There’s never been a better time to be an ice cream fanatic.
In the past few years, the ice cream industry has fully boarded the health train, which means cold treat lovers can get everything from Häagen-Dazs dairy-free flavors to vegan options that are so yummy you won’t even miss the cow’s milk stuff. Now, Ben & Jerry’s—the brand that already has a vegan line of its own—just may be dabbling in a new good-for-you trend.
In an interview with Fortune, Ben & Jerry’s flavor expert Eric Fredette predicted that the next flavor to hit the ice cream industry will be fermented foods. As in kombucha ice cream. [Pause for reaction.]
“There’s a tartness that could make for a riff on sweet and sour.”
“Obviously I’m not putting kimchi in ice cream, but something fermented, with a little funk to it, a little twist, that you could marry with something sweet,” says Fredette, who has been part of the company’s research and development team for more than 20 years. “It would be familiar to people who drink kombucha. There’s a tartness that could make for a riff on sweet and sour.”
As for what this means for the future of ice cream: Expect more savory-inclined flavors from Ben & Jerry’s, like the five-spice-infused caramel swirl Fredette created for the Chinese New Year, or his in-the-works recipe for curry milk chocolate chips and golden raisins mixed into coconut ice cream.
What a time to be alive.
While you wait for the kombucha ice cream rollout, here are your best and healthiest ‘booch options, plus a recipe for a DIY gut-healthy cocktail.
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