If you are a gourmand or a gourmand, what follows will interest you. In franceinfo conso, we’re going to take a close look today at what’s at the end of your dessert spoon, with the investigation by Laura Hendrikx, journalist for 60 Million consumers, on dessert creams, chocolate mousses, vanilla flans, finally all the dairy desserts found in stores.
franceinfo: The first lesson is that it’s worth looking closely at the different products because there are big differences in quality!
Laura Hendrikx: Yes, absolutely, we noted large differences between the products. So in appearance, nothing looks more like a chocolate mousse than another chocolate mousse, but when you look at the labels, you see that not all brands are created equal.
We can separate all these industrial desserts into two large families, those that respect traditional recipes, and those that we would be unable to redo at home as there are so many additives, substitutes, in short, a list of ingredients to extension, which we would do well…
That’s it. On the one hand, we have desserts that are close to traditional recipes, because they only contain ingredients that we could find in our kitchens: sugar, cream, eggs, chocolate… Most of the time, these are desserts that contain a low number of ingredients. We consider that below five ingredients, we are on something very satisfying.
Conversely, some products in our test contain up to 17 ingredients! For us, this is problematic, especially since in general, the more ingredients there are, the more additives there are that could be harmful to health. So these are products that we have penalized.
Are the most expensive desserts the best quality?
It depends. For vanilla creams, it’s true that the top three products are also the most expensive. On the other hand, the highest-rated crème caramel is not the most expensive in its category. Same for chocolate mousse. So to get an idea of the quality of the product, it is better to take a look at the list of ingredients, rather than the price.
Overall we find vanilla in vanilla desserts, chocolate in chocolate desserts? In decent amounts?
Again, it depends! Of the 12 vanilla creams we studied, only three contain natural vanilla extract. For the others, it is flavors – natural or artificial, depending on the brand – that give this vanilla taste.
For chocolate mousse, manufacturers are obliged to indicate the amount of chocolate in the product. But it is difficult to compare the quantities indicated, because it is an ingredient that can be present in several forms: cocoa powder, lean cocoa, chocolate, dark chocolate. And which is usually itself composed of several ingredients, including cocoa butter, flavorings, emulsifiers.
What about sugar levels? Is it really a guilty pleasure to chew industrial chocolate mousse?
Yes, overall, all dairy desserts are very sweet, and they should be consumed occasionally. Chocolate mousses, in particular, are more caloric than creams, so it is better to choose those that offer small portions. On the other hand, if we are only interested in sugars, it is caramel creams and, to a lesser extent, vanilla creams, which are the sweetest.
Besides, we could say that the most natural products, the least processed, are the healthiest in terms of calories, isn’t that necessarily the case?
No, it’s the opposite. In general, the most traditional recipes are also the most caloric. It’s not surprising, because they mainly contain eggs, cream, sugar, which are caloric ingredients. Not chemical but caloric.
When we talk about dairy desserts, we must now add desserts made from vegetable milk. Is it a growing market?
Yes, it’s a growing market, and we see that plant-based desserts are taking up more and more space on the shelves of supermarkets. They are particularly appealing to consumers who suffer from digestive discomfort when they eat dairy products, and to those who wish, for various reasons, to reduce their consumption of animal products.
And these products are healthier, more expensive too?
In terms of additives, we find in vegetable desserts texturizers, as in dairy desserts, but also acidifiers and acidity correctors, to improve the taste. Which isn’t terrible, since these are ingredients that can damage teeth when consumed in high doses.
In terms of price, the plant-based desserts in our sample are on average slightly more expensive than chocolate mousse, vanilla cream and caramel cream. For example, in the vegetable dessert category, the cheapest pack of 4 jars costs one euro; while for the other desserts, we have, each time, a pack of 4 jars for less than one euro.