Breyer's ice cream quality (split from Ontario board)

[Full tummy]

Ya, what is it with that? I used to think of Breyer's as alright, but it is terrible now. Alas, I usually get stuck with it when someone else serves it... The mouthfeel of all of them is horribly gummy.

Sometimes, I'm heading to a family event, and it's just not practical to buy Haagen Dazs. Which ice cream do you guys turn to in this case? (I'm looking for a larger package that's less expensive.)

[Calipoutine]

The majority of Breyers that is sold in Canada isnt even ice "cream". Its FROZEN DESSERT and it will say that in tiny letters. The dairy industry in Canada is regulated and thus very expensive. This Bryers frozen dessert is comprised of modified milk ingredients( aka Whey). There is not enough dairy in it to be called ice cream. When I lived in Ontario, it used to go on sale all the time for 1,99 and everyone thought they were getting such a bargain. I wouldnt eat that if it was free. Barf. When I called the company, they said that is what the customers wanted because it had less trans fat. Yeah, right.

[KateW1]

Nestle also has the frozen dessert label on a good portion of their products. Unfortunately, Breyers and Nestle frozen desserts take up the majority of the shelf space in the ice cream section of the grocery stores in my neighborhood.

[Chowrin]

costco's vanilla is excellent. $10 a gallon.

[Full tummy]

Do you know who makes their ice cream?

I will look into it next time I'm in Costco, but I wonder if you are referring to the U.S. product. I live in Canada, so perhaps they don't sell the same thing here.

[terence1957]

I doubt it. You can't buy pure cream, vanilla, and sugar at $10 a gallon (even at Costco) which is what most people on this thread mean by quality ice cream. So in the absence of natural ingredients, food companies insert gunk (guar gum, emulsifiers etc). You could blindfold me and I'd know the difference. Sorry, but I'd put hard money on that...many have tried. Sadly, this is a mass-public generated phenomenon. As long as most people buy this sh*t and can't tell the difference, manufacturers will produce it. I'm not sure if Breyer's US is the same as Breyer's Canada, but since I came to Canada (10 yrs ago) Breyer's seriously took a credibility crash: from manufacturing a premium product to marketing the worst example of mass-produced ice cream in this country. Bar none! White mouth glue, barely qualifying as human food.

[Full tummy]

You're probably right about not being able to buy a quality product for $10/gallon. However, just wanted to add that air is the cheapest ingredient in most ice cream/ice cream style products. Far cheaper than guar gum, etc., hahaha!

[terence1957]

Yes, you are absolutely correct regarding air! Kind of you loose, you loose!

[Jay F]

>Breyer's seriously took a credibility crash: from manufacturing a premium product to marketing the worst example of mass-produced ice cream in this country. Bar none! White mouth glue, barely qualifying as human food.

I knew by my second spoonful that Breyer's had started using stabilizers. And sure enough, there on the ingredients list...

[dekethedog]

I loved Breyer's original ice cream. I'd hardly been eating ice cream at all but my wife bought me a 1.5 of butter pecan tonight. I opened the package with a bit of excitement for this treat, remembering the pure flavor and the generous amounts of pecan halves. Instead of the container being filled to the rim, it looked like a glob had been dropped into the carton. Like someone said before, I could smell a rat by the second spoonful. Looked at the label, and there it was...emulsifiers. I could deal with that to some extent if the flavor hadn't changed, but it had. Or I should say disappeared. And the pecans, when you could find them, were rancid. I'm tossing the rest of the carton. Blue Bunny Premium from now on.

[NotJuliaChild]

Many, many years ago Breyers was sold in a box with a thin piece of cellophane over top of it. That was a true half gallon.

Then they switched to an oval shaped container that was only 1.75 gallons.

More recently, they shrunk the container again. Now a container of Breyers is only 1.5 quarts.

The price has more or less stayed the same over the last couple of years. This is to give the illusion of value, since the majority of people look only at the price tag.

If you have basic math skills, you know you're being ripped off. By reducing the size of the container, you're paying more on a per ounce basis. But how many people think like that when buying food?

Factor in the overrun I discuss above, and it's even more insulting what you're paying.

P.S. Mars has done the same thing with their candy bars, but that's for another time.

P.P.S. Ben & Jerry's is owned by the same company that owns Breyers - Unilever.

