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Special Feature F R O Z E N D E S S E R T S GOURMET NEWS MAY 2014 www.gourmetnews.com SPECIAL FEATURE 2 1 Few desserts are as timeless and quintessentially American as the frosty ice cream cone. However, with specialty food companies today crafting everything from riesling and poached pear sorbet to doppelbock bacon ale ice cream to ice pops infused with kiwi, avocado and spinach puree, it is clear that the world of frozen desserts has gone positively gourmet. Check out these companies putting their unique spins on American classics. 1. Chloe's Soft Serve Fruit Pops Forget your traditional frozen fruit bar. Chloe's Soft Serve Fruit Pops are made with only three simple ingredients: fruit, water and a touch of organic cane sugar. They are all-natural, free of dairy, fat and gluten, non-GMO and have only 13-15 grams of sugar per serving. At just 60 calories, Chloe's Pops are guilt-free fun on a stick. www.chloesfruit.com 2. Denali Flavors Michigan-based Denali Flavors, Inc. is one of the leading inventors and marketers of specialty flavors for the ice cream industry, including its signature flavor: Moose Tracks ® . Today, the product line consists of more than 30 flavors, including Caramel Caribou ® (toffee ice cream with caramel) and Bear Claw ® (dark chocolate with cashews). www.moosetracks.com 3. Graeter's Artisan ice cream company Graeter's is the only commercial enterprise to make all of its ice creams using a traditional small batch French pot process. The result is an irresistible creaminess. The company's attention to detail even translates to the packaging process where nearly 20,000 pints are carefully packed by hand each day. www.graeters.com 4. Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams The team at sofi Award-winning Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams has truly elevated ice cream to an art form. The company's product line incorporates a slew of unique ingredients, including rosemary, whiskey, lavender, goat cheese, sweet potatoes, cedarwood, cardamom and more. Jeni's also offers signature sauces, ice cream sandwiches and gravels (crunchy condiments). www.jenis.com 5. Ruby Rocket's Ruby Rocket's fruit and vegetable ice pops are a refreshing, all-natural snack. These healthy pops are gluten-free, dairy-free, and non-GMO. With less than 35 calories and 2 grams of sugar per pop, these treats are a healthier and delicious way to satisfy any summertime sweet tooth. Ruby Rocket's are available in three delicious flavors. www.rubyrockets.com 6. Salt & Straw Based in Portland, Ore., the team at Salt & Straw pride themselves on supporting their local community and celebrating Oregon in their flavors and ingredients. The company's unique product line includes one-of-a-kind flavors such as Lumberjack Stack (blueberry pancakes with maple syrup), honey balsamic strawberry with cracked black pepper and Oregon pear with blue cheese. www.saltandstraw.com 7. Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto. Talenti ® recently announced the launch of three delicious new gelato flavors that reinvent classic American desserts: caramel apple pie, fudge brownie and raspberries and cream. Talenti's newest additions to its growing line of gelatos remind us that America's favorite sweet treats are just as good when enjoyed as delicious frozen desserts. www.talentigelato.com 8. TEA•RRIFIC! ICE CREAM The goal of TEA•RRIFIC! ICE CREAM is to craft the finest all-natural tea-infused ice creams using only the best ingredients sourced locally and from around the globe. The company keeps it simple, while delivering a distinctly delicious ice cream experience that is flavorful, creamy, finishes clean off the palate and leaves you wanting more. www.tearrificicecream.com 9. Velvet Ice Cream Family-owned and operated, Velvet produces more than five million gallons of ice cream every year from its Ohio headquarters. The company celebrates its 100th anniversary on May 1. Velvet honors old fashioned tradition with its classic ice cream products and flavors, such as Buckeye Classic, peach cobbler and Italian spumoni. www.velveticecream.com 10. Yasso Greek Frozen Yogurt Made with only natural ingredients, Yasso Greek Frozen Yogurt Bars feature real Greek yogurt, rBST-free milk and natural sweeteners, Yasso is a great low-calorie frozen treat filled with protein and containing little to no fat. Yasso currently offers bars in 11 delicious flavors, and products can be found at major grocery and club stores nationwide. www.yasso.com 10 Companies Working to Redefine Frozen Desserts for the 21st Century BY ZACH CALVELLO Frozen desserts experienced a 28.2 per- cent increase in sales over the past two