Don’t buy Wink Frozen Dessert without reading this review. This vegan, no fat, no sugar diet food gets two enthusiastic thumbs and eight fingers way way down.
Unfortunately Wink Frozen Dessert is classified as food. Last night I had a pint of their Dark Chocolate. When I looked at the ingredients list, the two only substances that were recognizeable as “food” were cocoa powder and ground flaxseed. Other ingredients include inulin, pea protein, guar gum, stevia and monkfruit extracts and a substance called “natural flavors.” Note that “natural flavors” is a catch-all phrase for minor ingredients the food manufacturer doesn’t have to disclose or list. Oftentimes “natural flavors” includes neotame, a potent excitotoxin in the same artificial sweetener family as aspartame. Neotame would definitely be needed to make the Wink product palatable because stevia and monkfruit extracts aren’t all that sweet.
As for taste, this could be the Wink Frozen Dessert could be worst thing I’ve ever had in my mouth. The look and texture of is similar to sherbet, but it has none of the satisfaction that sherbet offers. The Dark Chocolate sample that I tried barely qualified as having a chocolate flavor. Yes, the initial taste was mildly chocolate, but after a second or two it morphed into something that tasted metallic, unpleasant and unrecognizable. It was not, I might add, a taste I want to cultivate. Immediately after eating I experienced a headache around my temples and a mild stomach ache.
As for nutritional value, one whole pint is just 100 calories, zero grams/calories from fat or sugar, and no dairy. The prospect of having a sugarfree dessert for just 100 calories is what drew me in. I should know better than to expect to get something from nothing. Many of Wink’s marketing images include fruit, nut and coconut shavings, and these add-ins are definitely needed to make this product palatable. It’s for sure easier, cheaper and tastier to make your own sugarfree sherbet at home. Then you can control the ingredients, too.
And lastly, the cost of Wink Frozen Dessert is stunning. Each pint is $8, and Wink requires you to purchase 4 pints, which is $32. Shipping is another $9.99. Even with the 1-pint freebie discount for being a new buyer, the total cost came to $33.99, which I consider money thrown down the toilet.
Bottom line: When you see the pretty ad for Wink Frozen dessert on your Facebook or Instagram feed, just scroll on by.