[Full tummy]

"by reducing the size of the container, you're paying more on a per ounce basis"

Except that the size of the container doesn't necessarily say everything about the weight. You'd have to know if they were putting less air into their product. Those containers don't actually indicate the weight of the product, so a smaller or larger container could actually have the same weight, depending on how dense the product they're selling is, and that depends on the recipe they're using.

[georgia_on_my_mind]

I just had such an amazing experience. Finishing 1/3 a tub of nestle real dairy white and dark chocolate swirl. i let it out of the freezer for 10 minutes so it got all smooth and melty on the edges and omg that stuff is dangerous! couldnt stop it just kept melting and you have to keep eating all the melty parts its so hard to put down! anyways if you do get it trust me put your serving in a bowl first and put it away as fast as you can. its made with mostly natural ingredients and it really tastes like the way ice cream should. I strongly recommend. also this flavour is only 140 cal for 1/2 a cup. not so bad eh! i also love the maple, natural vanilla, creme brulle and cappuccino flavours. their natural vanilla is the best ive ever had and is perfect for accompanying hot apples and cinnamon. im going to try their french vanilla next. GOOD LUCK!
also breyers in the states is made with milk whenever i go to the states i get it. especially their smooth and dreamy its so fluffy. i like their chocolate chip cookie dough, mint chocolate, mocha brownie, chocolate, i dunno what else. and haggan daaz has a great line of frozen yogurts not too fattening and tons of protein and calcium. their vanilla and coffee is good. also haggan daaz five has this lemon flavor thats to die for it tastes like lemon meringue pie!

[ptolemyauletes]

If you are living out in British
Columbia you are doing pretty well for Ice Cream. My aunt and Uncle used to own 'The Udder Guys'. Sadly they didn't do too well with it as people like to stick with the rubbish they know. I never tried it but I am told it was some of the best ice cream you can get. I have been living in Britain for the last 6 years and it is a food paradise, contrary to the press British cuisine usually gets. They are a food mad country, and the high end grocery shops sell some excellent food at decent prices. The British as a rule don't put up with nonsense. All their food is labeled extremely thoroughly, with a breakdown of ingredients by percentage. Can you imagine Canadian food retailers allowing that to pass here? This allows you to realize for example that V8 vegetable cocktail is over 90% tomato juice with less than 10% other vegetables.
The Breyer's scam is one of the most frustrating examples of the scam that North American food producers have been pulling on the public for years. Breyer's All-Natural Strawberry was the finest ice cream ever produced. One day I returned on holiday from Britain, and found it was gone, replaced by the Double Churned garbage. The same happened with Welch's Grape juice which used to be sold frozen. One day it was vanished and was replaced with 'Grape Cocktail'. The packaging barely changed at all and the first I knew of the change was when I drank what I thought would be a mouthful of delicious grape juice and was instead greeted by something barely better than Kool-Aid. Not a word from the company, and most people probably just kept buying it. The worst part is, predictably, that the price did not change! The company's profits soared, as they were now stretching there actual grape juice many times over. We deserve to get robbed like this, because we allow it.
Speaking of ice cream, give Chapman's a try. This was traditionally my most loathed of ice creams, so much so that my family would tease me about it, but my wife bought some about a year ago and I was very surprised. The first ingredient is cream, and it tastes much different than I remember. And only $3.99! Can anyone verify for me if their recipe has changed? I remember it being very artificial tasting and buttery, but now it tastes like actual ICE CREAM, unlike the crap most of the higher end producers sell.

[rafjel]

My family doesn't generally buy ice cream as we have a churner, but last weekend my dad brought some home as we were having guests; it was a 'double churned, rich' version. The mouthfeel was oddly foamy, so no one took more than a couple bites. The worst thing, though - it didn't melt! It got softer, but it retained its general shape for more than 3 hours, just sitting there. No pool of liquid at the bottom, just a big pile of foam.

[anonymouse1935]

How funny, rafjel! I just had that thought and you described the outcome. You saved my buying some cheapie ice cream.

Since it takes me 4 cups of liquid to make 1-1/2 quarts of home made ice cream, I wonder how much 'foam' translates to the 48 oz. containers.

[Full tummy]

A simple weight test will tell you!!! Put it on a scale, and it will tell you how much substance versus how much air you have there--use HD for comparison. I have thought of doing this.

I think others have said that the larger, more aerated tubs of ice cream actually have the same weight as a small HD. I'm not sure as I've never tried it, though.

[anonymouse1935]

Makes sense, Full tummy. I don't have a food scale, but I bet you're right.

