A Low-Fat Icey Ice-Cream Disappointment (Ben & Jerrys Chocolate Fudge Brownie Frozen Yogurt)

Member Name: cazkins

Product:	Ben & Jerrys Chocolate Fudge Brownie Frozen Yogurt
Date:	23/08/09 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lower fat than the regular version, tasty brownie chunks

Disadvantages: Ice-cream consistency & taste was a disappointment

I love ice-cream, and when someone mentions Ben & Jerry's my face goes funny (I think it's called a big grin!). I hate the fact that I calorie count and get concerned by how much fat is in food, but I do and it's something I'm trying to stop doing but it's so hard after years of living like that. When I saw the lower fat version of B&J's chocolate brownie I decided to give it a go, but I have to admit I was quite disappointed by it.

Ben & Jerry's make some of the most delicious ice-cream and have a wide range of unique and quirky flavours. Their frozen yoghurt range is designed as a healthier alternative to their regular flavours as it has less fat.

Their Chocolate Brownie Frozen Yoghurt is sold in a 500ml cardboard tub and is available in most supermarkets (though their regular varieties are easier to come across). These will set you back £3.99, which is steep for a tub of ice-cream. When it comes to B&J's though, I see buying it as a treat so as an irregular purchase this is okay. That said, it's much better when you can get one on offer, such as the current half price offer at Tesco (August '09).

The tub states that this frozen yoghurt has the 'same great taste' as their regular choc brownie ice-cream, but with less fat. Sounds a bit too good to be true, which unfortunately is what's happened in this case.

The tub has a plastic wrapper around the lid which you need to remove before pulling off the cardboard lid. It's nice to see that when the lid comes off, the ice-cream fills out the tub very well as it goes right up to the top and slightly over.

Appearance-wise, this looks very chocolatey which is appealing to me as I'm a chocolate fan. I don't tend to 'fancy' chocolate, but when I've had a small taste I'm hooked.

The first thing I noticed with this ice-cream was the layer of iceyness at the top, so I left it for a couple of minutes before starting on it. The iceyness however didn't seem to disappear, as the ice-cream itself has a rather icey feel to it. It wasn't as thick and creamy as I had hoped, and was more watery than I expected.

There is a good chocolate flavour to the ice-cream, but because of the consistency it lacked the kick that the regular brownie version has.

The best bit about this ice-cream, in fact, the only good bit to be honest, is the brownie. Dotted amonst the chocolate ice-cream are chocolate brownie pieces, which are soft and rich in flavour.

I found myself hunting for the brownie chunks (which are relatively large and darker in colour than the ice-cream so are quite easy to find) because the ice-cream was rather bland.

Per 100g, this ice-cream contains 180 calories and 3g of fat, only 1g of which saturates. This is pretty good for something so chocolately, especially when compared to the regular version which contains 260 calories and 13g fat (8 of which saturate).

Despite the appeal of having chocolate ice-cream and brownie chunks at less fat/cals, this ice-cream doesn't do much for me. I've previously reviewed Skinny Cow Ice-Cream, and they do a brownie version which is far superior to this frozen yoghurt by B&J.

If you're looking for a lower-fat version of chocolately goodness in ice-cream form, then you're better off giving this a miss and treating yourself to Skinny Cow (if you can find any stocked in a supermarket near you, as these tubs seem to be difficult to come across lately). Otherwise, go for the Phish Food flavour by Ben & Jerry's. Or just indulge yourself a little with the regular Ben & Jerry's chocolate brownie, which is definitely worth the extra fat grams!

Summary: Not one I'll be buying again in a hurry