What was your favorite brand of ice cream no longer made?

[SMD]

The one I remember was Mocha Mix ice cream. My grandma always had a tub in the freezer. It wasn't my favorite, but it was consistently there, so it's a good memory.

Do the still make Vienatta cake? I haven't seen it. I miss that stuff.

They sell it in Europe. In China I had an individual one on a stick. It was great, no sharing required, all for me!

I didn't necessarily partake in a lot of this stuff, but there was a drug store chain called Thrifty (the name is complicated because it was used by competitors too) that had its own ice cream. Rite-Aid bought out the company, and apparently they still sell it, although there are no locations near where I live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrifty_PayLess#Thrifty_Ice_Cream

I also miss ice cream sold in rectangular thin-paperboard boxes. You know - the kind that opened via a flap or tear strip on the side and had to be tucked in. These days I only see ice cream in tubs or round cartons. Most ice cream sold this way wasn't fancy, but it was comfort food.

They sell it in kind of an oval tub now. I sometimes miss the novelty of the box, but it does get a lot less freezer burn in the tub. The scoops from the counter are still cylindrical, though.

 

[jrnunzio3]

I grew up on Hood patchwork and Penn Supreme Golden Vanilla.

 

[tvguy]

Not in my neck of the woods, which is dominated by CVS and Walgreens. Even the former ThriftyPayless locations have become CVS or Walgreens. There isn't a single Rite-Aid location between Pinole and Berkeley. And where there are Rite-Aid stores, the market is still dominated by Walgreens and CVS.

I looked up the number of Rite-Aid stores within 50 miles of my zip code and it was 10. CVS and Walgreens didn't have a distance option, but there were at least 10 each within 10 miles.

Of course the place I grew up with is Fenton's Creamery in Oakland. It wasn't really that great, but the portion sizes and cheap prices were legendary. It's still there, but the product has gone upscale.

Walgreens is just plain crazy, I swear there is one every 10 or 12 blocks here. And when I go in, they never have what I want. CVS and Rite Aide are pretty even here.
I grew up with Pay Less and Thrifty, and of course Pay Less bought up Thrifty before CVS bought out Pay Less. What used to be Thrifty locations all closed, so it always funny to go into Rite Aide now and see Thrifty ice cream, since those locations never ever were Thrifty.

 

[bcla]

The one I remember was Mocha Mix ice cream. My grandma always had a tub in the freezer. It wasn't my favorite, but it was consistently there, so it's a good memory.

They sell it in kind of an oval tub now. I sometimes miss the novelty of the box, but it does get a lot less freezer burn in the tub. The scoops from the counter are still cylindrical, though.

Mocha Mix didn't actually sell ice cream. It was a "nondairy frozen dessert" similar to Cool Whip. The base wasn't made from milk/cream, but from vegetable oil. That stuff made me nauseous when I tried it.

As for those boxes, some brands still use them. Apparently they're still common in Hawaii, where people have a hard time letting go of familiar names. I heard they were the last to see the Woolworth's brand name go, and even when CVS bought them out, the stores in Hawaii kept the Longs Drugs name.

 

[MSLRAC]

Me too! And the Disney popsicles from the 80s. They were shaped like the characters. I loved them! We only got them in the summer as a treat.

I loved those and Pudding Pops.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I can't remember what company made it, but a few years ago some had made a softer serve ice cream, it was so good. I can no longer find it.

Foremost ice cream was so good.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Isaly's chocolate chip ice cream.

 

[POOHsie]

We used to love Howard Johnson's Ice Cream. You would buy it by the container (to go) at their restaurants. Some flavors showed up in grocery freezer cases in later years, when I lived in the Northeast. My favorite flavors were Pistachio, Mint Chocolate Chip and Chocolate.

 

[htmom]

If you pour pudding into popsicle molds you can get a pretty close "pudding pop". Sometimes it takes a little trial and error and needs a little extra milk.

 

[Carl]

Carnation. Cheap, but good.

 

[Lanshark]

Sticky toffee pudding

 

[wenrob]

Baskin Robbins used to make a chocolate raspberry truffle…that stuff was heavenly!

This! Was my absolute favorite. The irony is my daughter works at Baskin Robbins, a shame I can't use the discount for it, lol.

Another one that mostly vanished was Swensen's. There are apparently four locations left in the US, including the original in San Francisco. That was apparently operated by the original owner and then his family. Every other location is a franchise. They used to have franchises around the US and internationally. It still has a San Francisco theme, with sundaes with names like The Earthquake or Coit Tower.

I remember that they ice cream was typically made at the location and the machines were usually visible through a window.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swensen's

I loved Swenson's it was such a treat!

I didn't necessarily partake in a lot of this stuff, but there was a drug store chain called Thrifty (the name is complicated because it was used by competitors too) that had its own ice cream. Rite-Aid bought out the company, and apparently they still sell it, although there are no locations near where I live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrifty_PayLess#Thrifty_Ice_Cream

I also miss ice cream sold in rectangular thin-paperboard boxes. You know - the kind that opened via a flap or tear strip on the side and had to be tucked in. These days I only see ice cream in tubs or round cartons. Most ice cream sold this way wasn't fancy, but it was comfort food.

