Frozen custard and dairy-free biggest climbers in ice cream category, says Nielsen

By Elaine Watson

- Last updated on GMT

Dreyer's/Edy's Extra Thick & Creamy vanilla custard contains 190 calories per half cup serving compared with 140 calories for Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand vanilla ice cream. Picture: Dreyer's
Dreyer's/Edy's Extra Thick & Creamy vanilla custard contains 190 calories per half cup serving compared with 140 calories for Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand vanilla ice cream. Picture: Dreyer's

Related tags Ice cream Milk

US retail sales of non-dairy ice cream surged 43.7% to $75.2m in the year to May 28, as more consumers enjoyed almond and coconut-based products in addition to dairy, while frozen custard has also generated significant growth (+134%) over the same period, according to new data* from Nielsen.

It’s also been a good year for sorbet (+6% to $68.5m), while sales of regular ice cream – a far more mature category - grew a respectable 2.8% to $5.84bn.

Sales of frozen yogurt, however, continued to tumble, dropping 10.7% to $239.2m, while sales of sherbert were down 7.6% to $140.1m, said Nielsen.

Dreyer's/Edy's Extra Thick & Creamy old fashioned vanilla custard (pictured above) is made with skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, whey, tapioca starch, pectin, guar gum, and natural flavors.

It contains 190 calories per half cup serving compared with 140 calories for Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand vanilla ice cream.

 *All outlets combined plus convenience stores, 52 weeks ended May 28, 2016.

Nielsen ice cream sales

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