All the rage about vegan ice cream

If you are food conscious, then you will acknowledge there has been much clamouring around the production and sale of healthy foods.

There is an influx of organic this, sugar-free that even confectionary companies that have been a pariah in healthy eating circles are pulling their weight behind the renaissance of mindful eating.

Take for instance local chocolate and ice creme maker, Dairyland which recently introduced its dairy-free and vegan-friendly range of ice cream. You read it right, vegan-friendly ice cream.

Vegan ice cream eliminates cow milk- a fundamental ingredient in ice creme making and replaces it with plant-based milk such as almond, coconut, and soy.

In the case of Dairyland, their preferred replacement is Soy.

This selection has exciting flavours of vanilla, strawberry, cappuccino, brownie, and hazelnut. The brownie flavour is my favourite, because of its creamy mouth feel and dense texture.

I found that chocolate chips and cookie toppings boldened the flavours and enhanced the sweetness.

Of course, there is a stark distinction in feel because, despite the perception of creaminess, the ice disintegrates very quickly when it sits on the tongue.

If you pay close attention to the taste properties of a dairy-based ice cream you will notice that the correct density of creaminess gives you a warm feeling as it melts. It is not icy or runny.

Milan Kabat, the head of marketing, DairyLand says that while tinkering with the ice cream, they strived to maintain all flavourings and ingredients removing only dairy to take care of the lactose-intolerant community.

Lactose intolerant people are not able to digest lactose, a sugar that is naturally found in milk or milk products. They suffer dreadful bloating and diarrhoea.

Milan adds that the dairy-free local consumer base is modest, however, it is poised to grow by 10 per cent in the next three years, as more people become mindful eaters.

You might be wondering about the newness of this innovation, well historical accounts show that vegan ice cream has been around for some time, as far back as the 80s. People experimented with soy, and toffee to strike the perfect flavour.

Over time, many producers have fine-tuned their recipes to emerge with impressive flavourings.

But food experts have revealed crafting the perfect vegan ice cream is not easy and it all goes back to the milk aspect.

You see, milk has protein, fats vitamins carbohydrates, and other kinds of micronutrients crucial for the perfect outcome of ice cream.

If you withdraw it from your ingredient list, you will be left with the daunting task of delivering creaminess.

At the same time, experts say that the water content in coconut, soy, and most plant-based milk is very high, which makes for icy ice cream. It also causes the ice cream to melt faster.

So, how do producers bypass this? Some add oils, such as coconut or avocado to introduce that creaminess.

Among the flavours sampled, I was quick to note that vanilla had that initial experience of water, but once blended with cappuccino the flavour shifted pleasantly.

My overall assessment is that vegan ice cream will not instantly resonate with those with a long history of dairy, although those who share a kinship in lactose intolerance will appreciate it.

And a by the way non-dairy ice cream is referred to as frozen dessert among food experts because ice cream is defined as a frozen, pasteurised product made from dairy that contains at least 10 per cent milk fat.

But this is not a semantics class and you have the discretion to call it whatever you wish.