Summer taste test – ice-creams, lollies and pops

Portrait by Alex Lake

BEST BUY Gianni’s pistachio chocsticks
£2.49 for 4, aldi.co.uk

Obviously pistachio. The ice-cream is creamy; it pairs well with the chocolate. The pistachio flavour isn’t strong, but the pieces in the chocolate make up for it. I’d demolish that on a Sunday.

★★★★★

Taste the Difference pineapple, coconut and lime lollies
£2.50 for 4, sainsburys.co.uk

This is refreshing and not too sweet. It reminds me of the ice-cream from my childhood in Australia. I’m getting pineapple and lime – good flavours for summer.

★★★★

Jude’s Ice Cream mint choc chip minis
£4.50 for 6, sainsburys.co.uk

If you like mint choc chip, you’ll love this. The chocolate doesn’t taste cheap; I like the crunchy bits. You can tell the ice-cream is peppermint. The colour is pleasant.

★★★★

Tesco summer berry sorbet ice-cream cones
£1.25 for 4, tesco.com

The sorbet is nice – you can tell it’s berries. The ice-cream is bland. Good crispy cone; is there chocolate at the bottom? Yes! The best bit.

★★★

Wavey Ice kola and spiced rum alcoholic ice pop
£29.99 for 15, waveyice.com

It’s strong. In my 20s I’d have boshed these, but I’m a bougie bastard now. Good for party animals at festivals. Overly sweet. I need water.

★★★

Pola Poles passion fruit and lime sorbet pop
£9.99 for 10, polapoles.co.uk

Is it tropical fruit? They could dial up whatever the flavour is, but I would eat this happily. It tastes like it’s made for kids.

★★★

Lickalix mango raspberry swirl lollies
£4.25 for 3, ocado.com

Is it mango? It should taste powerful, like you’ve licked an actual mango. This is OK, but not full-bodied enough. The raspberry isn’t very prominent.

★★★

M&S Food creamy coconut bars
£5 for 6, ocado.com

It’s a choice to use desiccated coconut; it is going for a Bounty-type bar. I’m not mad at it. My thinking is that it’s probably not high-quality chocolate, but with the ice-cream it’s fine.

★★★

Tesco cola float lollies
£1.50 for 6, tesco.com

It’s cola, right? It tastes childish, but in a nice way. It doesn’t look particularly appealing, but you get a real hit of flavour and it isn’t watery. Not bad at all.

★★★

Morrisons tiramisu gelato
£2.75 for 480ml, morrisons.com

Tiramisu! Cocoa powder is a dead giveaway. The coffee sauce is very sweet. Is it tiramisu if there’s no biscuit? The texture seems too airy for gelato.

★★

Waitrose Essential Fruit split
£1.60 for 6 mixed flavours, waitrose.com

The outside is too hard and sickly sweet; the ice-cream is too soft and tastes… empty. I grew up eating fruit splits – this isn’t a good one.

★★

Asda Exceptional Belgian chocolate dairy ice-cream
£2.98 for 500ml, asda.com

Is it vegan chocolate? No. Chocolate ice-cream needs to be luxurious, and use good-quality chocolate, but this is average. It tastes a little watery to me.

★★

Waitrose Essential Dark choc ices
£2.15 for 8, waitrose.com

Not nice. The coating is the right thickness, but if it’s dark chocolate it’s very sweet. The ice-cream looks like it could be banana, but tastes of bland vanilla.

★

Wowsers Organic amazing almond ice-cream lollies
£4.95 for 3, ocado.com

It’s lacking. The ice-cream tastes like vanilla… at a stretch. Very bland. The chocolate is too sweet and the nuts aren’t roasted enough. I wouldn’t buy this one.

★

All items are blind tested. The Happy Endings Cookbook by Terri Mercieca (HarperCollins, £26) is out now. Order a copy at observershop.co.uk for £23.40. Delivery charges may apply