Those Damn Yankees Don’t Have the Love for Blue Bell We Texans Do
We love us some Blue Bell in Texas. Its always big news when a new flavor is introduced or when a favorite flavor is returning. The thing about Blue Bell is that not everyone gets to enjoy it. The company started in Brenham, Texas and is distributed throughout Texas but only 21 other states get to find it in their grocer's freezer. That's why you have to question a write up from a New York based food magazine that says that Blue Bell is one of the worst ice creams in the entire country.
The publication in question is called Eat This, Not That! In their write up, they name nine ice cream brands that we should avoid based solely on the lack of "quality ingredients." The thing about this write up is that they never really give us a "quality ingredient" definition, it just lists what these ice creams don't have or are made of.
For instance, Turkey Hill ice cream. There are two sentences to try to discredit the popular brand (I've never heard of it so its probably a regional brand like Blue Bell). The first sentence mentions their ingredients are not high quality with the second sentence naming the low quality ingredients. The same can be said for their critiques of the other brands, too.
For Blue Bell, the publication talks about Homemade Vanilla (but has a picture of Pecan Pralines 'n Cream) and mentions the gums, food starch, artificial colors and other ingredients then ends by asking about using milk, cream and sugar.
Let's answer that question, shall we?
If you look at the ingredients list for Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, the first four ingredients are milk, cream, sugar, skim milk. There's your answer Eat This, Not That!. It is made of milk, cream and sugar as the primary ingredients.
Hey yankees, dip your spoon in something else and we'll enjoy our Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, made first with milk, cream and sugar, or Strawberry Lemonade or any other great Blue Bell flavor to satisfy our sweet tooth down here, alright.
Eat This, Not That! also sourced a 600 person study about Blue Bell
A survey was done by the site Mashed that claimed, of those surveyed, that Blue Bell was the worst ice cream in the country. The thing is, this survey was only of 618 people "living in the U.S." with 19.74 percent of those 618, or 117, listed Blue Bell as the worst. The survey also mentioned the 2015 listeria outbreak as a possible reason for the negative response.
Despite all of this, Blue Bell ranks number three, below only Ben & Jerry's at number two and the combined statistic of private label ice creams (ice cream's only sold in their local markets) at number one in total revenue. I don't think your yankee publication is going to change any minds about Blue Bell here thankyouverymuch.