I have such fond memories of my Grandpa taking us to the Thrifty ice cream counter, always got Chocolate Chip Mint. We have a couple reopened here. I got so excited and took my kids and it was just "meh."

 

[OnceUponATime15]

While Ben & Jerry's is still around... their White Russian flavor is sadly not. lol. It is my all time favourite ice cream - ever!! (especially in a milkshake!) mmmmmm...

 

[bcla]

I have such fond memories of my Grandpa taking us to the Thrifty ice cream counter, always got Chocolate Chip Mint. We have a couple reopened here. I got so excited and took my kids and it was just "meh."

The fact is that a lot of these types of ice cream weren't really good by modern standards. Back then, most ice cream tended to be soft because a lot of air was pumped in. That also meant that there wasn't really that much in there. Additionally, many have changed their recipes for assorted reasons. Brands like Hagen-Daz and Ben & Jerry's don't pump a lot of air and thus have a richer taste.

I have fond memories of foods from my youth, but from a realistic standpoint it's about those memories and not the quality of the products from my youth. I know there's talk of the good old days of cars. However, what I remember is that you were lucky to get 100,000 miles, were changing the oil all the time, things needed to be fixed often, and you had to get tuneups because the carbs went out of adjustment.

 

[tvguy]

The fact is that a lot of these types of ice cream weren't really good by modern standards. Back then, most ice cream tended to be soft because a lot of air was pumped in. That also meant that there wasn't really that much in there. Additionally, many have changed their recipes for assorted reasons. Brands like Hagen-Daz and Ben & Jerry's don't pump a lot of air and thus have a richer taste.

I have fond memories of foods from my youth, but from a realistic standpoint it's about those memories and not the quality of the products from my youth. I know there's talk of the good old days of cars. However, what I remember is that you were lucky to get 100,000 miles, were changing the oil all the time, things needed to be fixed often, and you had to get tuneups because the carbs went out of adjustment.

Agree about the cars, but disagree about the ice cream. Pumping air into ice cream is something I think of as happening in the last 10 years about the same time that a half gallon of ice cream shrunk. Manufacturers were looking for ways to reduce cost and cut calories in a serving. Dreyers introduced Slow churned in 2004. Slow churned translates to less ice cream.

 

[lynxstch]

Ben and Jerry's Dastardly Mash

 

[bcla]

Agree about the cars, but disagree about the ice cream. Pumping air into ice cream is something I think of as happening in the last 10 years about the same time that a half gallon of ice cream shrunk. Manufacturers were looking for ways to reduce cost and cut calories in a serving. Dreyers introduced Slow churned in 2004. Slow churned translates to less ice cream.

They don't pump more air into that. It's really a "lowfat" version that uses a higher proportion of skim milk to lower the fat content. The manufacturing process is just supposed to make up for the normal loss of texture and "mouthfeel".

Pumping air has been around for ages. As a kid, I remember reading an article on ice cream back from Time in the 80s, and apparently the average air content back then for Baskin-Robbins flavors was almost 70%. I can find the article, but most of it is behind a pay wall.

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954909,00.html

 

[LBIJim]

I used to be able to buy Peppermint (Wawa had their own at one point, and maybe Friendly's?) but haven't found it the last few winters.

All Wawa branded ice cream was made by other manufacturers. They never made their own. There's been about 5 or 6 manufacturers over the past 25 years. I'm not sure who's currently making it.

I also miss ice cream sold in rectangular thin-paperboard boxes. You know - the kind that opened via a flap or tear strip on the side and had to be tucked in. These days I only see ice cream in tubs or round cartons. Most ice cream sold this way wasn't fancy, but it was comfort food.

The other day at Walmart I noticed the rectangular boxes. It was still a Walmart brand, but a lower end product, cheaper than their Great Value brand which comes in slightly rounded tubs. The box was also still 56oz, instead of 48oz like most other current brands. I still occasionally see the rectangular boxes in various places. All of them are low end.

Has anyone seen "Ice Milk" anywhere?

Not for at least 20 years. My father always bought Ice Milk.

That name came from a labeling requirement for anything with less fat content than 10%. Now it can be labelled "low-fat ice cream" or "reduced-fat ice cream". I remember stuff sold as "ice milk" tended to be pretty bad, but I think the product has improved.

Yeah, the ice milk was awful. Some "ice creams" are also labeled "frozen dairy dessert". Not sure what the requirement is for that, but I mistakenly bought some and it was horrible.

In the late 90s, there was something called Jeremy's ice cream, started by a U of Pennsylvania student. It was only distributed in a handful of places, then suddenly disappeared. It was very rich and decadent, and only came in pints. The cinnamon flavor was excellent.

My grandparents owned a candy store/soda fountain shop and they sold Abbott's ice cream, which was very popular in the Philadelphia and South Jersey area decades ago.

 

[nycdisneygal]

I used to love Frusen Glädje!!!! Also we had a Swensen's here long time ago. I used to go with one of my middle school friends for lunch and ice cream.
In terms of flavors that are no longer available, I used to LOVE Swiss Chocolate Almond by Haagen Dazs. They only make the vanilla version now.

 

[baldy6060]

Ben & Jerry's Cool Brittania: Vanilla ice cream with strawberries and fudge covered shortbread.