I have always been a big ice cream fan, but generally have problems with portion control. Seriously, who can eat the 1/2 cup of ice cream that is usually listed as a serving? What I've been having more of instead of ice cream are ice cream bars - an easy way for me to limit the amount I eat while still being able to enjoy a creamy treat. Recently, I came across Helados Mexico All Natural Ice Cream Bars. They are based on paletas, which are essentially fruit or ice cream - a favorite in many Hispanic countries. Helados pops come in several flavors, one of which is mango. Mango flavored ice cream?? Woo-hoo! I paid $3.99 for a box of six and headed home.
I really, really enjoyed these ice cream bars. First off, they taste wonderful. They are sweet, but not too sweet, and you can really taste the mango. The consistency, aside from the little chunks of mango, is very creamy, not icy at all. They truly taste like mango ice cream on a stick. As an added bonus, these look really good ... sort of a swirly, pale peachy color. I'm a visual person so I like things that look pretty. They're also good sized- approximately the same size as an Edy's Frozen Fruit Bar. My kids loved these as well which means I'll probably have to resort to hiding them if I want any in the future.
Now for the ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, skim milk, corn syrup, mangos, stabilizers, natural flavor and natural color. Each Helados Mexico All Natural Ice Cream Bar (3.0 fl oz) provides 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of which is saturated (11% and 22% of the daily value) - yikes! There is also 2 grams of protein and 19 grams of carbohydrates which includes 12 grams of sugar.
I paid $3.99 for a box of six pops at Wal-Mart. and while the taste is phenomal, I probably could have gotten my ice cream fix without all the saturated fat. Still, these are "all natural." Blue Bunny Healthsmart No Sugar Added Ice Cream Bar, for example only has 60-70 calories in each bar, but the ingredients list is monster long. Still, this has less calories and a wee bit less fat than Breyers Light Double Churned Vanilla and Almond Ice Cream Bar, which also has a baby monster long ingredients list.