Tillamook or Umpqua Ice Cream?
We threw two of Oregon's own popular Ice Cream brands together, side by side, in a Tupperware coliseum to fend for themselves against a pair of sweets-starved Ice Cream lovers and their unrestrained stainless steel spoons.
The Teams:
In the first corner, the heavy-weight, farmer-owned Tillamook County Creamery Association was formed in 1909 when 10 independent Cheese plants joined forces with each other. Celebrating their 100-year anniversary this year, they continue to produce quality cheese and ice cream products. Tillamook recently won the Ice Cream Sweepstakes award in the 2009 Oregon Dairy Industry's dairy products contest after their Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, and Oregon Strawberry Ice Creams won first place. (www.tillamookcheese.com)
In the second corner, Roseburg-based and family-owned and operated Umpqua Dairy was formed in 1931 when Ormond Feldkamp and Herb Sullivan started producing milk, butter and ice cream and selling it to railroad passengers stopped at the Roseburg Railroad Station. Since then generations of family members have maintained the high-quality standards yielding many awards over the years including 2009 Judges Award for best Strawberry Ice Cream in the nation at the Quality Chekd National Convention, 2008 Judges Award for best Chocolate Ice Cream in the nation at the Quality Chekd National Convention, and Oregon Dairy Industry's Ice Cream Sweepstakes award in 2008. (www.umpquadairy.com)
The Contestants:
Tillamook Cookie Dough vs. Umpqua Cookie Dough
Tillamook Chocolate Peanut Butter vs. Umpqua Chocolate Peanut Butter
Round One: Creaminess
The first indicator of each team's creaminess was revealed when we scooped the ice cream about 10 minutes before consumption began and it began to melt. Tillamook, had a smooth, even glaze compared to the textured surface of the Umpqua. Slipping off the spoon into your mouth, the Tillamook Ice Cream melted consistently with a fluffy, creamy, consistent texture and flavor. Umpqua put up a valiant fight with a smooth melt, however, it lacked the fluffy texture and had a hint of graininess. In round one, Tillamook ice cream puts the 'cream' in 'creamery'.
Round Two: Cookie Dough Flavor
Umpqua had a nice rich, full flavor fitting its packaging description, "A touch of golden brown sugar added to our vanilla ice cream..." Tillamook has a light, natural cookie dough flavor. Although I personally prefer Tillamook's cookie dough flavor, we'll give round two to Umpqua because they include little tiny chocolate chip squares to complete the cookie dough characteristic.
Round Three: Cookie Dough Bits
The cookie dough pieces in the Tillamook ice cream have the consistency of a frozen mini marshmellow and very creamy texture when you bite through them. The flavor of the cookie dough is also very much like homemade cookie dough. Umpqua's cookie dough bits were a bit grainy, as if the sugar grains weren't dissolved into the batter. For leaving the grainy cookie dough bandwagon for its own, unique smooth orchestra, we give round three to Tillamook.
Round Four: Chocolate Flavor
Umpqua had a rich chocolate flavored ice cream. However, it was on the more bitter, chalkier side of the chocolate spectrum for ice cream. Tillamook on the other hand had a sweeter chocolate flavor which, for me, gives Tillamook a sweet victory in Round Four.
Round Five: Peanut Butter
Tillamook's peanut butter ribboning through the chocolate ice cream tasted like natural peanut butter. I liked the stick-to-the -roof-of-your-mouth texture and saltiness of Tillamook's peanut butter. Umpqua's peanut butter ribbons were sweeter than Tillamook's, but still had a natural texture and flavor. In addition to the peanut butter ribbons, Umpqua also had large, thick chunks of peanut butter flavored candy, the consistency of a super-thin chocolate bar. Although the flavor of the peanut butter 'chips' was on the waxy-side for my tastes, it helps Umpqua win round five.
Round Six: Price
At about $.40 less per container, Umpqua wins this round.
The winner: Tillamook Ice Cream
After a strong fight, to mirror the 2009 Oregon Dairy Industries' ice cream contest, Umpqua takes second in this close battle. Tillamook ice cream had the creamiest texture and the best natural flavors in this taste test.
That doesn't mean Umpqua can't make a future come back. In fact in your own showdown, maybe your palette prefers Umpqua.
Both Tillamook and Umpqua are very worthy ice creams from very good local companies with solid Oregon histories.
What's the verdict of your taste challenge?
19 comments:
I personally wouldn't have given any rounds to Umpqua. Their chocolate chips were waxy, and although a good concept, their inferior chocolate ruined it in my book.
Also I would not have had the peanut butter aspect go to Umpqua for the same reason. The chunks of peanut butter candy were way too waxy and didn't melt, rather they were almost crunchy and ruined the texture.
This post proves again that you are a nice guy, because I wouldn't have cut Umpqua any slack!
Umpqua is damn. good ice cream
Agreed! I love, love the cookie dough ice cream.
My husband and I love the Umpqua Vanilla Bean ice cream and we think it s very creamy and rich. Unfortunately, stores up in the Bellingham, WA area are not carrying as much Umpqua as they used to. Tillamook seems to be winning the shelf space competition. This week, Haggens did not carry Umpqua. Fred Meyer's selection of Umpqua was very limited versus Tillamook. I finally found Umpqua Vanilla Bean at Winco.
Umpqua's java thunder rocks my world. But so does tillamook banana split. I think tillamook does taste creamier in general but umpqua's still really good in a world full of cheap ass ice milk
Neither in my opinion. Just tried Umpqua Mint Chocolate Chip there is no hint of even mint in the flavoring. Just a lime green ice cream with chocolate chips. Never again will I even come close to purchasing Umpqua.
