Ice cream is just ice cream – or is it? While many ice cream and ice cream bars might appear to be the same, it’s important to know how to determine the best ice cream from the rest.

Here are two questions that will help you better gauge the overall quality of an ice cream product.

1.What makes your ice cream creamy and smooth?

Ice cream should be smooth. The velvety texture should coat your tongue as it slowly melts. This smoothness is determined by the size of the tiny ice crystals that form during the freezing process of ice cream. The longer it takes for the ice cream to freeze, the larger the ice crystals grow. Larger ice crystals make for less smooth ice cream. There are two popular ways that ice cream producers do to prevent the growth of those ice crystals.

The most common way is for producers to whip air into the ice cream during the freezing process. The constant agitation of the product breaks up the forming crystals leading to a product that is smooth but not dense. Ice cream made in this way is usually cheaper and considered to be of lower quality.

The second, and more expensive way or preventing ice crystals is to freeze the ice cream at extremely low temperatures. The low temperatures drastically shorten the amount of time needed to freeze the product, giving the ice crystals less time to grow. This type of ice cream is often significantly more expensive than its air whipped counterparts – less air means more ice cream per scoop as well as a decidedly higher quality product.

2. How is your ice cream flavored?

Don’t sell yourself short on ice cream flavors when choosing your favorite ice cream. Check the ingredients on the packaging of the ice cream that you are about to buy. Here’s what to look for:

If your favorite ice cream flavor is pistachio, then your serving of pistachio ice cream should have some pistachios in it. If you like chocolate ice cream, then the list should include some sort of cocoa product such as milk or dark chocolate, cocoa powder, or even chocolate chips. Fruit flavored ice creams should contain real fruit in either a pureed or chunked form many fruit flavored ice creams even have both.

While you may find that ice creams that contain real ingredients are significantly more expensive than their artificial counterparts that you can buy in bulk, chances are that you’ll find ice cream with real ingredients to be much more satisfying to your taste buds and your cravings.

No matter what ice cream you end up choosing, don’t forget about the question that matters the most when picking one out – Do you like it?

If you do, then you don’t really need to ask any more questions.

Check out Creamies Ice Cream for a delicious, super premium ice cream bar that everyone can enjoy.