years, making this the third-highest cate- gory for growth within the larger specialty foods industry. This is according to The State of The Specialty Food Industry, an annual report from the Specialty Food As- sociation. Louise Kramer, Public Relations Director for the Specialty Food Associa- tion, attributes this rise in the popularity of frozen desserts to the amount of inno- vation being displayed by those involved in creating new products in the category. "There are many new and interesting products being released in the category of frozen desserts, such as non-dairy desserts, vegetable pops, soy-based prod- ucts and indulgent desserts," said Kramer. Jerry Hancock, founder and CEO of Sub Zero, and Scot Rubin, co-founder of Nitro- pod, not only share in the benefits of this growth of the larger frozen foods industry, but the pair are also both somewhat re- sponsible for the innovative thinking that is stimulating the trend. This is because both Sub Zero and Nitropod make ice cream using a unique, specialized process that involves freezing ice cream with liquid nitrogen. Along with a small, select group of ice cream vanguards, including Iowa- based Blue Sky Creamery, Washington- based Flash Freeze Dreamery, California-based Smitten Ice Cream, Chicago-based iCream Café and a few oth- ers, Sub Zero and Nitropod have been working to transform the world of ice cream as we know it. The process of flash freezing ice cream with liquid nitrogen results in a truly unique product. With a temperature of minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit, liquid nitro- gen freezes ice cream mix in less than 15 seconds. Since this flash freezing process happens so quickly, milk molecules stay very small, and ice crystals do not have time to form. This results in the smoothest and creamiest ice cream possible. In addi- tion, the process also preserves more of the natural nutrients in the finished product. Neither Sub Zero nor Nitropod were the first to use liquid nitrogen to flash freeze ice cream. This honor belongs to culinary pioneer Theodore Gray. "Theodore Gray's article made the possibilities known. How- ever, our uniqueness lies in our process," says Hancock. Instead of combining liquid nitrogen and ice cream mix in intervals, Sub Zero combines everything at the same time. This creates what Hancock calls "the lake effect," allowing Sub Zero to cut each layer of ice cream, one by one, as it freezes. Nitropod's Rubin praises flash frozen ice cream for its particularly smooth and creamy consistency. He delivers liquid ni- trogen ice cream to his loyal Los Angeles- based customer base in a specialized ice cream truck. Rubin believes liquid nitrogen is an important element that helps him to create a truly premium product, although he argues that it takes a deft touch to ulti- mately master the frozen dessert. "Liquid Nitrogen is great," he says. "It makes for smoother and creamier ice cream. But it can't be the only factor in making great ice cream." Rubin counts Nitropod's chef-in- spired flavors and ingredients sourced from local artisans as two additional factors com- pelling his company's success. One of the benefits of freezing ice cream on the spot is that each customer has the option of including or excluding every ele- ment that makes up the final product. This sort of customization allows ice cream pro- ducers to cater individually to each cus- tomer's dietary needs. "It starts with the milk, where we have low-fat, almond and non-dairy choices," says Hancock. The company even lets customers bring in their own ingredients to add to the mix, making for a fun and individualized ice cream ex- perience. Rubin looks forward to eventually bring- ing liquid nitrogen-frozen ice cream to re- tailers. "Retailing is phase two of [Nitropod's] plan," he says. The ice cream entre- preneur thinks he will eventually be able do this without changing his company's current flash freezing process. "There are those that love to watch the ice cream being made, and then there are those who just love it for the taste," he says. "Sometimes there is a substantial wait time at Nitropod, so we want to be able to provide for people that just don't have time for that." Still, despite how decadent the final product is, it is the science behind flash frozen ice cream's production that is often the first thing to draw consumers to sample the product. And it is the science that ulti- mately inspires the team at Sub Zero to in- novate the frozen desserts industry. "Science is the driving force behind our product," says Hancock. GN Flash-Frozen Ice Creams Emerge on the Scene as Popularity of Frozen Desserts Continues to Explode Nationwide

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