Egg yolks. Refined sugar. Cream. The basic building blocks of your most beloved dessert, or snack, if you’ve had a day that challenges your belief in humanity. Or meal replacement, if you’ve just cut ties with a guy you now swear is sub-human.
We’ve all had those days. When refuge, comfort, and life’s greatest answers are sought at the bottom of an ice cream pint (or gallon). The problem with this spoon-licking coping mechanism is the evidence: the flabby bits.
Scream This
A half cup serving of vanilla ice cream has 137 calories, 7.2 grams of fat (4.5 of which are saturated), while the same serving of chocolate ice cream has 143 calories and 7.3 grams of fat.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition likens eating ice cream to substance addiction; the more you eat, the more likely you’ll crave it. And the more you crave it, the more “evidence” you’ll get.
This Vegan Ice Cream in Your Tummy
But there is hope — and you can find it in a pint of zero cholesterol, dairy-free, egg-free ice cream from Super Scoops. The brand, though, points out that its range of vegan ice cream isn’t marketed for weight loss, and so each one should still be taken in moderation.
I’ve tried several brands of vegan ice cream. I’ve had Chimara’s soy-based ice cream, which they’ve stopped offering because of supplier issues. I’ve had Tofutti’s ice cream sandwich and So Delicious’s pint, which is expensive at over P400 a pop. I’ve had Gelatissimo’s dark chocolate sorbet, which can also become an expensive “habit” at more than P100 per single scoop.
The Super Scoops vegan ice cream is, by far, the best. It has consistency similar to dairy ice cream, and taste that could draw out sex sounds.
It’s so good I’ve developed an emotional attachment to its vanilla brownie crumble flavor.
I’ve yet to try the vanilla pecan and the chocolate wine, but I’ve a feeling if I get all three flavors in one go, I’d have the makings of an epic food porn. And I’m being conservative here.
If you get it online and at Real Food in Molito Alabang, it’s P350 per pint.
But get it. And here’s why.
Flab-free
Every batch of Super Scoops ice cream is made fresh.
It’s 100% plant-based, with ingredients that will not only make you feel better, but also help you shed the excess pounds. One of its primary ingredients is coconut milk; while coconut milk has the same fat content as cow’s milk, it’s the kind of fat that actually helps you lose weight.
The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut milk vs. the long-chain fatty acids found in dairy can help fight obesity and prevent insulin resistance.
It’s also metabolized in the liver; unlike fat from cow’s milk, fat from coconut milk isn’t stored in your body as fat tissue, but used as energy. But it’s not just the “magical” touch of coconut that makes this vegan ice cream your tummy’s best friend.
What other spell-binding, delectable ingredients make up a batch of vegan ice cream from Super Scoops?
Carmela Cancio of The Superfood Grocer reveals to Modern Filipina, “We use fresh coconut milk, cracked and pressed from the nut. We use real ingredients: real dark chocolate, real matcha green tea, real strawberries, among others. Our gluten-free cookies used in the Vanilla Brownie Crumble recipe are also baked from scratch.”
Carmela has been, for years, making vegan ice cream for personal consumption since turning to a plant-based diet. The lack of options on the market helped her and partner, Ralph Go, come up with a business built on providing healthier, kinder alternatives.
But the relatively new market meant challenges for Super Scoops; Carmela and her team encountered some of the common issues with non-dairy ice cream.
“Our chocolate was compared to ‘champorado’, our ube attempt was compared to ‘ginataan’ … Still, we took courage and pressed on…until we reached where we are now, where consumers tell us they do not notice any difference between Super Scoops…and dairy ice cream.”
These days, the brand gets praise, and aptly so.
Beyond the Weight Loss
That Super Scoops is vegan is not the only reason that I love it. For The Superfood Grocer, it’s also about improving the lives of partner farmers, particularly coconut farmers from Quezon.
Carmela explains, “From the beginning of our partnership to the present, big changes can be observed in their lives — homes are now cemented, their kids are now in school, they now have spare money to invest in things they value, such as their own motorbikes. For our earlier partners, we grew together, starting from very humble beginnings.”
The Superfood Grocer makes Super Scoops. Carmela and Ralph started the company in 2012 as a two-man team with P20,000 as capital. Today, the business has about 20 people, and apart from vegan ice cream, the brand also creates organic plant proteins (for smoothies and such), vegan chocolate cookies, cashew butter, and other lip-smacking good stuff.
The Scoop
Scoops will come up with new flavors in the future. Hopefully, something more local, like leche flan or yema. With a concoction of real fruits and superfoods, you could enjoy a decadent dessert without worrying about the flabby bits.
This is not to say you should eat vegan ice cream all day, every day (challenge accepted?). Moderation is still the key to enjoying the best of everything on God’s green earth, and keeping your weight in check.