It confirms what I suspect, though. I don't find myself any 'weightier' after eating 48 oz. of cheap ice cream than I do after eating 14 oz. of HD, just less satisfied.

I do enjoy, though, how the cheap ice cream manufacturers have succeeded in pulling one over on all of us, including me.

Do you have HD creme brulee in Canada? It is 'the' best flavor they ever made. Before they became greedy, I stocked up on pints of the glorious stuff.

[Full tummy]

I think so. I am addicted to dulce de leche (probably a lot like creme brulee) and caramel cone explosion. We don't have the "five" flavours here (of which I really like the ginger), and a bunch of others. Last time I was in Michigan, a few months ago, there were a number of limited release options, too. Seems to me our grocery stores have about half the flavours at twice the price, where HD is concerned.

[NotJuliaChild]

Commercial ice creams outside the super premium variety aren't 100% ice cream. In addition to ice cream ingredients, air is mixed in. The ice cream industry term for this is "overrun". By law, ice cream can have a maximum overrun of 50%.

From the internet:

"In looking at calculating overrun in ice cream, it is important to remember the definition of overrun; that is, it is the % increase in volume of ice cream greater than the amount of mix used to produce that ice cream. In other words, if you start off with 1 litre of mix and you make 1.5 litres of ice cream from that, you have increased the volume by 50% (i.e., the overrun is 50%). "

Haagen Daz and homemade have minimal overrun. This lack of air is what make HD and homemade so difficult to scoop straight out of the freezer.

[Chowrin]

just look at calories on the side of the package... it isn't hard!

[Full tummy]

Yes, thanks, I am aware of this. That's why some ice creams appear to have fewer calories. There's nothing special about them, except that air has no calories, and they're full of it...

[fmed]

Realizing that this thread is split from the Ontario board....a couple of recommendations for Western Canadians....

I too stopped purchasing Breyers - to me, it has a foamy mouthfeel (perhaps from the gums and gelatins they add).

Out here on the left coast, I like The Udder Guys and Island Farms ice cream. The Udder Guys, in particular, has great flavours, uses local cream and does not use additives nor preservatives. I have seen it at the Whole Foods here, so they may have it at the WF back east.

[cmjsrevihc]

I loved that Capuccino Duet ALl Natural ice cream Breyers had a few years ago. Then one day it was gone, as were all of the All Natural line, replaced with teh terrible "Double (triple?) Churned." I sent Breyers an email inquiring about the All Natural, and they explained to me that here in Canada, we have stricter laws about what can be called All Natural. Apparently All Natural would have to use a spring water source, and not filtered municipal water as they were doing.

I don't see why they didn't just keep making the ice cream the same, but replace the All Natural tag with something else. But instead, they went the opposite direction with that Churned junk, and filled it with air and modified milk ingredients etc. The first time I bought it, it was winter and I assumed I must have bought a carton that had been sitting on teh shelf too long, because it tasted sour. But then over time I realized that any ice cream or ice cream product made with modified milk ingredients just tastes terrible and sour to me. Same with chocolate made that way.

Now I get the President's Choice line, which are thankfully made with cream or milk. Or the Nestle Real Dairy.

Now, just the other day, the Safeway flyer was advertising a new Breyers line called Smooth and Creamy, and the picture showed an icon on the carton of a dollop pf cream. I checked it out, but unfortunately, it's still a modified milk ingrients ice cream :( I think there is a tad of cream listed further down the ingredients list, but not enough to be worthwhile.

Now what I want to know is, why when I look up Breyers in the US website do all of the products have milk or cream. Not a single one has modified milk ingredients! Why are we in Canada stuck with a crappier version. I thought Canada would be better about this.

Also, is it me or is the Bryers Canada website useless? they don't even list products.

[embee]

Breyer's does not speak the truth about "spring water" being a labeling requirement. That's utter BS. Water is -- long pause -- water. "Synthetic water"? Duh....

They just decided to make their ice cream cheaper and crappier. Neither Breyer's nor Nestle's is legally ice cream, or ice milk, in Canada today. They are both labeled "frozen dessert".

[Full tummy]

Thanks for this! Their "line" sounded suspicious, indeedy.

[cmjsrevihc]

Nestle has repackaged their "Real Dairy" line ths year, and if you look, it's only 1.5 litres now! I bet that's why they redesigned them, so people wouldn't notice the size change specifically. It's expensive too, as is Breyers. Honestly, $8.99 when not on sale. But President's Choice, made with cream and decent ingredients is only $4 or $5 at the most.

