I know that this is a stressful time for everybody, with all the uncertainties that the new coronavirus, COVID-19 brings. Everything in our every day life is affected, including shopping for groceries. I understand that getting the basics is difficult enough, let alone be able to spend that extra bit of money on luxury products like vegan ice cream. However, in these times I find I also can get a bit of comfort out of trying new and exciting (and hopefully delicious) new products. That is why I did want to share my opinion on these two (or actually three) vegan ice creams.

Halo top

Lets start with this one. Previously on my blog, I reviewed the salted caramel flavour of Halo Top’s vegan range and boy, it wasn’t to my liking (check it out HERE). It had some weird taste to it that I couldn’t quite place. That is why I was apprehensive to try this flavour, peanut butter cup, but I did want to try anyway. The first thing I noticed it that the ice cream is quite firm and that the swirls of peanut butter have a strange texture (they don’t want to break when scooping, kind of like there are rubber bands through the ice cream). Besides that, the ice cream itself is also quite hard.

The flavour of the Peanut Butter Cup dairy free ice cream is definitely less offensive than that of the Salted Caramel flavour, but I think I know now what bothers me; the fact that it is coconut milk based. That, combined with the sweeteners used, gives it a weird, artificial and overpowering flavour that takes away from the flavour it is trying to achieve (peanut butter or caramel). However, if you find yourself in doubt, wanting to try Halo Top, I would advise you take the Peanut Butter cup over the Salted Caramel flavour. However, I tried this next to the Alpro 360 ice cream flavours, and… well just read on to hear my thoughts on that!

Alpro 360

One thing to note immediately with this ice cream is the following: one of the reasons this is light, with only 360 calories per tub, is the fact that it is, well, LIGHT. It doesn’t have a lot of weight. The ice cream is light, whipped and airy, giving you quite a bit of volume but not a lot of weight. That said, the ice cream scoops like a dream and has a nice amount of swirls of chocolate or mango/passionfruit syrup in it. If you compare the texture to the Halo Top ice cream it is much creamier, airier and much less dense or icy.

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And then, the flavour. My goodness this tastes good. It is creamy, sweet and doesn’t have a weird by- or aftertaste. The swirls in both the chocolate and mango/passionfruit ice cream add a nice depth of flavour. I could definitely see myself eating an entire tub of this stuff (if only it was a bit less pricy ;)). The taste and texture remind me a bit of soft serve, and I think this is the perfect ice cream, even for those that aren’t eating vegan.

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This is definitely an ice cream that I will look forward to buying again in the future. I would recommend it to anybody, even if you aren’t specifically looking for lower-calorie ice cream.

Have you tried these (or other) vegan ice creams? Let me know what you think, since I am always on the look out for new products to try!