Which makes it practically a custard which isn't going to melt like an ice cube will.

I left my Trader Joes on the counter and it evaporated within 20 seconds/douches that go there

Sarcastic post was sarcastic.

I love ice cream sammiches, but I buy Blue Bunny. They're very good.

Translation: natural food additives designed to allow the consumer to receive a consistent and stable product are working as planned.

The gums and carrageenan are supposed to minimize the effect of temperature variations experienced during transport from factory to your home. If you don't like it make your own or pay double for the stuff that doesn't have it. Some people must try really hard to find things to gripe about.

It's the tara gum that makes it not melt, not being a custard. Milk, eggs, and sugar is pretty standard for an ice cream base. The egg acts as an emulsifier and makes the ice cream creamier. Ice cream or frozen custard should melt. The cheaper - or at least non-premium brands - use chemicals to stabilize and emulsify, as well as prevent it from melting very fast. Put any cheap custard up against even Breyer's, and you'll see the Breyer's melt a lot faster.

Corn starch and potassium...

My biggest motivation to lose weight is Walmart. I don't want to blend in with the Walmart herd. I want to look at that herd with disgust, Ban Walmarts.

This.

High fructose corn syrup

Haagen Dazs is the only mainstream ice cream manufacturer that uses eggs and it's a very small percentage of the product. In large dairy production, eggs add too many unwanted headaches for ice cream, so they are avoided.

For the plain ice creams (vanilla, etc.) you can get away with milk, cream, sweetener, thickeners and flavoring. For the more popular flavors (i.e. cookies and cream) it's much more difficult to produce a decent product without stabilizers, emulsifiers, etc.

I'll use Breyer's as an example.

Here's their vanilla ice cream:

MILK, CREAM, SUGAR, TARA GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR. Ingredients and Nutrition Facts are current as of 3/1/13.

Here's their Rocky Road, which is very popular:

FROZEN DAIRY DESSERT [MILK, SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, CREAM, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), WHEY, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, GUAR GUM, CAROB BEAN GUM, CARRAGEENAN, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, TARA GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR], MARSHMALLOW SWIRL [MILK, CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, CREAM, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, GUAR GUM, CARRAGEENEN, NATURAL FLAVOR], CHOCOLATEY COATED ALMONDS [CHOCOLATE FLAVORED COATING (SUGAR, COCONUT OIL, NATURAL COCOA, NONFAT MILK, WHOLE MILK POWDER, BUTTER OIL, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL FLAVOR), DRY ROASTED ALMONDS]. Ingredients and Nutrition Facts are current as of 3/1/13

I worked in an ice cream plant during my college years. Making ice cream in high volume is quite a science. If it doesn't taste good and have good "mouth feel" it will rot in the grocers freezer.

I don't think I'd call Breyer's a premium brand. Haagen Dazs and Graeter's both use eggs. It only takes like 1 percent (ish) egg yolk to emulsify. And small batch uses egg a lot.

I'm not against the chemicals, believe me. But ice cream should melt. I even commented earlier that Breyer's melts. A lot of the cheaper brands use stabilizers to make the ice cream melt slower.

They do.

That's why I eat Blue Bell. Best ice cream in the country.

Tara gum isnt a chemical, its just as natural as eggs.