I've mentioned Turkey Hill in a few other reviews, but decided that it's deserving of its own, full review.What do you want when you get ice cream? For me, ice cream is simple. It needs only three things: smooth, creamy, mouth-coating texture; strong, natural flavorings; and fillings that are larger than five molecules across. Even in ice cream that pretends to be high-quality, Edy's/Dreyer's for example, fillings are pitiful, flavor is artificial and weak, and there's so much air whipped in that the you get only marginally more calories than by simply breathing.
Turkey Hill isn't that ice cream. It gets everything right. The texture is perfect, the flavor is strong, and the fillings are large and delicious. Their cookies & cream, my favorite flavor, is the best that I have found in the grocery freezer. The peanut butter cup, which is actually sweetened peanut butter swirled into the ice cream, is beyond good. It is hands-down the best peanut butter ice cream in Turkey Hill's segment.
I used to refer to this segment as the half-gallon segment, but, compliments of increasing food costs and a marketing belief that people are stupid and won't notice smaller packages, half-gallons no longer exist.
If you want ridiculous fillings, Turkey Hill is not your brand. They produce the standard flavors with standard fillings. But in that arena, they best even many of the premium brands. And in the brands that are better flavor-to-flavor, like Ben & Jerry's, the differences are usually small. But compare Turkey Hill to other half-gallon brands, and the differences are stark. Turkey Hill is vastly superior to Blue Bunny, Hood, and Breyer's.
In the world of wacky fillings, Turkey Hill doesn't perform as well. While they produce their fair share of CRAZY ice cream, it really doesn't hold up to the premium brands. The kind to which I'm referring when I describe their excellence is their, um, standard(?) brand like the kind pictured in my image. If you stick with that, you'll never be let down.
In the world of non-premium ice cream, Turkey Hill is the bar by which others are measured. It's that good.
Turkey Hill Ice Cream: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
35 comments:
Re: "I used to refer to this segment as the half-gallon segment, but, compliments of increasing food costs and a marketing belief that people are stupid and won't notice smaller packages, half-gallons no longer exist."
You're right about that -- except for Trader Joe's French Vanilla 1/2 gal., which definitely does continue to exist. It also weighs about twice as much as the 48 oz. sizes of Friendly's, Turkey Hill, and others.
Steve,
Great point. I had not yet been to either Aldi or Trader Joe's when I wrote this review. Both of them have real, full, half-gallon ice cream, and it's quite good at both locations.
Trader Joe's varieties have premium aspirations and frequently hit their target. Very impressive.
Turkey Hill ice cream is pretty crappy, in my experience. It's the cheapest of the cheap, and is full of air. A good ice cream should be dense, and flavorful, and have the proper fat content. Turkey Hill's stuff fails at all of these things. Edy's, by the way, is just as bad.
Buy some Haagan Dasz, or some Ben & Jerry's instead. Costs more, but it's much, much better stuff.
John,
Yep. I pretty much agree. When I compare Turkey Hill to other half-gallon brands, though, it's great. But only in comparison to those brands.
I think that it is telling that I haven't bought any Turkey Hill in nearly two years. After awhile, I just got too accustomed to higher-quality brands.
turkey hill ice cream = crap !!!! maybe they can add a taste to it.
crap crap crap
Turkey Hill vanilla bean is the best vanilla I've ever had. I'm anxious to try their other flavors now.
My husband brought home a carton of Black Cherry, my favorite flavor. I took two bites and couldn't eat anymore. I live in Blue Bell land. I have never refused an ice cream before. I eat Talenti, Ben & Jerry's, Blue Bell, Marble Slab. Turkey Hill does not, in my opinion deserve to be called ice cream. It tastes to me like that old mellorine stuff. Leaves the same slime in my mouth too. BLCCH!
You mentioned living in Blue Bell land as if that is a good thing. I love ice cream but never liked Blue Bell. A couple years ago Blue Bell was on sale so I bought a half gallon thinking how bad could it be... After my wife and I each had a serving neither of us would take another bite. I ended up throwing the rest in the garbage. The texture and flavor of Blue Bell is horrible.
I noticed that NONE OF THESE COMMENTS MENTION THE ALL NATURAL LINE manufactured by Turkey Hill. THE All Natural Flavors are great, the ingredients are pronounceable(for example,Cream,Milk,sugar,vanilla and vanilla bean in the Vanilla Ice Cream)and most importantly it has an excellent flavor and taste. The only limitation is that there are not may flavor choices and some are only available in limited batches or limited edition. There is also no raspberry,strawberry or any other berry flavored ice cream that is available all the time. This ice cream costs $4.39 for 48 ounces in Fairfield,CT in January 0f 2014 which is more expensive than most Frozen Dairy Desserts currently sold at the local supermarket!!
I guess it all depends on your location. The Turkey Hill I get in Western NY State is dramatically different from that available in northern New Jersey. And I don't mean in a good way. The NJ mfr produces a creamy, dense and flavorful ice cream. Upstate the same flavor tastes like it is pumped full of air and retains its shape after it has "melted." You know what I mean.
All of you have no lives on BLOGGER YOU ARE ALL BOOTY SNIFFERS!!!!
