mountain also make a line of coconut milk based ice creams. I avoided those only because I figured all the ice creams would have a coconut-y flavor no matter what the actual flavor was. I finally decided there was no harm in trying (and because I was desperate for some ice cream) and I am so glad I did. The Purely Decadent coconut milk based ice creams turned out to be PERFECTION! It is super creamy as cow milk based ice creams are and even though there is a slight hint of coconut, you won't even taste it after eating a couple pints. Seems like your taste buds get used to it. I've tried the chocolate chip cookie dough, turtle mountain, cookies and cream, and the chocolate brownie almond. The brownie almond is my favorite. The other flavors are very good too!
My next flavor on the list to try is cherry amaretto
Feel free to leave comments about what your favorite vegan ice creams are!
My favorite vegan ice cream is definitely the coconut milk Purely Decadent. You're right! The slight hint of coconut in most of the flavours is hardly noticeable at all. The pomegranate chip, turtle trails, chocolate, chocolate brownie almond, and mint chip are incredible. (Can you tell that I like ice cream? LOL!) And they're so much better than the Coconut Bliss brand, which has a weird coconut-aftertaste.
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