By special request from Melissa in Alabama, here is my review of Rebel Ice Cream.
First, as with any product review, just because one does or does not care for a product, my opinion of what I think about it may be different than yours.
What is Rebel Ice Cream?
From Rebel Creamery’s Web Site:
Rebel Ice Cream Is The First Low Carb, High Fat, No Sugar Added Ice Cream On The Market. The Perfect Ratio Of Keto-Friendly Ingredients. It Passes The Kid Test. Healthy Fats. Low Carb. No Sugar Added. Lowest Net Carb Ice Cream. High Fat. Keto.
Rebel Ice Cream comes in 14 flavors according to their web site. My local Dillon’s only had 4 of them; Cookie Dough, Mint Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Fudge, and Butter Pecan. I chose the Cookie Dough for my review.
My first thought upon checking out with the cashier was I hoped it was going to be really worth the price of $5.99 US per pint. This seemed a little steep to me when I could buy Halo Top or Enlightened for less than $4.00 US. That being said, I am not in the habit of buying pints of ice cream either.
From reading the ingredients list, I thought the ice cream was going to be pretty good. However, I was disappointed to see it only has 2 grams protein per serving. But still, at only 6 net grams of carbs per pint, I was still hopeful I would enjoy it.
When I removed the lid, the inner foil cover said to let the ice cream sit for 15 minutes for it to be it’s creamiest. No big deal, I was still in my truck with the windows down in 79 degree temperatures and I had a couple phone calls to make while it was softening. This ice cream is pretty dense and does require softening before consuming. After I was done with my phone calls, I began to dig into what I thought was going to be a creamy goodness. This should not be an unreasonable expectation as the first ingredient is cream and the fat content is 15 grams per half cup serving. My expectations fell far short on the creaminess. The ice cream actually crumbled as I stuck my spoon into it. Friends, in my humble opinion, there is something not right about ice cream that crumbles under any circumstance. Especially given that it had set in my 80 degree pick up for close to a half hour before I began eating it. There was a little creaminess around the edges, but for the most part, the ice cream was crumbly and had a strange texture to me. I believe the texture comes from the carob and guar gums which have been added as stabilizers.
As for the flavor, I thought it was not too bad. Although not good enough to overcome the crumbly texture. Rebel is not over sweet as it is sweetened with erythritol and monk fruit instead of sugar. The use of these sweeteners is a great thing as they are very low on the glycemic index and zero calories. The vanilla component had a pleasant enough flavor as did the cookie dough, but again, this is all subjective to personal tastes. If you like cookie dough ice cream, there is plenty enough in there to satisfy you.
Ingredients
Cream, Water, Cookie Dough (almond flour, erythritol, butter, water, natural flavor, baking soda, salt, sunflower lecithin) Eryrthritol, Chocolate (coconut oil, cocoa, erythritol, sunflower lecithin, salt, dutch cocoa, natural vanilla flavor, monk fruit) Chickory Root Fiber, Egg Yolks, Vegetable Glycerin, Milk Protein Isolate, Natural Vanilla Flavor, Salt, Peruvian Carob Gum, Guar Gum, Monk Fruit
Nutrition
Serving Size: 1/2 cup
Servings per container: 4
Calories: 160
Calories from fat: 140
Total fat grams: 15g
Saturated fat: 9g
Trans fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 60mg
Sodium: 80 mg
Total carbohydrate: 14g
Dietery fiber: 3g
Sugars: 0g
Erythritol 10g
Protein: 2g
Vitamin A 7%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 4%, Iron 4%
Melissa, I hope this review does not disappoint you. But in rankings of my least favorite ice creams I have ever consumed, this was the third worse. The worse was the soft serve we had aboard my Navy ship where a vanilla ice cream powder was mixed with the ships distilled water that had a metallic taste with a hint of jet fuel. The next worse was Halo Top Lemon Cake followed by this one. The texture was not creamy enough, and there was no wow factor to the taste to overcome the crumbly texture for me. My next issue is the amount of empty calories one would consume if they eat the entire pint. For this flavor there are 640 calories in the entire pint. My personal feeling is that if I am going to consume 640 calories of anything, there needs to be a good nutritional value to the food. As you can see from the ingredients list and the nutritional information, the nutritional component is lacking anything of value. Even if one were to split the pint with one or two other friends, there are still too many empty calories. The fact is keto friendly means little if you are still eating down more calories than you might need in a day. The bottom line is if you over eat your caloric needs, you will still gain weight even if their is no significant carbohydrates in the mix. Whether they realize it or not, many who lose weight on keto are only doing so because they are still running a caloric deficit each day. Excess calories will still get stored in our body as fat. This is simple biology.
In closing, I had enough calories left for my day to eat the entire pint. I did this as I wanted to see if it would give me any gastro-intestinal upset. I have an iron gut, and must warn all to proceed with caution if you eat an entire pint as it did upset my stomach some. Others may, and probably will really enjoy Rebel Ice Cream. For me personally, from this experience, I do not believe I will try any more of their flavors.