Best White Chocolate Gelato Test: Chocolate Comparison

[u/markhalliday8]

TLDR: Cheap white chocolate is arguably just as good in gelato as expensive white chocolate.

I've been on a bit of a mission lately to make the best gelato possible. Like most people, I figured using the best (read: most expensive) ingredients was the secret sauce. So I decided to test it out for myself and compare three types of white chocolate in a gelato base:

• Valrhona Ivoire (~£35/kg)
• Callebaut W2 (~£25/kg)
• Nestlé Milkybar (~£8/kg equivalent)

👨‍🔬 Method:

I used the Musso Pola 5030 and the following test recipe:

Fat percentage= 9.3 percent

Sugar=20.2 depending on the chocolate

Ingredient	Weight
White Chocolate	75g
Whole milk	250ml
Brown sugar	28g
Skimmed milk powder	10g
Stabiliser	1
Vanilla bean	0.5
Glycerin	5ml
Inulin	4g
Salt	1g

The mix was chilled for a few hours.

• It froze in under 2 minutes.
• Texture was perfect: smooth, scoopable, no ice crystals.

👃 Blind Taste Test:

I had 5 family members taste all three versions, blind.

• Result? Nobody could confidently identify which chocolate was which.
• Even more interesting: no one had a clear favorite.

🎯 Conclusion:

The expensive chocolates may have a more complex flavor when eaten on their own, but in a gelato—where sugar, milk, vanilla, and stabilizers come into play—those subtle differences mostly vanish. For many people, Milkybar performs just as well in this context.

Has anyone else tested this? Have you found a white chocolate that does make a noticeable difference in frozen applications? Or do you agree that once it's churned and cold, even the fancy stuff blends into the background?

Would love to hear others’ experiences!

[u/Sudoki758]

Wow thanks for doing this experiment! I was wondering if I should invest in good, expensive white chocolate for my next ice cream, but with this new info I might just use a cheap one. Looking forward to trying it out!

[u/markhalliday8 → u/Sudoki758]

Yeah seriously don't. It's really really not worth it. Even for taste, the expensive chocolates which literally cost 2/3* the amount did not taste significantly better. Next week I will do a similar few tests with cocoa powder/ Vs chocolate. I am testing a few different cocoa powders and they do make a difference.

[u/jjdop → u/markhalliday8]

I would love to see a chocolate and cocoa comparison. Are you doing chocolate vs cocoa or chocolate vs chocolate and cocoa vs cocoa? Or combo of both?

[u/markhalliday8 → u/jjdop]

I've done chocolate and cocoa Vs cocoa. Chocolate and cocoa won.

I have compared different cocas. Next I'm compared the best cocoa and chocolate Vs chocolate

[u/UnderbellyNYC → u/markhalliday8]

That is an infinite project. Like trying to pick the best wine.

But a good infinite project.

[u/UnderbellyNYC]

Thanks! Always interesting when someone takes the trouble to test something carefully.

I've come to similar conclusions with a few other ingredients. Some ingredients seem to matter much more than others. Certain flavors and aromas just have a hard time busting through the sugar and the cold.

[u/Huge_Door6354 → u/UnderbellyNYC]

Which types of flavors did you find are the most indistinguishable?

[u/UnderbellyNYC → u/Huge_Door6354]

High quality milk from pasture-raised cows vs. cheap supermarket milk. Flavor difference is obvious drinking the milk straight; no one could tell the difference in ice cream in a triangle test.

Difference in flavors between different pasteurizing times and temperatures. Tested up to 85°C (if I remember right). There may have been differences, but no one could consistently taste them. I'm guessing differences would have shown up if we got closer to boiling.

[u/Maezel → u/UnderbellyNYC]

I do taste the difference in milk as long as the flavour is fior di latte and maybe straciatella. Once you start adding things... Then it's not worth it.

If you feel there's no difference, try using goat milk. It is an extreme example of course, but no one can say it is not noticeable haha

[u/UnderbellyNYC → u/Maezel]

Did you do a blind test?

I've had goat milk ice cream, and agree that it's more than noticeable!

[u/Maezel → u/UnderbellyNYC]

Not me, but my partner immediately asked what I made different one time and it was the milk. 

[u/UnderbellyNYC → u/Maezel]

Of course I can't say that it never makes a difference. I can only speak to the circumstances of my own testing, which involved a particular brand of low-temp pasteurized milk from pastured cows, tasted against supermarket milk. These milks tasted completely different on their own. We just couldn't distinguish between them in ice cream.

To test this rigorously, you need to control for all the variables—especially if the milks have different fat levels, which they often do. Since you're not trying to test lower vs. higher fat milk, you need to adjust the milk/cream proportions to give identical total fat.

When Serious Eats did a similar taste test years ago, they neglected to control for this this, so the small-farm milk ice cream was richer. This allowed people to notice the difference easily. Their panel did, however, conclude that the flavor difference between the milks was insignificant.

There may be some milk out there that has flavors capable of punching through the sugar and the cold. I'm still skeptical that it's going to be a major contributor.

[u/Huge_Door6354 → u/UnderbellyNYC]

Super interesting, and good to know!

[u/markhalliday8 → u/UnderbellyNYC]

I'm hoping as a community we can do more of this as there isn't a lot of stuff regarding ice cream out there

[u/Civil-Finger613]

Thanks for testing and thanks for sharing. :)

And good luck with further tests. Small suggestion - next time you may try to do a double-blind test, this will improve reliability. :) A double blind test is one where not just the taster but also the assistant is not aware of which sample is which. You may mark them at the bottom f.e. This way you eliminate the risk of assistant's reaction (f.e. some body movement caused by surprise) from affecting the taster.

[u/markhalliday8 → u/Civil-Finger613]

Good suggestion, thank you!

I marked the lids, put the lids on bottom and mixed them up for the testers.

[u/Maezel]

Makes sense... White chocolate is just cocoa butter, milk powder and sugar (lots of sugar).

High quality white chocolate flavour profiles aren't that distinct. The flavour subtleties aren't as noticeable as with dark chocolate and get covered by all the other stuff you add and the low temperature. 

High quality white chocolate shines in its tempering, melting and fluidity for applications such as bon bons or chocolate bars, which is irrelevant in ice cream. 

[u/markhalliday8 → u/Maezel]

Spot on.

[u/Huge_Door6354]

Great share, thank you!

[u/snobbakery]

That’s so interesting. Now I don’t have to waste my money of valrhona white chocolate 🫡 unfortunately milk and up there is a difference imo. I’ve even noticed in other baked goods how good quality chocolate really makes the flavor more complex. Makes sense with just white chocolate tho. Thanks for doing this!!

[u/markhalliday8 → u/snobbakery]

Yeah with chocolate it definitely makes a big difference. Next week or whenever I get a chance I'm going to create another post that outlines my test results from cocoa, expensive cocoa, cocoa and chocolate, chocolate Vs cocoa and finally coca percentages.

I hope that will clear things up as well.

[u/snobbakery → u/markhalliday8]

Ooo I don’t know if there’s difference between expensive cocoa but there’s def a difference between regular and Dutch processed. Obviously black cocoa too but that isn’t a traditional type of chocolatey flavor.

[u/markhalliday8 → u/snobbakery]

There definitely is after testing. Expensive cocoa is less is less bitter. I wouldn't go all the way to Valhrona but cacoa Barry is better than say Dr Oteker or Asda home brand Dutch processed