For the first time, Nescafé Gold is entering the ice cream category with Nestlé’s Nescafé Gold Cappuccino Ice Cream. Over in France, a plant-based brand is rethinking dairy-free milks with the launch of oat and almond milk concentrates (500ml of concentrate makes 1L of plant-based drink). And in the UK, singles are invited to a ‘meat and mingle’ café serving alt meat products made by Eatplanted. Scroll through the photo gallery for more…
GettyImages/peshkov
For the first time, Nescafé Gold is entering the ice cream category with Nestlé’s Nescafé Gold Cappuccino Ice Cream. Over in France, a plant-based brand is rethinking dairy-free milks with the launch of oat and almond milk concentrates (500ml of concentrate makes 1L of plant-based drink). And in the UK, singles are invited to a ‘meat and mingle’ café serving alt meat products made by Eatplanted. Scroll through the photo gallery for more…
GettyImages/peshkov
For the first time ever, Nestlé is incorporating its Nescafé product into an ice cream product.
The food giant is incorporating real coffee into both the coating and the ice cream core, rather than just relying on coffee flavouring.
The coating or ‘ganache’ that covers the Nescafé Gold Cappuccino Ice Cream is made using Nestlé’s patented ‘soft coating’ technology. This soft ganache uses Nescafé Gold coffee.
“Leveraging this ‘soft coating’ technology, our teams met the challenge of finding the perfect balance between ‘coffee-ness’, milkiness and sweetness, to bring the Nescafé Gold Cappuccino experience to life,” said Guglielmo Bonora, Head of Nestlé R&D Singapore.
“The ganache is designed to melt at a similar rate to the ice cream core, so people can better enjoy the release of sweetness and coffee from the coating, alongside the ice cream,”
Nestlé was adamant it didn’t want to make a coffee-flavoured ice cream, explained Global Head Confectionery and Ice Cream Strategic Business Unit, Alexander von Maillot, “but rather, take the Nescafé coffee experience and recreate it in the ice cream category.
“This indulgent, premium ice cream is the perfect treat for consumers.”
The ice cream product is sold in a paper wrapper for easy recycling. Nestlé is planning to roll out its Nescafé Gold Cappuccino Ice Cream worldwide, starting with an initial launch in Malaysia.
Image source: Nestlé
French supermarket retailer Carrefour has announced the creation of 11 new organic product lines for grocery products, as well as fruit and veg.
Carrefour is already supporting 3,400 French organic producers via product line partnerships. This initiative enables the retailer to sell such products at a time when consumers are increasingly on the lookout for French organic produce, noted the retailer.
For the other stakeholders involved in the product lines, these long-term partnerships provide them with guaranteed routes to market, and can ‘take advantage of’ Carrefour’s commitment to minimum purchase volumes.
“The visibility that this gives us is essential: it enables us to invest in new tools and new varieites,” said Vincent Fauriel, co-founder of Fauriel Fruits, which has entered into a product line partnership with Carrefour covering Carrefour Bio apricots, nectarines and peaches.
The 11 new product lines include: organic spelt flour and organic white haricot beans with Ekibio; organic strawberries with Bio Pays Landais; apricots, nectarines and peaches with Fauriel Fruits; organic potatoes with Ferme de la Motte; organic melons with Force Sud; organic cherry tomatoes with Rougeline; organic courgettes with SARL Masse; and organic aubergines with Top Légumes.
Carrefour has also created a Spanish organic product line via its subsidiary Socomo with Agricommerce, with the aim being to develop a range of Carrefour Bio brand citrus fruits.
This, the retailer suggested, would significantly reduce the transport distance between where lemons are grown and where they are sold – they will be grown in Spain, instead of mainly in South America.
GettyImages/RossHelen
Having launched into European retail, plant-based seafood start-up BettaF!sh has its eyes set on the foodservice sector. From this month onwards, the Berlin start-up’s vegan TU-NAH will be supplying restaurants in Germany, Poland and Switzerland.