Came hear to vent my frustration at the Turkey Hill all natural gelato I just bought. Don't bother trying it. It really isn't dense enough to be called gelato, and it's way too icy. There are no emulsifiers or thickeners in it so what you have is an icy ice cream that melts to a watery mess. If they wanted to stay all natural they could use pectin or egg yolks to emulsify and thicken, or any number of other natural ingredients to improve the texture.
Turkey Hill good ? I have tried a few flavors and each time I just chucked it. Very artificial taste. The cheapest of the cheap. Every five years I forgot which brand that was bad and get it again ... and then I remember. Sigh.
Deep Dark Chocolate does not look appealing and is full of air. It didn't rest on my tongue before it was gone. Sorry, the quality was not there. Want my money back.
MLGreen
Every time I go to the grocery store, I look for Turkey Hill 'Butter Brickle' its the best yet, but never seem to find it. When is it on your production schedule for customers like me. its always a dissapointment to not find it. please make some more yummy Ron
I bought all natural vanilla turkey hill. The first ingredient is non fat milk. And the texture is more like ice milk then cream won't be buying again
The Pumpkin Pie flavor is quite delish.
I love America. Everyone can be happy and have an honest opinion of what they like/dislike about a product. I like TH all natural homemade vanilla. I think my next will be pumpkin pie. God bless all of you and God bless America.
I found the Columbian Coffee Ice Cream last fall & fell in love with it but the last tub I bought in March did not taste anything like coffee just cream. I was very disappointed.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup was quite good at one time. It seems that they've changed the peanut butter formulation recently. It tastes repulsive now. Like soybean oil. Ugh.
Turkey hill is junk i just ate black cherry and i kid you not it was plain vanilla! i could not taste any cherry or anything at all even with the chunks.The other flavors i have tryed are bad as well. Get Ben&Jerrys or Blue Bell.
We purchased Chocolate marshmallow 2 weeks ago, where is the marshmallow?? Tried it again this week, this box had even less marshmallow, just a tiny white steak. Will not ever buy again!
We bought the pistachio almond flavor and it tastes like greasers black cherry ice cream. Lol we were so confused.
We bought the pistachio almond flavor and it straight up tasted like black cherry ice cream from greater a but with almonds in it lol. We were so confused.
Always enjoyed the Chocolate Marshmallow because of it not being overly chocolate and very creamy. Lately the texture has changed and the ice cream is icy. Less marshmallow then previously. Probably due to increased sales and poor quality control and a rush to deliver.
I purchased Turkey Hill Pistashio Almond, in Georgia, it surprised me how good it was. It tastes just like Pistashio, not cherry...so im confused by some of those comments
When I first tasted Turkey Hill vanilla, I was disappointed. Then it dawned on me that I was comparing it to the other premium brands that typically use Madagascan vanilla in their recipes. Now, I do love those premium brands, particularly California-based McConnell's, but I realized that the taste of Turkey Hill is exactly what homemade vanilla ice cream tasted like when I was a kid. Back then, we never heard of gourmet vanilla extract. We made it with eggs, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla. And that's what Turkey Hill does -- very well and reasonably priced.
That happened to me, once. I called and complained. Turkey Hill sent some coupons and an explanation for the missed marshmellow. Now, my local grocery is not even stocking it! Chocolate Marshmellow is my favorite, creamy, original vanilla is also very creamy. Ill pester my local store until they bring it back!
We just tried Turkey Hill for the first time. Purchased three cartons. It is without a doubt the worst ice cream we have ever had. The Triple Chocolate has no chocolate flavor. If you were blindfolded, you wouldn't know it was chocolate. The Mint Cookie flavor was even worse. The mint flavor had a chemical taste and was awful. We've yet to try the French Vanilla, but we're not holding out much hope.
A homestyle classic, not too sweet, perfect texture and doesnt melt right away..choc/van.
Turkey hill ice cream really is not all that flavorful. And my biggest complaint is that it DOES NOT have a safety seal on it.
Long time Turkey Hill lover. My husband picked up a container of your premium ice cream in Mint chocolate and it is no where as good as your regular mint chocolate. The ice cream is not as flavorful as the regular and I dislike the chunks, preferring the grated bittersweet chocolate. I had previously tried the vanilla in this variety and I got the same dissatisfaction. The ice cream tastes more like ice milk which infind puzzling in a premium version. Still love Turkey Hill above all others.
When the 1st time I tasted red velvet ice cream I fell in love with it but it's so disappointing I find myself searching online hoping I can find that favorite favor ice cream please can you make red velvet ice cream again thank you
I tried pistachios almonds flavor. While I love the flavor, it is so over-sweetened, that it kills completely the taste for me. Do you HAVE to use CORN SYRUP? And if so, can't you use LESS of it?
There are many All Natural flavors displayed online on the Turkey Hill website. I think there are about 18 or so. However, Kroger only carried a few flavors. Now I am very bummed out that Kroger stopped carrying Turkey Hill Ice Cream altogether. I loved the Turkey Hill All Natural / Simply Natural Ice Cream. It was labeled under both names. Kroger- you have let me down!!
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