[beachmouse]

If they're manufacturing for the US markets, then there actually is a FDA legal definition of spring water that you have to meet in order to call it such. Sounds like Canada now also has the same sort of rules.

http://www.nestle-waters.ca/en/enviro...

It's not really a rule about the actual quality of the water, but rather that the source is correctly identified.

[cmjsrevihc]

Oh, I see www.breyers.ca has been revamped since I wrote that post. They are extolling their special "cream press system." ie. whatever it is that packs air into already crummy frozen dessert? lol

[anonymouse1935]

Mmmmmmm, nothing like cream pressed ice cream.

Breyer's is the dregs of supermarket ice cream, not even worth buying when on sale. Try scooping it, it will break apart like frozen Crisco. Yummy.

I love smashing down a 48 oz. container of cheap ice cream (never Breyer's anymore) and noting what I end up with -- it always makes eating a 48 oz. container in two settings so much more guilt-free. One of these days I'm going to buy a cheapie and allow it to melt and note how much liquid is left. That should be a hoot.

Full tummy, sadly it's HD in non-pints (14 oz.) or your own home made if you want decent ice cream.

[Full tummy]

Yup, I'm happy with my HD. And recent trips to the US have allowed me to stock up on flavours we just don't have here in Canada. Boohoo.

[Chowrin]

not at all... buy costco's icecream. dare ya.

[Whats_For_Dinner]

Personally, I love Chapman's. Their stuff is generally a very good value for the money; while it's not in the same league as Haagen-Dazs, it's my go-to midrange ice cream.
Kawartha Dairy and Stoney Creek are seriously good too (Kawartha's Moose tracks is to diiiiiie for.)

[embee]

I did like a few of the Breyer's all natural flavours before they ruined them. Now I won't buy Breyer's at any price. It isn't worth the calories or the money.

Chapman's makes a whole range of ice creams, from very cheap to very good. Even their lowest end, ultra cheap, ice cream seems to qualify as ice cream. I don't especially like these, but they're much better than Breyer's, including the Breyer's in the black cartons.

Chapman's premium lines are significantly better, and they also make the (much higher quality) President's Choice ice creams.

In addition to all that, they make various sugar free, lactose free, and fat free ice creams (some of these are edible; some not).

Chapman's certainly doesn't make any ice creams that are among my favourites, but I've got to love that company - and the real local family that owns it. Their actions when their plant burned to the ground last year were beyond belief. They could have taken their insurance money, shut down, and sold their brands to - hmmm - perhaps Breyers.

Instead, they opened a temporary plant in the immediate area and are rebuilding in their little village at hyper speed. Against the advice of their lawyers and insurers, David Chapman guaranteed that their employees wouldn't suffer. I was genuinely impressed.

Stoney Creek was great at one time, but I'm not fond of it today. They were making the Dominion house brands - I don't know whether they still make Metro's.

While Kawartha is hardly the little ol' dairy operation of their image, they are the one remaining country dairy that still makes good ice cream. Some of their flavours are disgusting, but their "adult" flavours are still very good.

[Full tummy]

I can much more easily tolerate Chapman's vanilla than Breyer's vanilla, and it's half the price!! However, it's not on par with the President's Choice vanilla, in my books. Mouth feel is pretty good, but not enough vanilla, alas.

I do really enjoy some of the Kawartha Dairy flavours. Their strawberry ice cream is perhaps the best strawberry aside from Haagen Dazs. Haven't had Stoney Creek.

[embee]

I had a quick look in the supermarket this morning.

- The first ingredient in NoName vanilla is cream. It's $2 and change.
- The first ingredient in Chapman's economy vanilla is cream. It's $3 and change.
- The first ingredient in Breyer's Classic vanilla is modified milk ingredients. It seems not to qualify as either ice cream or ice milk and costs almost $6
(- Nestle is also labeled "frozen dessert")

[Full tummy]

I haven't had the NoName lately, but maybe it's a passable, and cheaper, alternative for those occasions when I'm looking to be extra thrifty (a group of kids to serve, etc.). Have you tried it?

[embee]

No - I don't bother with low end ice cream. It's just not worth the calories to me. I did find those ingredients lists, and the "frozen dessert" designation, shall we say, "interesting".