The team has developed three seaweed-based product variants specifically for the foodservice industry. This means that any canned tuna dish can be made vegan by substituting conventional tuna with either BettaF!sh’s TU-NAH Topping & Filling, TU-NAH Base, or BettaF!sh Creamy.
“Following our successful start in the food retail market, we are delighted to now be working with and learning from creative chefs all over Germany as part of a concerted effort to bring our BettaF!sh TU-NAH to more menus across Europe,” said co-founder Deniz Ficicioglu.
“We optimized our TU-NAH specially for this purpose – so that it can be integrated seamlessly into both hot and cold dishes.”
BettaF!sh’s offerings are made from plant-based protein, organic seaweed from European seaweed farmers, and organic fava beans also sourced from Europe.
Image source: BettaF!sh
In France, plant-based brand Bonneterre is rethinking how dairy-free milk products are produced.
While traditionally, plant-based milk companies pre-mix their product for sale in 1L cartons, Bonneterre has launched new concentrated almond and oat milks in smaller formats.
Consumers simply add their own water to the concentrate before serving.
500ml of concentrate makes 1L of plant-based drink.
The new format is designed to reduce the carbon impact of transport.
Image source: Bonneterre
Alternative meat company Eatplanted is collaborating with dating app Thursday, to become its first plant-based meat partner for the Meat in the Middle Café.
Eatplanted’s products are made from pea, sunflower and oat proteins, amongst other ingredients. Meat alternatives included eatplanted.chicken and eatplanted.pulled pork.
The co-branded café was launched this week on Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch, London. Passers by are invited to grab a free Michelin-starred plant-based lunch. In the evenings, the café is open exclusively for Thursday singles, where they can ‘meat’ and mingle with other singles.
“Being the first meat alternative brand chosen by Thursday to partner with means we get their legions of singles enjoying and tasting our plant-based meat, whether they are flexitarian, vegan or fancy trying something new,” said Eatplanted’s UK marketing lead Olivia Sinclair.
“It’s good to think our Meat in the Middle café could be where they ‘meat’ their lifelong partner over a tasty bite.”
From Thursday’s perspective, the dating start-up is excited about inviting its members to try something different in a ‘super’ accessible way.
“We love that Eatplanted’s ethos is not about shaming anyone who isn’t living the plant-based way but actually inviting people to try something new and proving that plant-based meals really can be delicious,” said the start-up’s brand partnerships lead Jess Wreford.
“Who knows what could happen this Thursday at Meat in the Middle!”
Image supplied.
EHL Ingredients is looking to ‘spice up’ supper foods with the launch of five new African-inspired spice blends from Lähde by EHL Ingredients by EHL Ingredients.
Minimita and Mekelesha hail from Ethiopia, La Kama from Morocco, Tabil from Tunisia and Algeria, and its jollof rice seasoning comes from Nigeria.
The blends are all dry mixes, making them ‘highly versatile’ for use on meat, fish, vegetable and plant-based foods.
“Summer gatherings and events are back on in a big way and we know that informal dining, sharing foods and exotic cuisines are going to be a big hit over the summer months,” said Tasneem Alonzo, joint MD at Lähde.
“African food is a bit of a breakout star, as illustrated by the number of African-themed restaurants and operators opening up on high streets across the UK, and YouTubers and bloggers sharing recipes online It’s a really lucrative market right now and one that we expect to grow as consumers are seeking out foods they perhaps haven’t tried before, for cooking in the home, dining out and for takeaways.”
Alonzo believes Brits are recognizing the region’s vibrant, wholesome, healthy dishes and the company predicts African food to be the ‘next big gastronomic trend’ in British dining. “And it’s a cuisine that offers plenty of plant-based, meat-free and gluten-free dishes.”
The joint MD also predicts fusions of African foods with other cuisines to be a big trend, for example Afro-tacos, jollof rice and burritos, Tabil sprinkled on pizzas, and Melekesha on flatbreads.
Image: IHL Ingredients
