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Eclipse Foods Launches Seven New Ice Cream Flavors for Summer

The summer season is rapidly approaching, and I’ve already experienced some 85 degree days here in Denver, Colorado. Therefore, I was thrilled when I was invited to be one of the first to taste test Eclipse Foods’ new ice cream flavors.

Eclipse is a plant-based dairy company based in Berkeley, California that is currently focused on its “cowlessly creamy” ice cream. The startup has previously said that it aims to be the Impossible Foods of the alternative dairy industry.

In June, Eclipse is launching seven new flavors including 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. Eclipse last released three flavors (chocolate, vanilla, and cookie butter) into retail channels in 2020.

This was my first time trying Eclipse’s ice cream, and I certainly enjoyed it. What stood out to me were the vibrant flavors, and the mint chip and dark side of the spoon flavors were especially tasty.

Prior to tasting the samples, I had analyzed the ingredients in Eclipse’s product and was surprised to find that the ice cream contained no creamy vegan ingredients, like coconut, cashews, or soy. Interestingly, the main ingredients in Eclipse’s ice cream are water, sugar, and canola oil.

Eclipse’s website states that the company looked at the composition of milk and built its own milk from the ground up using plant ingredients. I spoke to Aylon Steinhardt this week, one of the co-founders of Eclipse, who said that “magic of milk” (referring to its taste and creamy texture) comes from a structure found in casein called a micelle. Eclipse was able to recreate this structure in the plant-based milk base it uses for its ice cream, and currently has a patent pending for this.

In a previous interview with The Spoon, Steinhardt said that one of Eclipse’s goals is to make its ice cream available in fast food chains like Sonic, Wendy’s, Dairy Queen, and Carl’s Jr., across the nation. He confirmed that this is indeed still a goal of the company, but that the pandemic had an effect on the company’s ability to scale throughout foodservice channels. As the world begins to open back up, Eclipse will take a two-pronged approach to scale in both retail and foodservice channels.

When I first went vegan, I remembered only having a minuscule selection of vegan ice cream to choose from in the average grocery store. Now, there almost seems to be as many alternative dairy ice creams as there are traditional dairy options in the frozen aisle. However, Eclipse claims to be a direct replacement for ice cream, rather than an alternative like most other brands. Perfect Day is another startup with this same mentality, though it uses a different method — a fermented strain of yeast — than Eclipse to create its ice cream.

Eclipse’s new ice cream flavors will be available through the company’s website and in select grocers and retailers starting this June. Additionally, the company is currently available in locations predominantly on the east and west coasts, but will soon expand to differnt regions of the U.S.

Eclipse Foods Believes It Has The Secret Sauce for The Best Plant-Based Ice Cream

One of my favorite culinary memories was walking through the heart of Buenos Aires sampling Italian-style “helado” from myriad shops, one scoop better than the next. In going vegan 10 years ago, I had to push experiences such as that ice cream crawl away for my health and growing concern about the issues related to animal welfare. The absence of that flavorful, rich, creamy taste of goodness left a hole in my diet as I soldiered on into the vegan lifestyle.

Thanks to the founders of Berkeley, California-based Eclipse Foods, those on a plant-based diet can enjoy the look and taste of ice cream that replaces even the best dairy products available in scoop shops and freezer cases. The secret is a platform/process devised by experienced chefs in a kitchen using a form of bioengineering that blends plant-based ingredients.

Eclipse Foods believes the answer to satisfying the ice cream cravings of the plant-based food crowd is not to create a substitute, but to create a replacement. Company CEO Aylon Steinhart saw the impact Beyond Meat had on the vegan food scene, creating an actual replacement for those craving hamburgers rather than yet another bean burger that acts more of a substitute for meat lovers.

The Eclipse Food story is bigger than ice cream, its first product to hit the market. Working alongside CTO, Thomas Bowman, an accomplished chef and former head of product development for JUST, the result was to learn the characteristics of the microbe in casein, the main protein in milk, and replicate that leaving the diary properties behind.

“We figured out the magic of milk,” Steinhart said in a recent interview with The Spoon. “The secret sauce is our secret sauce.”

Eclipse has made a lot of progress since The Spoon’s Catherine Lamb wrote about the launch of the company’s limited edition flavors less than a year ago. Lamb compared the Eclipse non-dairy process to that of Perfect Day, a significant competitor in the space whose product also avoids the use of nuts.

“Unlike Perfect Day, which ferments actual dairy proteins using genetically modified microbes, Eclipse’s dairy is made from a combination of everyday plant-based ingredients that the founders claim do a much better job imitating dairy than plain old oat or almond milk,” Lamb said.

The idea to use this magic milk as a building block for ice cream was based on several factors including market opportunity and the decision, as Steinhart said, to go with a product that was “in the center of the plate, not a co-star.” With the ability to create replacements for cheese, sour cream, and cream cheese, Eclipse will likely move forward with those products after they have established a beachhead in the ice cream space. With the plant-based shoppers representing only 18% of consumers, Steinhart believes his products are not in a “winner take all market” with a lot of opportunities.