I recall when Gelato Fresco got into a whole kerfuffle with the lords of dairy because they had product that was of "too high quality" to be called "ice milk". Somehow, though, I suspect that this "frozen dessert" label isn't because the product is of too high quality to be called "ice cream" ;-)

The other one I wonder about is Dairy Queen. When I was a kid, it was "frozen custard". Then it became "soft ice cream" Then it was "Dairy Queen is made from ice milk". Now it's just "DQ", with no mention whatsoever of dairy. Petroleum product, perhaps??

[Full tummy]

I'm too young to remember the "frozen custard" designation, but I visit Michigan from time to time and noticed that they have a number of spots selling "frozen custard". My discovery was too late to try them out this past summer, and now they're closed, so perhaps next summer...

http://www.ermascustard.com/

[eatongal]

Breyers was bought by Unilever and it is terrible now. The standard "classic" blue tubs are now labelled "frozen dessert"; ie. it is now so artificial it can't legally be called ice cream. Ew.

[mogo]

Yeah, I never did like Breyers, but they've become especially terrible now. I like Stoney Creek ice cream better. Not as good as HD, but also not as expensive.

[yaddayadda]

Too bad Bertillon in Paris doesn't export. Hands down the best ice cream I've ever tasted or likely to taste.

[PaulV]

Not sure where you are in Ontario, but if you have access to a Reid's Dairy store I like their ice cream and it's not priced at Haagen Dazs levels. Otherwise, I'd also recommend PC over Breyers.

[embee]

The Breyer's all natural ice creams really were. They were 50% air, icy, and thin, but the flavours tasted good. Breyer's was especially useful for milkshakes, where heavy super premium ice creams don't blend very well.

For whatever reason, they pulled this line and replaced it with the "double churned" version, which has nothing to do with churning. They added various emulsifying and stabilizing agents that simulate a richer, creamier mouthfeel. The timing of this was interesting, in that several reviews had concluded that the use or non-use of these additives did not seem to make ice creams either good or bad. There were both good and bad ice creams with and without the additives.

Unfortunately, Breyer's did a crappy job. The new line does, indeed, feel richer and creamier in the mouth. These are additive induced sensations, since the product is not actually any richer, creamier, or heavier. The change also added a gumminess and somehow ruined the taste. My own experience is that they could have avoided these deficiencies, but they didn't.

There must have been complaints, since the all natural version eventually reappeared. However, it was sold in smaller containers and at a much higher price. I don't know whether they are still making these, but they couldn't have sold very well. They quickly disappeared from the shelves of everyplace I shop.

I'd say the best option would be President's Choice. I find some of their flavours really good and others disgusting, but the overall ingredient quality is not bad for the price. We particularly like the mint/chocolate combo and the coconut. If you look at the reviews on the PC website, you'll get some sense of the various flavours.

Sobey's has a Compliments Sensations ice cream, called something like double chocolate truffle, that won a few awards, but we found it too sweet to eat and threw it out.

Obviously, YMMV.

[Full tummy]

Thanks, embee. My go-to vanilla when I need a larger package has been the PC brand. Hubby and I did a blind taste-testing against Breyer's, and we could tell the difference. I do like it's flavour better, and it seems cleaner on the tongue.

Though, I note that the PC ice cream is much more expensive these days than it used to be. A few years ago, the prices were better or comparable to Breyer's. Now, Breyer's is much cheaper; if I remember correctly, the PC ice cream was up over $6.00. Which is surprising to me, since I've always thought that the aim of PC was to price itself competitively against the brand it would most closely be compared to. Perhaps, though, Breyer's cuts have resulted in an ice cream they can sell more cheaply (and that was the aim of the recipe change), and now the PC is left on its own??

[embee]

I think (not certain) that PC is roughly the same price as Haagen Dazs for roughly double the quantity. It was $6.99 earlier this week, but it had been on sale for $4.99 for quite a while.

Since ice cream is sold by volume, this type of price comparison isn't really valid. You need to weigh each brand to actually compare value.

[Full tummy]

Hi embee,

Yes, I understand that. My comparison is more between the PC brand and what I would think of as its closest competitor, Breyer's. Do you think that the Breyer's weighs less? (I haven't weighed them.) Also, I'm not really concerned about being "ripped off", so much as the perception that ice cream buyers have, as most of them do not consider weight, and I think weight measurements are not on the packages, anyway.

