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InnovoPro, a chickpea protein manufacturer, has announced a new partnership with Milkadamia, a plant milk brand, to bring new vegan ice cream to market.
The two have already co-created and served a frozen dessert to foreign ambassadors at a United Nations event in May. Now, commercial development is in progress.
The finished ice cream will be a blend of Milkadamia’s macadamia nut milk and InnovoPro’s CP-Pro 70 chickpea isolate.
Improving customer trust in plant-based products
According to InnovoPro, the key to persuading more people to try vegan products is quality improvement.
The company acknowledges that some manufacturers appear to have aligned with a trend before taking consumer needs into account.
“There was some greenwashing in the beginning,” Taly Nechustan, CEO of InnovoPro, told FoodDive. “But right now I think the [food] companies are more aligned on the main goal, which is creating new products that are not only plant-based but also are healthy and tasty.”
Milkadamia brings the flavor with its unroasted nut milk bases and adventurous approach to blending. (The company already offers unsweetened, lightly sweetened, vanilla, and chai milk products.)
InnovoPro provides emulsifying properties that contribute to a firm, but not crystallizing, frozen product that remains stable. The chickpea protein also helps to bring water and fats together to create a creamy base, making it ideal for ice cream.
Why vegan ice cream?
InnovoPro has previously developed an egg-white alternative for professional bakers, also using chickpea protein. Collaborating on a new vegan ice cream line further emphasizes Nechushtan’s notion that alternative protein doesn’t start and end with replacing animal meat.
“Re-imagining our relationship with protein also includes desserts, which to us represents the first sweet and chewy bite of our vegan chocolate chip cookies and Milkadamia’s fantastic chickpea protein ice cream,” he said.
“They’re more environmentally friendly and sustainable than the vast majority of desserts, and we’re thrilled to be able to partner with Milkadamia.”
Conventional animal milk-based ice cream contributes to the 3.4 percent of total anthropogenic emissions chalked up to the dairy sector. Most come in the form of methane, which has significantly higher planetary heating potential than carbon dioxide.
Climate experts have called for a drastic reduction in the amount of dairy and meat being consumed. Both are named as vital for the prevention of global warming creeping higher than 1.5°C.
No ice cream flavors have been confirmed as yet. However, Milkadamia has confirmed it is planning to launch a soft-serve range later this year.
