As summer approaches, the desire for a delicious cold treat rapidly rises. Determined to find the perfect quench for my craving, I set out to the local Kroger to find the perfect ice cream to eat on a hot summer day.

I tried four different brands of vanilla ice cream: Breyers, Haagen Dazs, Hudsonville and Halo Top. I put a little scoop of each kind into a cup and was eager to sample.

I tasted Breyers first. Before I even tried it, I found the basic brand’s classic vanilla to look unusually white for a vanilla ice cream. It did not really taste like a vanilla but actually was sort of refreshing. It almost seemed to be an artificial vanilla. It was not my favorite but was still decent.  

I then tried the Haagen Dazs vanilla. Being a huge fan of some of the brand’s other flavors, I hoped the vanilla was just the same. After tasting it, I found it to be much creamier and thicker than Breyer’s, which I really liked. It also just tasted more like vanilla and had a little bit of a darker color too. With Haagen Dazs, I could not resist and finished the entire cup of ice cream I scooped for myself. I knew I had to try this one again in the future.

Hudsonville was next. I was really excited to try the Michigan brand and see how it measured up to the others. Initially, I noticed it looked a little bit peachy in color. When I tasted it, I found the ice cream to be creamy, but it sort of tasted like egg yolks. The flavor itself was just okay. From my other experience with Hudsonville ice cream, I concluded the brand’s other flavors such as Mackinac Island fudge and super scoop are better than the basic french vanilla ice cream.

The final brand was Halo Top. I was very excited to try this brand because of all the hype about it; I had seen on social media as it was advertised as “light ice cream”. However, when I first opened the container, I noticed the ice cream looked more like cake batter than actual ice cream.

When I tasted it, I was thoroughly disappointed. It was salty and tastes like eggs, similar to Hudsonville, but much worse. I could not even eat more than one bite because it was so gross. I will say, on the positive side, at least it did have a lot of vanilla flavor.

From my samplings, I found Haagen Dazs to be the best brand of vanilla ice cream and Halo Top to be the worst. I would highly recommend Haagen Dazs to anyone and everyone. It may only come smaller sizes than other brands and may be more expensive, but it is certainly worth the extra few dollars to have the perfect cold treat for a hot summer day.