NO GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN WITH THIS DESSERT
WE’VE had soy, almond and dairy ice cream. Now it’s rice to meet you.
Gold Coast business Local Organic Producers has developed one of the world’s first mock ice creams made from rice.
Co-founder Alf Orpen said the product was both vegan and organic.
“We started testing it in 2015,” he said.
“A lot of people are allergic to dairy or are gluten intolerant so coconut products had become really popular. But we wanted to do something different.”
Mr Orpen, who has been running the Molendinarbased company for 20 years, said it took “a lot of trial and error” to get the recipe right.
“We now use organic coconut sugar, coconut cream and rice milk to make flavours like raw cacao, choc mint, vanilla and chai,” he said.
“We wanted to make this as close to a health food as possible so we also use wholegrain rice.”
Mr Orpen said the product began hitting shelves last year. “It’s sold mainly through health food shops and IGA in Sydney and Melbourne but we’re expanding up to Queensland and also overseas,” he said.
“We have a manufacturer in Seattle and we’re planning to start distributing in the US and Japan this year.”
Mia Robinson, 10, from Helensvale, said the ice cream tasted “just like the real thing”.