I had always thought they were the same company (Umpqua being the local label, and Tillamook being the name they took to national shelves). Now that I know better, one flavor brings a lot of confusion to mind- the Birthday Cake flavor(s).
Umpquas version is AMAZING, almost perfect! Its flavor is right on, with the best aspect being the true chocolate frosting swirl, which i swear they added just a touch of salt to, but that only made it better! The thing that kept it from a title of perfection to me, was the cake pieces itself. They are good, but usually too big, making it of an overwhelmingly cake to ice cream ratio per bite. Also, the very first time i had it, they were extremely grainy. Almost like one would expect of a frozen donut. That slightly salty chocolate frosting kept me going back though! As did the fantastic price we found it to be at WinCo ($2.68).
Tillamook, however, screwed something up with this flavor and it shows, in more than one way... The most obvious flaw is their label; describing their flavor as having real chunks of yellow birthday cake, with a picture of what is very obviously a white cake. Their second, and most significant flaw, was the flavor itself, and whatever they changed. As recently as two or three years ago, their version of cake flavored ice cream was called "Grandma's Birthday Cake", and it was almost identical to Umpquas current version, except the cake pieces within said ice cream flavor were of perfect proportion and texture. No frozen donut wanna be there. The best (and worst) part: I was getting it at Grocery Outlet for $1.99, never having had seen it before, or since. Now all Tillamook has to offer, is the really of one giant mistake! Much like their "new" (and ruined) Vanilla Bean flavor of yogurt, which prior to changing their recipe, had almost always been sold out and was hard to find. It's not anymore though. My girl, for one, has switched to (settled for) Lucerne these days... But that's another story. Let's not get her started, seriously!
I would've thought for being farmer owned they'd have consistently good results coming from the fact that they can work by majority, or maybe even community input, but if Tillamook keeps "reconfiguring" recipes that have proven successful, they'll lose the people willing to pay their higher prices, as I may very well have switched to Umpqua products myself. Only their Cheddar shall tell...
It's interesting you point out Tillamook changing their recipes. At some point after I wrote this post we suspected Tillamook changed their recipe for Cookie Dough. It tasted different, but when we wrote to them about it, they assured us they didn't change the recipe. I guess that means my taste buds and my wife's taste buds coincidentally changed the same way at the same time. :-)
Hmmm... That's intriguing! My fiancee USED TO love their Vanilla Bean yogurt (like, the whole "in moderation" concept not only never existed, but don't anyone consider implying such between her and her friggin yogurt!). Right around the time they changed the label, she started complaining that it wasn't as good anymore, and now she flat out doesn't like it. It used to be hard to get, because it was sold out so often, but not anymore! Rarely does it even look as if any are missing off the shelf. We recently noticed that their Marionberry Pie ice cream is now made up of much, much less pie, and a lot more cream (as opposed to the pre label makeover version). I have also been feeling that recipes with white chocolate (White Chocolate Raspberry & Udderly Chocolate) in them taste less "white chocolatey", but that could be me simply wanting more deliciousness d8'p
I've tried encouraging my girl to write them and tell them what a mistake they've made in changing her yogurt. I'll tell her about this, we'll write them, and report back the response we get. I wonder if theyll still deny it...
Tie for both but the best is Tillamook
When I was making ice cream and cheese at WSU Pullman a couple decades ago, we got a new creamery director from Tillamook. Ferdinand’s is really there to produce cheese and ice cream is a side hustle. The locals think Ferdinand’s ice cream is the BEST (it isn’t).
New director made one change to the ice cream flavors: he brought Tillamook’s very special chocolate recipe with him in his head, and implemented those ratios of cocoa and chocolate liquor to all the chocolate mixes. So we got Tillamook’s chocolate flavor, which is very good. We couldn’t get Tillamook’s texture though. We didn’t have the money to purchase the quick freezing machines that make Tillamook so creamy. The slower your ice cream freezes the more crystals will form, leading to a less smooth product. The mix is just as high quality, but the final product, while very good, loses out to Tillamook.
Umpqua produces slightly smoother ice cream than WSU. To my palette it’s close enough in smoothness to call it a texture tie between the two big Oregon creameries. But Tillamook doesn’t sit still on flavor and it isn’t just their excellent chocolate mix. They have quite a variety of flavors that deserve the top tier status the buying public gives them.
Umpqua has some greats as well, particularly their strawberry and vanilla varieties as well as berry ripples in that excellent vanilla of theirs. Their chocolates are humbled by the Tillamook chocolate mix. I understand chocolate is an area where they can differentiate their brand. But it isn’t working as it should. If Umpqua wants to go for a less sweet chocolate, that’s great but they have to do something to round out the flavor. Perhaps increase the vanilla content a bit. But they should tweak their chocolate mix in some way to make it more desirable and make a statement that they’re not just chasing Tillamook.
Umpqua ice cream is much better. Their Bordeax Cherry has lots of cherries as Tillamook does not have as many!
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As a resident of Douglas County i have to go with Umpqua with Tillamook a very close 2nd!
I eat ice cream nearly every night.. My two favorites right here.. Honestly you can't go wrong with either 🤷. BOTH superior ice creams..
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Honestly I would have loved to say umpqua is the best but unfortunately since they sold we have switched to Tillamook.
Umpqua has changed a few of there recipes would love to see you redo this test
Agree!
Two years ago I would have said Umqua, but today I was disappointed the 1.75 qt is now 1.5 and the ingredients are horribly cheap and taste like the cheapest ice cream. I will not buy Umpqua again, sorry 👎. But Tillamook still tastes like they care. Thank you Tillamook 👍
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