Vegetarian Journal's Guide to Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts
by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
One of life's pleasures on a sweltering summer day is sitting down with a friend (or alone), two spoons (or one), and a pint of something sweet, creamy, and cold. Ice cream? Not necessarily. So many frozen desserts come in non-dairy form that one could spend an entire summer sampling them all.
"But," you may protest, "I'm concerned about fat. Shouldn't I stay with non-fat frozen yogurt?" Not necessarily. Want non-dairy and low fat? You're still in luck. Many products are formulated to have little or no fat. Try one of Tofutti-Frutti's three flavors or Sweet Nothings' nine varieties. Then there are sorbets by Nouvelle Sorbet, Dole, and LeSorbet. All of these products contain less than a gram of fat per half cup. Of course if you're interested in higher fat you can find that too, although none of the non-dairy desserts we found even came close to the 24 grams of fat in Haagen Dazs Butter Pecan ice cream. None of the non-dairy frozen desserts contain cholesterol.
Generally, non-dairy frozen desserts come in two categories: soybean or tofu-based and sorbet-type (mainly frozen fruit/fruit juice). Soybean/tofu- based products we found are Dreamy Tofu, Ice Bean, Living Lightly, Tofutti, Tofutti Better Than Yogurt, and Tofutti Frutti. Living Lightly and Ice Bean use organic soybeans. Dole, LeSorbet, and Nouvelle Sorbet are based on fruit or fruit juice. Sweet Nothings is based on brown rice syrup and fruit juice concentrate while Rice Dream is based on brown rice.
Sweeteners may be an issue for some consumers. Vegans will want to know that Ice Bean contains honey. Nouvelle Sorbet is sweetened with fruit and fruit juice. Rice Dream contains fruit juice con-centrate; fruit juice concentrate and brown rice syrup are used in Living Lightly, Tofutti Frutti, and Sweet Nothings. Various combinations of sugar and corn syrup are used to sweeten the other products.
A general recommendation when choosing a non-dairy dessert is to select one which you like but be aware of its fat content. If you really eat only half a cup, any product with no more than 5 grams of fat per half cup could easily fit into a lowfat diet. If you prefer to eat a pint at a sitting, your best bet is to select a variety with 1 gram of fat or less per half cup. The table accompanying this article provides information on the calories and fat in many non-dairy frozen desserts. Here's to summer's delight!
Table: Non-dairy Frozen Desserts
Flavor Fat Calories
(grams per (per 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup)
Fruit
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Apple Caramel Swirl, DT* 2 110
Apricot Sorbet, NS 0 80
Apricot Mango, TF 0 100
Blueberry, SN 0 100
Cherry Vanilla, IB 8 140
Lemon, RD 5 130
Lemon Sorbet, LS 0 100
Lemon Sorbet, NS 0 80
Mandarin Orange Sorbet,D 0 110
Mango Raspberry, SN 0 100
Passion Fruit Sorbet,NS 0 80
Passion Fruit Orange Sorbet, LS 1 90
Passion Island Fruit, TY 1 97
Peach Mango, TY 1 105
Peach Sorbet, D 0 120
Pineapple Sorbet, D 0 120
Raspberry Sorbet, D 0 110
Raspberry Sorbet, LS 0 80
Raspberry Sorbet, NS 0 80
Raspberry, LL 1 100
Raspberry, SN 0 100
Strawberry Banana, TY 1 105
Strawberry Sorbet, D 0 110
Strawberry Sorbet, LS 0 90
Strawberry Sorbet, NS 0 80
Three Berry, TF 0 100
Wildberry Supreme, T 12 210
Wildberry Swirl, DT 2 100
Vanilla
-------
Honey Vanilla, IB 7 120
Vanilla, LL 1 110
Vanilla, RD 5 130
Vanilla, SN 0 100
Vanilla, T 14 200
Vanilla Apple Orchard,TF 0 100
Chocolate/Carob
---------------
Black Tiger, SN 0 100
Carob, RD 5 140
Carob Almond, LL 5 140
Carob Almond, RD 5 140
Carob Chip, RD 6 140
Carob Peppermint, LL 1 110
Carob Super Crunch, IB 10 170
Chocolate, DT 2 100
Chocolate, SN 0 100
Chocolate Almond, LL 5 140
Chocolate Cherry Chunk, IB 10 170
Chocolate Cookies Supreme, 13 230
Chocolate Fudge, TY 2 126
Chocolate Mandarin, SN 0 100
Chocolate Supreme, T 13 210
Cocoa Marble Fudge, RD 5 160
Cookies 'n' Dream, RD 7 150
Deep Chocolate Fudge, T 10 200
Espresso Fudge, SN 0 100
Heavenly Hash, IB 10 170
Mint Carob Chip, LL 3 130
Mint Chocolate Chip, IB 10 170
Mint Chocolate Swirl, DT 2 100
Peanut Butter Fudge, RD 6 160
Tiger Stripe, SN 0 110
Toasted Almond Fudge, IB 10 160
Vanilla Fudge, RD 5 160
Other
-----
Almond Espresso, IB 10 150
Almond Pecan, LL 5 140
Better Pecan, T 17 240
Coffee Marshmallow Swirl, TY 1 109
Espresso, LL 1 100
Neapolitan, RD 5 130
Peanut Butter Cup, LL 5 120
Peanut Butter Swirl, DT 7 140
Vanilla Almond Bark, T 14 230
Vanilla Swiss Almond, LL 4 130
Vanilla Swiss Almond, RD 6 140
For Comparison
--------------
Ice cream, Haagen Dazs 16-24 270-310
Ice cream, regular, vanilla 7 134
Ice milk, vanilla 3 92
Sherbet 2 135
Frozen Yogurt 2-6 0-120
Frozen Yogurt, non-fat 0 80
*D=Dole; DT=Dreamy Tofu, Giant Foods; IB=Ice Bean; LL=Living Lightly, Turtle Mountain, Inc.; LS=Gerard's LeSorbet; NS=Nouvelle Sorbet; RD=Rice Dream, Imagine Foods; SN=Sweet Nothings, Turtle Mountain, Inc.; T=Tofutti; TY=Tofutti Better Than Yogurt; TF=Tofutti Frutti (formerly Land of the Free).
