Breyers Natural Vanilla beat out other inexpensive brands in a blind test.

When it’s so hot outside you feel like you’re melting, science tells us the counterintuitive tonic is hot food such as hot tea. Ice cream brings on brain freezes, rather than relief, yet many still crave the frozen treat this time of year. Cheapism assembled a panel of 14 very willing volunteers for a blind tasting to find out which national brand makes the most satisfying low-cost ice cream. Manufacturers report that vanilla reigns as the most popular flavor, so our tasters tried each brand’s version of that basic variety. Here’s how they ranked:

1. Breyers Natural Vanilla has a palpable and pleasing vanilla flavor that’s not too sweet, according to our tasters. While no one could mistake its snow-white color or airy texture for that of a premium ice cream, its lightness and distinctive flecks appealed to some. (Where to buy)
2. Edy's Rich & Creamy Grand Vanilla (still known as Dreyer’s on the West Coast) has a yellowish cast that led our panelists to expect it would be richer and creamier than it was. They judged it a typical, garden-variety vanilla ice cream with an extremely sweet flavor. (Where to buy)
3. Turkey Hill Original Vanilla tasted rather bland to our panelists, who declared it run-of-the-mill and more milky than creamy. The brand’s Vanilla Bean Frozen Yogurt fared much worse, drawing criticism for apparently trying to compensate for its low fat content with loads of sugar. Tasters appreciated the creamy texture of the frozen yogurt but decried what they called a chemical aftertaste. (Where to buy)

All these ice creams generally cost between $3.50 and $4 for a 1.5-quart carton, depending on the market. Compare that with the super-premium segment, where the most that price will buy is a mere pint of Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's. We included Ben & Jerry's Vanilla in our blind test to see how the cheaper brands would measure up and -- no surprise here -- it emerged a nearly unanimous favorite. More than anything else, what won over our tasters and set the brand apart was its rich texture, a trait explained in part by its generous fat content (Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla was the only ice cream in our tasting that included egg yolk).

Premium ice cream also has less aeration than cheaper brands, according to the International Dairy Foods Association. Aeration makes the ice cream lighter and softer, which may appeal to some, but it also adds volume -- a crucial consideration for value-conscious consumers. The ice cream in those expensive little pints is far fuller-bodied and less diluted with air (which may be a bad thing for those short on willpower). If you still can’t stomach the price of Ben & Jerry’s, there’s always the company’s famous Free Cone Day.

Ultimately the cheapest (though not the quickest) way to acquire high-quality ice cream is to churn it yourself. A homemade batch from an ice cream maker costs only as much as the cream, sugar, and flavoring you put into it. Then it’s just a matter of enjoying enough ice cream that the savings offset the cost of the machine.

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Our friends over at WalletPop did an enviable experiment recently: They compared the cost of homemade versus store-bought ice cream.

The verdict: If you eat a lot of ice cream, and use pretty basic ingredients, you may be able to get a better deal by going the homemade route. But if you're not an ice cream fanatic, or only crave the tasty treat in the summer, you may be better off just shelling out for a pint of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Dazswhen the mood strikes you.

Check out WalletPop's full report and methodology here. 

AP

In a much anticipated (and scooped) press conference at 30 Rock today, Ben & Jerry's announced that it's churning out a new ice cream flavor inspired by SNL veteran and late-night funnyman Jimmy Fallon. The flavor is aptly named Late Night Snack, and features a mix of food items B&J's seems to think people eat late at night: vanilla ice cream, fudge covered potato chips and salted caramel, rolling out to help celebrate the second anniversary of "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."  Is anyone else feeling self-conscious about their late night snack from last night?  Swiss cheese chunks and pita chips are suddenly kinda sad and embarrassing...

Fallon discussed how he got linked up with B&J.

"They set up ice cream in our conference room, started talking, and asked if we wanted to do our own flavor," Fallon said. "We said, 'Are you kidding?! That's living the dream!'"

So, for the sake of late-night laughing, snacking and these two crunchy hippies from Vermont, let's all go grab a pint and see whether it's better than Colbert's flavor -- and as Fallon warned last summer in his ode to B&J, "Slow down ... don't get brain freeze."

If you had an ice cream flavor inspired by your greatness, what would be in it?