Tara’s Organic Ice Cream Nutritional Information

Excerpt from edible Santa Fe Summer 2007
"Frozen Assets"

Superior nutritional value

Of all the decisions a consumer makes over whether to buy organic or not, it is generally agreed upon that buying organically raised animal products should be a top priority. Animals store toxins from the environment and the foods they eat in their fat cells, and since ice cream contains a fair amount of fat, many believe that eating ice cream made from commercially raised dairy cows should be avoided.

But the health-conscious consumer is also grateful for the nutritional content of Esperanza's product. "It's not junk food, it's quality food," she says. To understand this better, lets compare Tara's product to her competitors' for several nutritional indicators.

all values for 1/2 cup serving.

Tara's Organic Ice Cream Vanilla Vanilla

Stonyfield Farm Organic Gotta Have Vanilla

Julie's Organic Vanilla

Ben & Jerry's Organic Vanilla
Calories 130 240 220 220
Fat 8 g 16 g 14 g 14 g

Saturated Fat

6 g 10 g 9 g 10 g
Cholesterol 40 mg 60 mg 85 mg 65 mg
Sugars 11 g 20 g 18 g 16 g
Stabilizers, emulsifiers, etc. None Carob bean gum, guar gum Carob bean gum, guar gum Not available

(Information retrieved from the websites of Stonyfield's, Julies and Ben & Jerry's on 6/3/07)

"When you use the whole food source, you get really bold flavors," Esperanza says, explaining why her product is lower in sugar.

Tara's ice cream is lower in fat because Esperanza uses cream with 14 percent milk fat (a relatively low fat content), and supplements that with nonfat condensed mild instead of full-fat milk.