With the sun being in glorious form at the moment, anything iced - whether it's a frozen slushie, ice cream or just plain old ice cubes - is selling like hot cakes, as people try to cool down as best they can.
In fact, trying to track down a shop that has ice cream in stock right now has proven to be as difficult as trying to encourage Jack Grealish to put the champagne down for just five minutes this week. No shame on him, he's allowed to celebrate.
In an attempt to help you make the best choices when shopping for a frozen treat, we thought we'd look at one trusty staple that's been popular since the 1920s: The good old choc ice.
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On my travels to eight different supermarkets across Greater Manchester this week, most stores I visited said they normally sold choc ices but demand for ice cream in recent weeks has depleted a lot of their stock. Choc ices, it seems, have been one of the big sellers.
Only four stores I visited had choc ices available: Tesco in Stretford, Sainsbury's in Fallowfield, Asda in Levenshulme and Iceland at White City. With a big bag of ice in my backpack ready to keep the choc ices from melting away, I made a dash around the city-region to get them all home safe and sound.
Before this experiment, I couldn't tell you the last time I had one. I do remember getting them from my grandma during the school holidays as a child, and, between getting them from the freezer into my mitts, they had already melted and stuck to the cheap paper wrapping. So, for nostalgia’s sake at least, I was all in for the experience.
Having to do this experiment as my laptop flashed ‘record high’ temperature warnings was not the most ideal of conditions, and my poor little electric fan was going into overdrive as I tried to avoid my icy treats from turning into puddly messes. But, we strived on in the name of journalism.
Here's how we got on.
Size and price
One of the good things about choc ices is that they’re usually dinky in size and in price: It’s a cheap and quick treat for a family on a sunny day. And they also make for a snug fit in the freezer.
Tesco’s choc ices were six for £1.50 with each being 70ml in weight. It was the exact same picture for Iceland (6 for £1.50) and Sainsbury’s (£1.50 for six). At 25p each, you can't really go wrong.
However, Asda’s were £1.65 for a pack of six, which were also the same in weight. For that reason alone, Tesco, Iceland and Sainsbury’s all win on price point.
Appearance
If there’s one thing about choc ices, it’s that they’re reliable. The look of a choc ice is as guaranteed as rain during a Manchester City trophy parade (that’s two football references so far!)
For some reason unknown to mankind, each of the choc ices came in the same identical white and blue striped paper packaging. I’m not sure what the repercussions would have been if, heaven forbid, one supermarket opted for red stripes instead, but I guess we will never know.
All four choc ices were pretty much the same in appearance - they are all your standard block of chocolate-covered ice cream. Sainsbury’s had a nice wave pattern going on, but that could have come from the ice cream, the chocolate or the way it had been frozen. Either way, it was a pretty cool pattern that formed, so, for that reason alone, I’ll give the win in this category to Sainsbury’s. As the rest look pretty much the same, they can all come in joint second place.
Taste
I’ll be pretty upfront and honest about this from the get-go. They all tasted fairly similar to me. In fact, I’m pretty sure at least some of them are the exact same product just under different brands. The ingredients are all the same, but that’s a conspiracy theory for another day.
The Iceland one was my least favourite, both the chocolate and the vanilla ice cream tasted a bit cheap and didn’t really make for a ground-breaking experience. There was also little crunch when biting into the chocolate layer, which is a disappointment.
Asda’s version was my second least favourite, it wasn’t bad but, again, didn’t change my life. The chocolate and ice cream tasted less cheap than Iceland’s choc ice, but there wasn’t much crunch there either.
Sainsbury’s version was pretty good all round. The ice cream had a nicer vanilla taste to it than the previous two and there was a smoothness about its texture. The chocolate was also more pleasant on the taste buds. Plus, there was a satisfying crunch when I bit into it.
For me, Tesco’s choc ice was the best out of the four. The ice cream was nice - packing a nice and smooth taste of vanilla. The chocolate was good and the crunch was also top-tier. As far as choc ices go, this was my pick of the bunch when it comes to taste.
Sun longevity
Going rogue, I also decided to test them on how they rated in the heat. Sun longevity is just as important as tastes when it comes to a choc ice, and we need to know how they all fare.
Taking one of each straight out of the freezer, I put them on a plate on my porch as temperatures reached a muggy 27C. I’m sure it made for an interesting sight to any neighbours who may have been passing by.
After five minutes, they all lay basking in the sun intact but the Sainsbury’s version was decidedly a bit more ‘sweaty’. Then, at the ten-minute mark, proceedings start to change. The chocolate on the Tesco version has cracked, allowing the ice cream to start trickling out. It’s not looking good.
In fact, they’re all visibly starting to struggle. Except, surprisingly, Iceland’s chocolate offering which looks somewhat still together.
Calling time at 15 minutes (I have other things to do with my life than just watch choc ices melt in the sun, I’ll have you know), the rankings are as follows in terms of sun longevity: Iceland, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco coming in last.
Overall rankings
Taking this incredibly seriously, I gave each choc ice a score from 4 for the best to 1 for the worst in each category.
The winner for taste was Tesco, whilst the worst for me was Iceland’s version. However, Iceland favoured best in the sun, as opposed to Tesco’s failure of an attempt.
But ultimately, the win goes to… Sainsbury’s. Whilst their taste wasn’t as nice as Tesco’s, Sainsbury's option fared better in terms of melting time and appearance, which needs to be factored in.
However, I definitely stand by the belief that these were all made in the same factory with the exact same ingredients.
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