Maybe I am going crazy, but I have noticed a difference about ice cream and its only been Maybe the last 8-10 years was when I first noticed it.
Ice cream from the supermarket doesn’t seem to melt properly, and is also way too soft. This seems most noticeable in novelties now, but also most hard ice cream as well.
Did they add some component to make it softer or less likely to freezer burn? Am I just going crazy?
(US, but I assume anywhere else where the same brands are sold have had the same issue.)
They started using stabilizers in cheap ice cream a while back. That helps it have the fluffy texture you expect even though it doesn’t have nearly enough fat to churn up nicely by itself.
Buy expensive ice cream with a higher fat content (more cream content and or egg yolks,) it’s worth the extra money.
Also it helps to bring an insulated freezer bag when you go to the store, the melt and refreeze between the store freezer and home does unpleasant things to ice cream texture. If you’ve ever had icy or hard ice cream it has probably melted at some point during transit before refreezing.
Edit: if you feel like microdosing ice cream facts today here’s a treat from 18y ago: https://archive.ph/2012.09.09-004911/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/dining/26cream.html?_r=1. Cheap ice cream is a pretty heavily engineered food at this point.