When summer comes, thoughts of frozen delights to beat the heat aren’t far behind. According to statistics, over 90% of Americans eat ice cream, and 68% of these consume them all year round. While all this is happening, a new trend is inching its way and successfully gaining traction: vegan ice cream.
With more and more people discovering the amazing health benefits of plant-based diets, it’s no surprise that vegan ice cream is flying off the shelves. The non-dairy ice cream industry has gotten big that it is now offering options for a variety of tastes, dietary needs, and choices.
What is Vegan Ice Cream?
Typically considered as a substitute for regular ice cream, it is a dessert made without any type of animal by-product. This includes eggs, milk, cream, and even honey. It uses almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, or rice milk alternatives.
Vegan ice cream also uses sugar substitutes as some vegans avoid processed sugar. This is because processed sugar goes through a process known as bone-char, the method that uses ground animal bones to whiten the granules. Maple syrup and maple sugar are a few alternatives.
The Explosion That is the Vegan Ice Cream
According to the editor of Vegetarian Times, Brittany Martin, there was an explosion in the availability of the ice cream. She added that it has also seen a 300% increase in its quality since 2018. The publication focuses on plant-based food and the lifestyle that goes with it.
Martin also added the few factors she believes to have been behind this explosion. The first is the boom in the number of people going vegan or adapting the vegetarian diet. The second factor is that more people are now opening their minds to try out these alternatives. They do it for various reasons such as health concerns, environmental issues, or simply because vegan ice cream tastes good.
Previously, it was thought to be not as delicious or creamy as the regular ones. But with the advancements in technology and manufacturers becoming more creative, it has had a facelift.
Creativity and Technology Innovations
Nowadays, vegan ice cream is no longer lacking in quality. Go to any of your favorite ice cream shops, and you’ll find new and exciting flavor combinations. Even the texture has improved and has given consumers more reasons to go vegan, ice cream-wise.
Vegetarian food writer Alicia Kennedy chimed in on this when she stated that you’d find that it mostly comes from small and little-known brands before. Today, even the big companies have entered the industry and are selling them like hotcakes.
Kennedy added that you can now find Ben & Jerry’s non-dairy ice cream on the frozen desserts shelves of Walgreens and many other supermarkets. You can now find an assortment of ice cream made with a wide selection of ingredients such as cashew milk, hemp, and others to create distinctive textures and flavors.
Both Martin and Kennedy agree that options for plant-based ice creams are increasing, but they will still not replace the original kind. It may also seem that the industry is becoming more competitive. However, they both acknowledge that this primarily provides more options than competition.
The main concern for these vegan ice cream manufacturers is to provide more choices. They are aiming to prevent anyone from missing out because of their reasons for going vegan. They are hoping that this boom or explosion of vegan ice cream will go towards satisfying cravings.
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