Yes, you read that right ladies + gents. VEGAN. MAGNUM. Here. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I am absolutely chuffed to bits about this launch because, prior to going vegan, Magnum ice creams were my favourite! They are so indulgent and tasty... so needless to say I was excited to try these. They've been launched in the original classic Magnum flavour as well as the almond version. Surprise surprise, I've tracked down both + have tried them, ready to review for you today. Good times.
WHAT ARE THEY MADE OF?
These ice creams are dairy-free and interestingly are made with pea protein - something I've never heard of a brand doing before. I have heard of people putting peas in smoothies for creaminess/extra protein, but never an ice cream brand! Magnum say this gives their ice cream the classic creaminess of the original. Plus it's a vegetable. So kinda healthy, right? Yeah? No?... Really?.. Okay.
It's worth noting that these the vegan Magnum packets have the classic 'may contain milk' labelled on them, which usually means that the equipment used to handle these ice creams along handles dairy products - aka these ice creams are likely to have been made in the same factory as original Magnums. This is just to cover their backs in case anyone is super allergic, rest assured these ice creams are still vegan!
The full ingredients list is as follows:
Water, Sugar, Cocoa Butter1, Cocoa Mass1, Glucose Syrup, Coconut Oil, Glucose Fructose Syrup, Pea Protein, Flavourings, Emulsifiers (Sunflower Lecithin, E471), Exhausted Vanilla Bean Pieces, Stabilisers (E412, E410, E407), Salt, Colour (E160a), Chocolate Couverture containing Vegetable Fats in addition to Cocoa Butter, 1Rainforest Alliance Certified™
REVIEW - ARE THEY ANY GOOD?
Okay so I don't think it's a stretch for me to go ahead and say that these are my favourite vegan version of a non-vegan product to date. They are spot on dupes for the original Magnum ice cream. I was very curious as to how close Magnum would be able to get their vegan version to be to the original, because the taste and texture of Magnum chocolate and the vanilla ice cream inside are both pretty unique. But I was very pleasantly surprised! Both the original + the almond version are seriously great.
WHERE CAN I TO FIND THEM?
At the time of writing this [late September 2018], Tesco is the only supermarket to stock vegan Magnum in the UK. However, I'm hoping and praying that it comes to other supermarkets too so that more people can see it next to the dairy ice cream and give it a try over the original.
HOW MUCH ARE THEY?
These currently retail for £3.80 - pretty steep for just 3 ice creams. For comparison, the original versions retail at £3.20 for 4. It's that classic supply and demand situation - so hopefully as veganism grows in popularity and more consumers show demand for the dairy-free Magnum, they can be made in bigger quantities and the price may fall. That said, maybe it's a blessing in disguise that they are more expensive? So I don't buy and eat them all in one go? Something that I could quite easily do? Perhaps...
PARENT COMPANY
Magnum are owned by Unilever, so if you avoid parent company brands then please so bear this mind before purchasing.
FINAL VERDICT
It's always a pleasure to be vegan, but with substitutes like this it makes it even more of a pleasure.
Roll on more flavours, I say!
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