Water buffalo gelato ‘healthier,’ ‘richer’ and defies allergies
Buffalo Lemon water buffalo gelato isn’t just the newest flavour to arrive at a gelato store in Kitsilano.
It’s the only gelato of its kind in the country and described as part of a new trend in food.
The draw is that it can be tolerated by people with an allergy to cow’s milk, said James Coleridge, the award-winning gelato master at Uno Gelato.
“It’s richer, healthier and has a totally different protein that people with lactose intolerance can have,” Coleridge said.
“It’s so buttery and velvety, it puts cow’s milk to shame.”
Buffalo Lemon is made with water buffalo milk from Tesfa Farms in the Fraser Valley, B.C. birch syrup from Sweet Tree Ventures in Quesnel and lemon oil from Sicily. Water buffalo milk has an A2 betacasein protein, which is believed to be safer for people with allergies to cow’s milk.
Coleridge has tried making gelato with goat’s milk, which has a protein that lactose intolerant people can eat, but it produced a gamy taste.
Other benefits of water buffalo milk include having 58 per cent more calcium, 40 per cent more protein, and 43 per cent less cholesterol than cow’s milk.
The price is $6 a scoop at the Uno Gelato store on West Broadway. (Uno Gelato’s two other outlets in Stamps Landing and Canada Place are closed for the winter.)
Coleridge said it’s not enough when introducing a new product simply to rely on novelty. The trick is to get people coming back again and again.
“They will only come back when it’s amazing,” he said.
“When you try wild buffalo gelato, you go: What’s that? It really comes down to the buttery, velvety mouth feel.”
Coleridge, who is Uno Gelato’s chief innovator and visionary, said Buffalo Lemon was created with a new emulsification process from Italy that breaks up the fat molecules to create a creamier mouth feel. Lemon oil is added at the start of the longer process which, he says, helps join the flavours together.
Coleridge originally introduced water buffalo gelato in lemon, chocolate and coffee flavours in 2015 when he co-owned two Bella Gelateria stores.
He believes that as people grow more conscious about what they eat and put in their bodies, the demand for water buffalo milk will grow.
Uno Gelato’s Buffalo Lemon is the only water buffalo gelato made and sold in Canada, Coleridge said.
“I’m always looking at diversifying the concept of frozen deserts,” he said.
“We want people to try it because we think it is a whole new division of gelato or ice cream. Once you try it, there’s no going back.”
We want people to try it because we think it is a whole new division of gelato or ice cream.