Cooler Choices: Non-Dairy, Non-Soy Frozen Desserts

ROBERT VOSBURGH

For years, consumers who suffered from lactose intolerance or other-wise avoided dairy products had few choices when it came to summertime indulgences. There were frozen desserts made from soy, but even there, food allergies or mouthfeel could take all the fun out of it.

“We just wanted an ice cream we could eat,” said Larry Kaplowitz, co-founder of Coconut Bliss, a Eugene, Ore.-based manufacturer of ice cream made with coconut milk.

He's not alone. Goat milk and even hemp are among today's options in the frozen, non-dairy/non-soy dessert case. With prices that are competitive with super-premium ice creams, these products are poised to capture the dairy-deprived, the soy-satieted and the adventurous.

“We're going to have a lot of exposure to consumers who eat dairy as well, who are open to trying something different,” noted Christina Volgyesi, vice president of marketing at Living Harvest Conscious Nutrition, Portland, Ore. The company's new Tempt brand of hemp milk ice cream is debuting this month in five flavors, ranging from common favorites like chocolate fudge, to the more exotic coconut lime. The suggested retail price is $4.89 for a pint.

Data from Spins shows an uptick in consumer purchases in both the natural and conventional retail sales channels. For the period ending Feb. 21, 2009, sales of non-dairy frozen desserts increased nearly 29% in the natural channel, to $13.7 million, and more than 2% in the conventional channel, to $22 million. Several manufacturers are just this year moving from fluid non-dairy alternatives into the frozen category.

“It's a way for us as a company to expose consumers to hemp, those people who don't buy supplements or who don't drink non-dairy beverages,” said Volgyesi, whose company already makes hemp milk.

Besides their interesting ingredient bases, non-dairy alternatives also resonate with consumers looking for value-added health benefits, or ethical stances, not typically found in full-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt. Coconut Bliss — due to add three new flavors to its current line-up of eight — is certified organic, 100% vegan, kosher and made with certified fair trade ingredients. It's also low-glycemic, since it's made with blue agave syrup, rather than sugar. Laloo's, Petaluma, Calif., markets its goat milk frozen yogurt as ideal for pregnant women and nursing mothers, since the chemical structure of goat milk is similar to mother's milk. It's also rich in probiotics and “lactose-friendly,” according to company founder Laura Howard.

“It has dairy roots, but without the digestive hiccups,” she said.