Yeah, I wasn't meaning to recommend this stuff. Or make a judgement on its taste, since I haven't tried it and it is unlikely I will see it on a shelf here in the hinterlands of the Philippines anytime soon. I should go find one of the bottles or jars of something they make here, since price drives *everything* in the Philippines, quality is not a secondary consideration.
I had a chef instructor at the cooking school I attended part time who used to work (in charge of the pastry section) at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. When he taught us ice cream, his approach was much like Tim's. The fewer ingredients the better. A long list of ingredients meant it was "industrialized". I have been reading labels ever since.
Here is a C&P from a website talking about some of the stuff found in *
some* commercial ice creams:
DIETHYLGLYCOL: A cheap chemical used as an emulsifier instead of eggs is the same chemical used in antifreeze and in paint removers.
PIPERONAL: Used in place of vanilla. This chemical is used to kill lice.
ALDEHYDE C-17: Used to flavor cherry ice cream. It is an inflammable liquid also used in aniline dyes, plastic and rubber.
ETHYL ACETATE: Used to give a pineapple flavor—and as a cleaner for leather and textiles; its vapors have been known to cause chronic lung, liver and heart damage.
BUTYRALDEHYDE: Used in nut flavoring. It is one of the ingredients of rubber cement.
AMYL ACETATE: Used for its banana flavor. It is also used as an oil paint solvent.
BENZYL ACETATE: Used for its strawberry flavor. It is a nitrate solvent. The next time you are tempted by a luscious looking banana split sundae, think of it as a mixture of antifreeze, oil paint, nitrate solvent, and lice killer; and you won’t find it so appetizing.Price-Pottenger Nutrition foundation Health Journal
All that said, I refer to the post about not trusting food studies over much. But I do agree with Tim that more natural and simpler, less processed ingredients are far preferable.