After all, can low-cal varieties really taste as good as the full-fat kind? Can their texture even come close? Despite lingering skepticism, there are a ton of low-cal ice cream competitors out there and it's hard to know which ones are worth stashing in your freezer-and which ones should be chucked straight in the trash. (Hi.Low-calorie ice cream? We can't blame you for giving the category the side-eye. But I am not embarrassed to wheel it around in my grocery cart, stock it in my freezer, eat it in front of my friend David, or publicly endorse it on the internet. Would I post a well-merchandised shot of Halo Top on my Instagram account? No.

Sometimes I wish to consume a bucket of pistachio fluff in crude gulps like an animal instead of a nibbling on a smidgeon of full-fat ice cream like a French person. If I asked for ice cream and you brought me Halo Top, I would be dismayed. Both are tasty, but they are not interchangeable. Comparing it to premium ice cream is like comparing Hershey’s syrup to chocolate fudge sauce. The trick to loving Halo Top, of course, is to love it on its own terms. Halo Top is good enough that it surpasses the categorical dismissal with which most food-loving people approach low-calorie ice creams. My human friends like it, too-even those who don’t factor “microbiome friendliness” into their rubric for ice cream success. It’s reassuring to know that my gut bacteria are enjoying Halo Top as much as I am. “Essentially, food for your gut bacteria,” Thrift said, adding that prebiotic fibers “can contribute sweetness but have the benefit of falling into the dietary fiber category on a nutrition facts panel, rather than increasing the sugar per serving.” Prebiotic fibers are chains of carbohydrates that can’t be digested by your body, but can be digested by the bacteria living in your digestive system. Thrift also explained the presence of another ingredient that appears in every flavor of Halo Top: prebiotic fiber. (You find them in low-carb protein bars and sugar-free chocolates.) Erythritol “also provides bulking and mouthfeel similar to that of sugar, something that other non-caloric sweeteners, like stevia, lack.” Sugar alcohols behave like sugar but are metabolized differently by the body, contributing fewer calories. “Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that naturally occurs at low levels in some fruits and fermented foods,” she explained. I asked a food scientist, Claire Thrift, to decode them for me. Halo Top has a couple ingredients that you don’t typically find in ice cream. I and all the other “amazing fans” love it because the makers have actually innovated in the crowded realm of light ice creams, creating a new texture (“lushly snowy” is how I’d put it) that melts into satiny peaks instead of watery slush. Not only because Halo Top looks pretty in photos or because its flavor offerings range from classic (Vanilla Bean, Strawberry, Mint Chip) to novel (Mochi Green Tea, Pancakes & Waffles, Chocolate Covered Banana).

Halo ice cream