Dairy dessert cones There's plenty of activity in the ice cream aisle these days. Make that the frozen-dairy-substance aisle; that way we can also include ice-cream-like products that we understand, like frozen yogurt, and the somewhat less comprehensible things, like "frozen dairy dessert." That's a term that covers a month of sundaes, from something in which the principal ingredient is dairy whey (Edy's Fun Favorites) to one that really sounds like ice cream, in that the first ingredient is "milkfat" (which, simply put [perhaps too simply], is the fat part of cream).

That last frozen dairy dessert is the one in the new Cow Tracks sundae cones from Kemps. Mr. Tidbit hopes you're not surprised that at one discount supermarket, where the box of six Kemps 4.6-ounce peanut-sprinkled ice cream sundae cones costs $3.19 (12 cents an ounce), the box of only five new 4-ounce Cow Tracks sundae cones costs $3.79 (19 cents an ounce).

Frozen yogurt cones As to the frozen yogurt, Kemps is making frozen yogurt in cones, too. Because Kemps frozen yogurt in 48-ounce tubs typically sells for the same price as 48-ounce tubs of Kemps ice cream, might one guess that the frozen yogurt cones have the same price as Kemps Classic ice cream sundae cones?

One might guess that, but one would be wrong. At that same discount supermarket, where those six Kemps 4.6-ounce peanut-sprinkled ice cream sundae cones cost $3.19 (again, 12 cents an ounce), a box of only four Kemps frozen yogurt cones, weighing 3.75 ounces each, costs $3.39 (23 cents an ounce).

Snack-size cones Häagen-Dazs is now in the sundae-cone biz too, but these new (almond-topped) items come only in "snack-size" (21/4 ounces each), so Mr. Tidbit can't compare the price to a full-size Häagen-Dazs version. But while such small-sizing typically comes at a higher price per ounce, Mr. Tidbit was startled to find that, at least in the case of Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars (the ones on sticks), the 1.85-ounce snack-size version actually sells for about the same price per ounce as the full-size bars!

AL SICHERMAN