Vanilla Vs French Vanilla Ice Cream: What's The Difference?

Call me crazy, but sometimes I walk into an ice cream shop and actually think there are too many flavor options. It is not that I don't appreciate having all these options to choose from, because I do. But standing in line with dozens of tiny sample spoons and frozen with decision fatigue does not make for a fun trip to the ice cream parlor. Surely, there must be a few flavors we can cut out to make the choice a bit easier for me, right? When you boil it down, do we really need a plain vanilla and a French vanilla option? Two different vanillas seem a little superfluous.

Although it doesn't help my own decision, vanilla and French vanilla have a few key differences that set them apart from one another. The key difference is that regular vanilla ice cream has a milk or cream base. French vanilla, on the other hand, includes egg yolks to make a creamier custard base.

If you thought that cream imported from Normandy was what made vanilla ice cream French, guess again. Most regular ice cream is made from a few simple ingredients: cream, milk, sugar, and flavorings (though sour cream also helps make a tangy vanilla ice cream) . With a name like French vanilla, one might also assume that means the ingredients are of a higher quality, but that is also wrong.

What differentiates French vanilla is the addition of egg yolks in the ice cream base. The egg yolks create a more custard-like base that lends a richer taste and smoother texture, while also making the ice cream a pale yellow color as opposed to regular vanilla's stark white shade.

Beyond the addition of eggs, there is not much else to differentiate the two flavors by. Some people may enjoy the custard-like flavor of French vanilla, while others prefer the purer vanilla taste in regular ice cream. And, of course, if you have a sensitivity to eggs (or eggs just give you the ick), you should steer clear of French vanilla.

Some ice cream brands take it a step further by offering a vanilla bean option. While all these flavors include vanilla as the dominant flavor, some may only use vanilla extract to flavor their base. But if it is labeled vanilla bean, it must include real vanilla bean in the recipe. You can tell whether a brand uses real vanilla pods (the majority of which come from Madagascar) in their ice cream by the presence of black flecks in the ice cream, which are the tiny little vanilla seeds dispersed throughout.

Using real vanilla bean does not necessarily mean that it tastes more like vanilla, as vanilla extract can achieve the same result. Also, some brands that use real vanilla beans in their recipe might just use the plain old vanilla moniker. Either way, they are all delicious on a sundae, topping a warm brownie, or just eaten out of the carton.