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[1] Three flavors of Wildgood—Chocolate, Coffee, and Vanilla Bean—turn into a hot fudge sundae (all photos © Wildgood).
[2] Intensely nutty pistachio Wildgood, a European-style pistachio rather than the lighter American style.
[3] Cranberry pie à la mode, with Vanilla Bean.
[4] Chocolate Hazelnut lovers: Consider blending Nutella into chocolate sauce.
[5] Caramelized Fig will be new to many Americans. |
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Wildgood is plant-based ice cream, but not the type of which one might first think. It’s not made with plant milk (almond, cashew, coconut, oat, soy, etc.) but rather with extra virgin olive oil.
It just so happens that EVOO makes a spectacularly creamy dairy-free ice cream.
Plus, unlike ice cream made with some plant milks, with a mild EVOO there’s no giveaway flavor notes as there often are from plant milks.
We personally like those flavor notes in vanilla plant-baced ice cream—almond, cashew, and coconut, e.g.—but less so in other flavors.
And one important thing that plant milks don’t provide: the creaminess created by the olive oil. Wildgood is ice cream you wouldn’t know was dairy-free.
ICE CREAM & OLIVE OIL HAVE A HISTORY TOGETHER
You can find many olive oil ice cream recipes online, but they’re all EVOO plus milk and/or cream.
Italians have long been adding olive oil to milk-based gelato for the extra creaminess it provides.
It’s also added to vegan ice creams for extra creaminess, in addition to a plant milk (check out this recipe made with coconut milk and EVOO).
And, gelato is also served sundae-style with a drizzle of top-quality EVOO topped with crunchy flakes of coarse sea salt.
What Wildgood has achieved is an EVOO-based ice cream with no other milk or cream, whether animal- or plant-based.
Before founding Wildgood, artisan ice cream maker Sotiris Tsichlopoulos built a popular artisan ice cream brand in Greece called To Pagotó (Greek for “The Ice Cream,” a business he later franchised).
But as people lined up around the block for it, he imagined what ice cream could look like in a future where sustainable, plant-based foods were the norm.
He began a quest to create an ice cream product that delivered all the deliciousness of premium ice cream without milk and cream.
His family happened to make olive oil from their ancient olive grove.
Olives are a very sustainable crop. The trees need very little water and can live for hundreds of years.
And, as just noted, Italians have long made ice cream with olive oil.
So, the Sotiris family’s extra virgin olive oil was the starting point for his experimentation with dairy-free, EVOO-based ice cream.
The result is our Top Pick Of The Week, Wildgood Ice Cream (which is made in Vermont).
WILDGOOD ICE CREAM FLAVORS
Wildgood pints come in nine fab flavors. Eight are already popular in the U.S. The ninth, Caramelized Fig, is a lovely, elegant flavor that’s a tribute to the Greek origins of the brand (photo #5).
Caramelized Fig
Chocolate
Chocolate Hazelnut
Coffee
Mango
Mint Chocolate Chip
Pistachio
Salted Caramel
Vanilla Bean
GET YOUR WILDGOOD
Here’s a store locator.
You can also shop online at Wildgood.com. The ice cream is shipped in 100% recyclable, eco-friendly coolers.
> The history of ice cream.
> The different types of ice cream and frozen desserts.
> The history of olive oil.
> The different types of olive oil.
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