While I can attest to the sensational taste of Eclipse Foods chocolate plant-based ice cream—which is as good as any traditional dairy product—the company has gone through several blind taste tests to underscore the success of their product.

Eclipse had an independent thirty-party firm conduct a 100-person blind taste test with 73% of those sampling Eclipse versus the best selling ice cream in the U.S. said the plant-based dessert was creamier. While still early in the game, Steinhart is pleased with uptake from consumers who can purchase the product online and the growth in sales for the products on the shelves of independent grocery stores in the Bay Area. Retail has been an important part of the company’s distribution strategy with the closure of restaurant partners due to the pandemic.

 Steinhart agreed that the vegan frozen dessert space is a crowded one and given the current market conditions due to the pandemic, product marketing has its challenges. He describes marketing vision as wanting to create “an aspirational product—the best of the best.” The approach to fulfill that idea is to use leading chefs and influencers whose praise and endorsement create a trickle-down effect. The inability to offer in-store product sampling is a thorn in the side of any new product, especially one whose taste and experience is a strong selling point.

As far as a product distribution strategy goes, in addition to retail and direct-to-consumer, Eclipse has created foodservice partnerships with existing brands OddFellow in New York and Mitchell’s Homemade Ice Cream in San Francisco. And it doesn’t stop there.

“We want to be in every Sonic, Wendy’s, Dairy Queen, and Carl’s Jr.,” Steinhart said. This milk product will spin in any type of ice cream machine, meaning it can be used for soft serve and milkshakes. With time and taste on its side, plant-based ice cream lovers have a lot to look forward to.

Eclipse Foods Wants to Become the Impossible Foods of Plant-Based Dairy

When it comes to plant-based alternatives, the dairy sector is lagging woefully behind: there’s a plethora of pretty amazing plant-based sausages and burgers, but most plant-based dairy products still taste like a compromise.

A new Bay Area-based company called Eclipse Foods is trying to change that by creating a line of animal-free products made with a new proprietary plant-based milk that they think could disrupt the dairy industry.

Rather than just “milking” nuts or oats, however, Steinhart and Bowman are developing a new type of plant-based milk that has micelles, or microscopic structures that help their product mimic the real thing. In addition to having a more milk-like flavor, their product is apparently more versatile than other alternatives out there and can be used to make a wide range of dairy products.

“Basically, we want to become the Impossible Foods of dairy,” co-founder and CEO Aylon Steinhart told me over the phone. Meaning: they want to make plant-based dairy delicious enough that even non-vegans want to eat it. “We won’t change the world without getting flexitarians on board,” explained Steinhart. “The mainstream has to want it.”

Eclipse Foods cream cheese on a bagel.

Steinhart wouldn’t disclose exactly what kind of dairy alternatives Eclipse would be making, but said that they were currently developing roughly a dozen prototypes based off of their next-gen milk. He mentioned ice cream, cream cheese, and sour cream.

I haven’t tried their products yet so I can’t speak to the taste, but Eclipse Foods seems to be coming along at just the right time. First of all, the demand for plant-based protein is sky-high and on the rise. According to research firm Nielsen, alternative protein sales increased by 20 percent in 2018. Plant-based milk sales increased by 9 percent, and sales of other plant-based dairy products (yogurt, ice cream, etc.) grew by a whopping 50 percent.

Unlike meat alternatives, however, there haven’t been clear front-runners in the plant-based dairy space. Sure, big producers like Danon and Chobani have launched their own products, as have bigger startups like Ripple Foods, but from my tasting experience at least, none of them have been able to tempt me away from the real thing. In fact, some are actually pretty bad.

Steinhart is aware of this hole in the market. “There’s no product that truly appeals to the mainstream,” he explained to me. He hopes that Eclipse will make that product.

Looking at the pedigree of the two co-founders, the company does seem to have a good chance of making products that actually taste good. Steinhart’s co-founder Thomas Bowman is a James Beard Award-nominated chef who helped develop plant-based mayo, cookie dough, and more for JUST (formerly Hampton Creek); Steinhart worked in biz dev for alternative protein nonprofit the Good Food Institute.

Steinhart said it was too soon to say when their products will be available, or how much they will cost. He also wasn’t sure if they would launch in retail, restaurants, or both. To truly follow the Impossible model, Eclipse Foods would have to start selling their goods in high-end restaurants before moving into fast food, and, eventually, grocery stores.

Eclipse Foods was only officially incorporated in January of 2019, so it’s quite young. They’re also part of the prestigious Y Combinator 2019 Winter Class. Steinhart and Bowman are currently Eclipse Foods’ only full-time employees, but they’re about to embark on a hiring spree. Steinhart told me that the company had closed their seed round but wouldn’t disclose details.

All of Eclipse’s plant-based innovation might be rendered moot when startup Perfect Day releases their animal-free dairy made using fermentation. After all, no matter how good an alternative is it’s hard to make it taste as good as — or act just like — the real thing. But until then, there’s room for someone to disrupt the dairy market like Impossible did with meat. And that someone just might be Eclipse Foods.