The California Brand Behind Costco's Kirkland Signature Vanilla Ice Cream

Costco's Kirkland Signature super premium vanilla ice cream stands out thanks to its delectable texture, and while it wasn't included in the tastings for our ranking of 12 grocery store-bought vanilla ice creams, it would've certainly impressed. Customers swear it beats out other name brands — with a texture that's often compared to Trader Joe's vanilla ice cream, which our taste testers ranked second. Interestingly enough, the two are actually made by the same California brand: Humboldt Creamery.

Vanilla ice cream is classic for a reason — and Costco's super premium vanilla ice cream has a texture that lives up to its name. This ice cream is described as dense and ultra-creamy, with a subtle vanilla flavor that strikes just the perfect amount of sweetness. Plus, it's sold at roughly half the price per volume of name brands. Still, you have to wonder, what makes it so great? As demonstrated in the similarities with TJ's ice cream, that can be attested to who makes it.

Humboldt Creamery started out as a dairy co-op in Fortuna, California — a town in the county after which the creamery is named. The founder and former owner, Rich Ghilarducci, was born there. According to him, Costco comes to Humboldt for all its ice cream because they believe the flavor of the milk is special. "They want all their ice cream in any of their product lines in the United States to come from milk out of Humboldt County," he said in a 2006 interview with North Coast Journal. 

Humboldt Creamery has continued to shine and remain on the shelves at Costco despite some dark times in the company's past — a testament to its products. The company filing for bankruptcy in 2009, after then-owner Ghilarducci was convicted of fraud, and Humboldt was sold to a competitor. 

Despite changing hands, what hasn't changed is Humboldt Creamery's commitment to making quality ice cream. The company still takes pride in its sustainable farming practices, and the way it nurtures its dairy cows. Humboldt Creamery's ice cream comes from cows that were raised on organic diets, without the use of antibiotics or hormones, on synthetic fertilizer and pesticide-free pastures, and by inter-generational, dairy families that respect and care for them. All of this is inherent to the quality of what you get in those dense, creamy pints you buy from Costco — and the ice cream bars you get from the food court.