From humble soy scoops to silky cashew-coconut creations, plant-based ice cream is transforming how we think about dessert.

A New Era of Ice Cream

A generation ago, “vegan ice cream” meant compromise. Thin textures, off flavors, and icy bites defined an early era of dairy-free desserts. But today, that narrative has melted away.

Plant-based ice cream has become a symbol of culinary innovation — rich, dense, creamy, and crafted with care. It’s no longer a substitute; it’s a category of its own, redefining indulgence for modern consumers who want pleasure with purpose.

From Sorbets to Science: The Journey of Plant-Based Ice Cream

Plant-based frozen desserts are rooted in tradition. Coconut-based ices and nut milk treats have existed for centuries across Asia. Yet in the West, dairy remained king until the late 20th century, when soy “ice creams” began appearing in health food stores.

Those early versions were more functional then flavorful. But by the 2010s, everything changed. Consumers wanted clean, ethical, and sustainable choices — and food innovators responded.

New bases like cashew, coconut, and oat milks were experimented and used, and it was possible to create creamier mouth feel that emulated dairy ice cream’s creaminess and mouthfeel. 

The Science of Creaminess: How Texture Happens

Creaminess isn’t a mystery — it’s chemistry. Traditional ice cream gets its texture from a delicate balance of fat, water, and air. Remove milk fat, and you need a new system to replace it. That’s where plant-based ingenuity shines.

The Key Players Behind the Texture

• Plant Fats: Coconut oil, cocoa butter, and nut fats build the smooth body that mimics dairy cream.
  
• Proteins & Solids: Cashews and plant proteins provide structure and hold air, giving the ice cream its luscious density.
  
• Emulsifiers: Sunflower lecithin and plant-derived emulsifiers keep oil and water in perfect harmony.
  
• Stabilizers: Tiny amounts of guar or locust bean gum prevent ice crystals, ensuring long-lasting smoothness.
  
• Sugars & Syrups: These not only sweeten but lower the freezing point, keeping the ice cream scoop-able.
  

Together, these ingredients recreate the sensory magic of dairy — creamy, melting, and indulgent — without a single drop of milk.

Cashew and Coconut: Our Cream Dream Team

Among all plant bases, we think cashew and coconut oil (in general) have become the back-bone of our vegan plant-based ice cream base. Their chemistry is complementary — one smooth and subtle, the other rich and structured.

Cashew: Naturally Creamy by Design

Cashews blend into a silken paste that’s naturally thick and faintly sweet. Their mild flavor lets other ingredients shine, while their monounsaturated fats provide richness and a pleasing mouthfeel. Cashew solids also stabilize the mix, helping achieve that luxurious body.

Coconut Oil: The Melt Master

Coconut oil behaves like dairy fat — firm when cold, melting perfectly at body temperature. It gives ice cream a stable scoop in the freezer and a luscious melt on the tongue. Refined coconut oil offers a neutral flavor, while unrefined versions add a gentle tropical aroma.

The Perfect Partnership

Together, cashew and coconut oil create balance: one adds silkiness, the other structure. It’s this pairing that gives many premium plant-based ice creams their uncanny dairy-like smoothness.

After extensive testing, blending and mixing of different types of plant-base milk and fats sources, we settled on cashew and coconut as the gold-standard duet behind our plant-based ice cream.

The Hidden Challenges of Making It Work

Behind every pint of smooth plant-based frozen dessert lies an impressive feat of food science and logistics.

Managing Ice Crystals

Tiny ice crystals make smooth ice cream; big ones ruin it. Plant-based formulations require precise freezing and stabilizers to keep those crystals microscopic.

Balancing the Melt

Getting the melt just right is crucial. Too fast, and you get soup; too slow, and it feels waxy. Fat composition and sugar levels must be fine-tuned for that perfect, gentle melt.

Flavor Release

Plant fats interact with flavor molecules differently then dairy fats. Recipes often need higher flavor loading or specific sweeteners to make vanilla, chocolate, and fruit flavors “bloom” on the palate.

Shelf Stability

Plant emulsions can destabilize with temperature changes, so maintaining a reliable cold chain is vital. From production to transport, every degree counts.

Why It Matters: Kindness, Climate, and Health

Plant-based ice cream isn’t just a technical marvel — it’s a cultural shift toward healthier and conscious pleasure.

Kinder to Animals

Without dairy cows in the supply chain, plant-based ice creams eliminate the ethical issues associated with industrial dairy farming. No animal input, no animal suffering — simple as that.

Better for the Planet

Producing plant-based fats and proteins typically emits fewer greenhouse gases and consumes less land and water than dairy. While crops like cashews and coconuts do require careful sourcing, sound conduct is now common among quality producers.

Good for You, Too

Plant-based ice creams are cholesterol-free and suitable for anyone avoiding lactose. Cashew fats are rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated oils, and coconut oil’s medium-chain triglycerides offer quick, clean energy. We love the idea of using healthy-fat to make a dessert, transforming the very concept of desserts, that it can be not so bad for you. 

Of course, ice cream should still be enjoyed mindfully — but a plant-based version makes every spoonful a little lighter in spirit and impact.

A Kinder Kind of Indulgence

We began our journey not initially looking to make a plant-based ice cream, but just a future-minded ice cream that is lighter on the body, that people can enjoy into the future, that we began with a base using milk rather then cream. But as we developed our plant-based (initially because it was a trend), we discovered the beauty of it, not only for health, animals and our planet, that we scraped the dairy-base to focus and devote ourselves to plant-based.

Plant-based ice cream proves that ethics and pleasure can share the same spoon. What began as an alternative has matured into a movement — one that’s as much about creativity and care as it is about taste.

The future of indulgence is plant-based — and it tastes like ice cream.