Breyers Lactose Free* Vanilla Light Ice Cream

There are two things people like to talk about on the Breyers facebook page:

1) their immense hatred of frozen dairy desserts.
2) the fact that a giant ice cream company makes two flavors of lactose free ice cream.

I'm usually more than happy to harp on #1, but tonight let's focus on #2 (pfffftttt)

Breyers lactose free* light vanilla ice cream

(the * means it's technically 99% lactose free)

I see vanilla bean flecks!

It looks normal enough and scoops like normal light ice cream. I take a few bites, and, well, it's soft, cold, some vanilla flavoring.... not really sure why they make it a low fat flavor, unless it's easier to get rid of the lactose when using skim milk maybe?

It ain't bad, that's for sure. The texture is obviously not going to be that of regular ice cream, instead there is that bit of unnatural whatever to the texture. I also keep thinking I taste... I don't know. Part of my brain thinks I taste an ice cream cone.

If you have to avoid lactose, you could do way worse then this. One question though. What is lactase enzyme?? According to wiki, lactase helps break down lactose.... ohhhh, they've added lactase enzyme to counteract the fact that there is lactose from the skim milk in here. Wiki says it allows companies to still label things as lactose free despite having a milk product in them. I guess you learn something new everyday! (and learning knowing is half the battle!)

On Second Scoop: Hey there! So, it's not like anyone is going to mistake this for a premium ice cream, it still has that light texture and that bit of skim milk taste to it, but still, for someone who can't handle lactose but doesn't want to resort to say rice dreams or coconut milk ice cream, this is just fine. Plus, with the soft consistency this one has, it leaves the door open for experimentation.

The reality is that if the only two choices you have for ice cream are either plain vanilla or plain chocolate, most likely you're going to get creative at some point. (Full disclosure: I totally stole this idea from Nick, but hopefully he won't get mad at me!) I took the softened base vanilla, threw in some Breyers Mixed Berry Topping, and a bunch of Raspberry fudge creme Oreo chunks. I mixed it all together and then stuck it back in the freezer for a bit.... ok, technically I didn't let it freeze long enough, and I used way too many cookies, but BOOM! I've got me a lactose free berry flavor. The possibilities are endless: jelly, jam, peanut butter, cookies, whatever lactose free product you can get your hands on, it's all fair game.

Verdict? respectable lactose free alternative
Buy Again?  half tempted to try the chocolate one as well