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After five months of non-stop news about cell-based meat, things were a little slow in the alternative protein space this week. Phew! The whole cultured meat category (and our editorial team) could use a breather. With this pause, we can take a moment to talk about something truly important: ice cream.
It’s just about summertime, and the hotter weather and longer days means I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream made from alternative ingredients and don’t have animal-based dairy products in them!
As my colleague, Ashlen Wilder pointed out this week, there are more vegan ice cream options than ever in the freezer aisle, and these options taste better than ever. But to make a good ice cream replacement, you can’t just make something that tastes good. The hard part for alterna-ice creams is the texture, the creaminess. Too often, traditional ice cream replacements fall flat because they have a gritty or crystallized texture. It’s like the uncanny valley where they get so close to the real thing that any slight flaw is exaggerated.
Thankfully, the new wave of alterna-ice creams is also getting better re-creating everything we love about ice cream. Of all the ones I’ve tried, Eclipse is my favorite. This plant-based ice cream is not only delicious, but also has that creamy texture that makes ice cream such a decadent treat. Eclipse’s vanilla is so perfect in its simplicity that eating it is truly sublime, IMHO.
I was actually envious of Ashlen because this week she got to try some of the new summer flavors Eclipse is launching next month. (Had I known about this sample offer, I would have totally pulled rank.) In June, Eclipse is releasing mango passion fruit, strawberry fields, mint chip, caramel butter pecan, the dark side of the spoon (chocolate, peanut butter cookie dough, and fudge chunks), and cookies n’ cream. I’m going to assume that they’re all going to be delicious — and expensive. Eclipse ain’t cheap, costing $11.99 per pint.
Another vangaurd in alternative ice cream is Brave Robot, which uses Perfect Day‘s dairy protein made from microflora. As such, Brave Robot ice cream falls into a unique category because technically it contains dairy proteins. It’s just that those proteins don’t come from a cow (so those with dairy allergies or complications should take heed).
I tried Brave Robot last year and while it was tasty, there was definitely a texture issue — there was an ever-so-slight chalkiness about the product. As a result, I haven’t bought it since, or given it as a gift to my ice cream-loving family and friends. That could also be because Brave Robot isn’t cheap either, costing $58 for a four-pack.
Being able to nail non-animal-based ice cream isn’t just a matter of taste preference. There’s big money to be made in ice cream. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, ice cream is an $11 billion industry in the U.S., and that the average American consumes about 23 pounds of ice cream a year. Plant-based alternatives are a small, but growing subsection of the total ice cream market. The Good Food Institute reported this year that the U.S. plant-based ice cream and frozen novelty category is worth $435 million, and that sales of such products grew 20 percent in the past year and 32 percent over the past two years.
There’s an opportunity for these alternative ice cream companies to stake their claim and garner your loyalty as the category grows. They just need to do so at an affordable price point. If Eclipse and Brave Robot and whomever else wants to innovate in the space can do that — we can all scream for more.
Do you have a plant-based ice cream recommendation? Drop us a line and let us know!
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