Even though it’s freezing outside, we decided to have some ice cream after dinner. Ever since I read that cheap ice cream used some of the same chemicals used in dry cleaning (that was 25 years ago, so it may no longer be the case), I avoided it. We’ve happily eaten Breyers. I happened to glance at the ingredients last night and noticed something new, Tara Gum. Now, you may remember, Breyer’s had a famous commercial where two kids were trying to read the list of ingredients on a box of cheap ice cream. They were having difficulty pronouncing some of the names.
Unilever bought Breyers in 1993 (and Ben & Jerry’s in 2000). Unilever’s explanation for the inclusion of “Tara gum” is that their customers told them that Breyer’s needs to be creamier. Supposedly, Tara Gum makes the ice cream appear creamier. Pardon me, but wouldn’t adding more cream, rather than a processed South African tree, make it creamier? Perhaps a better explanation is that it makes the ice cream less affected by temperature changes. I find it makes the ice cream gritty and I’m not the only one. So from now on it will be Turkey Hill (until someone messes with that).
The pods from the Tara tree are an excellent source of environmentally-friendly tannins commonly used in the manufacture of furniture leather. Oh, yummy!