My point is also about marketing--I've always thought of PC ice cream (and some of their other products, as well -- custard, pop, crackers) as marketing itself as the slightly better (or at least as good), slightly cheaper alternative to another readily identifiable brand with similar packaging. I notice that friends of mine are tending to buy Breyer's now (probably because it's cheaper), and I hope that doesn't push the PC line to use cheaper ingredients so they can sell at a comparable price.

[embee]

I don't see PC and Breyer's as being directly competitive. Leaving out the basics such as chocolate and vanilla, most of the PC ice cream flavours seem to be unique. I should be working, but curiosity got me and I checked the PC website. Some of the flavours are:

Canadian Maple
Candy Cane Chocolate Fudge Crackle
Caramel Cashew Toffee Crunch
Cherry Chocolate Chunk
Chocolate Almond Bark
Chocolate Fudge Crackle Peppermint Chocolate
Coconut Cream Pie

I don't think anyone else sells these in Canada. I know their Xmas Candy Cane ice cream is made by Chapman's. I don't know whether Chapman's makes some or all of the other flavours, but Chapman's own brand isn't as good.

It's instructive that PC ice cream contains a whole whack of additives, but they don't totally ruin the ice cream (as opposed to the additives in Breyer's "double churned").

[Full tummy]

You're right. Many of the flavours aren't the same, and I suppose if you're hooked on a particular flavour, there's no competition (you're going to buy what you like). I don't tend to like the PC or Breyer's flavours; I find them too sweet (and I'm trying not to eat too much ice cream haha). I am usually looking for a vanilla to eat with pie at holidays, so I guess it does seem more like competition for someone like me...

[embee]

Loblaw's suddenly has all kinds of new and reformulated PC ice cream flavours. I noticed them for the first time today. One common thread was that the first ingredient in every PC flavour is now cream.

Breyer's, and many other brands, don't contain any actual "cream" - just "modified milk ingredients".

[Full tummy]

Wow! Did you try some? Thanks for the tip.

[embee]

Just one - Mocha Almond Fudge. Good, though not great. Natural flavours with large roasted almonds, espresso chips, and a fudge ribbon. Not horribly sweet. Enough air that it softens much too quickly, but not gummy when it does.

We'd get this one again. However, I still prefer the plain Haagen Dazs coffee.

[Full tummy]

I bought the vanilla today. It tastes pretty much the same as the old vanilla. Still my standby. I prefer HD, but it's so dense I find that more is used in each serving (by weight).

[yaddayadda]

And here I thought "double churned" was a marketing gimmick to explain why they were putting less ingredients, in exchange for more air, into the product.

[embee]

They were already at the legal maximum for overrun (i.e., added air).

[yaddayadda]

No doubt.

Anyway... I liked their original products better. That Cookies and Cream of theirs was the only ice cream I bought for a number of years. (It has changed too -- more sweetness, less cookies/cream flavour -- so I stopped buying it.)

[embee]

I got curious while shopping today. Not accounting for the container weights, which are undoubtedly all different, here's what I found for plain vanilla ice cream:

Brand--------------------------------Volume------------Weight

Breyer's Classic------------------1.89 L--------------1 Kg
Breyer's Double Churn---------1.89 L--------------1 Kg
President's Choice:-------------1.65 L--------------1 Kg
Haagen Dazs----------------------0.5 L---------------0.5 Kg

[yaddayadda]

Thanks for the analysis.
HDazs as heavy as water? That's a surprise, and runs counter to the idea that ice cream needs air mixed into it. Perhaps the heavier cream...

[danna]

How recently did this transpire? i agree the "double churned" is nasty, and I know Breyers got at least 1 complaint...from me (and answered it, actually.)

But last time I checked you could still get the "all natural" with no scary ingredients in a limited number of flavors. Has this changed?

[embee]

I don't know about where you live, but you can't get these in Toronto. They "re-launched" a few all natural flavours, which were in much smaller cartons and sold for a much higher price. They flopped - they were much too expensive for what they were.

[danna]

Ah ha. I checked the store this weekend (in South Carolina) , and we still have "all natural" in a few flavors. However, there is a new ingredient 'tara gum", which I have never heard of. I haven't tried any lately, but I'm holding out hope it's still tolerable.

[Full tummy]

I'm curious to know how they responded...

[danna]

They were really sorry I didn't like their new product. *sigh*

[Full tummy]

Oh gosh, that's a help. I wonder how long before the rest of the people buying it realize it's a gummy shadow of its former self.