New Zealand Brand Creates Persimmon Pulp-Based Vegan Ice Cream

New Zealand-based persimmon grower WellKit Foods International will debut new ice cream brand My Goodness! at supermarket chain Countdown on November 7. The brand’s ice cream base is made with “persimmon whip”—a blend comprised of 60 percent persimmon pulp and other plant-based ingredients such as pectin, locust bean gum, and soy protein. The brand accidentally discovered that pulp from its persimmons could be made into an ice cream base when it began working with food technology students at Massey University to develop a shelf-stable product to preserve lower grade varieties of the fruit. WellKit director Duane Wells partnered with development expert Murray Taylor to tweak the product—which was then closer to a sorbet. “[Taylor] developed the product to a state where it was on-par with premium ice cream, but in the category of non-dairy ice cream,” Wells told Dairyreporter.com, “a rapidly growing category around the world.” My Goodness! will initially be available in four flavors—Mango Swirl, Kiwifruit Swirl, Passionfruit Swirl, and Summer Berry Swirl—and Wells hopes to export the new product to Asian countries which he said have an “intimate” understanding of the key ingredient. “Internationally, we are fielding inquiring from as far as Japan and Indonesia,” Wells said, “who all understand the benefits of persimmon and are excited about its use as a base for non-dairy ice cream.”