Some people have commented on the (relative) difficulty in finding Halo Top at stores. That involved not only experimentation with ingredients, but also some really technical stuff as it related to machinery. That was another “uh oh” moment, another huge setback that we had to work through. It was like a movie-I heard things like “give it up, it can’t be done, kid.” We finally found one local manufacturer who was willing to work with us, and sure enough, we actually blew their pipes. None of the bigger facilities wanted to do it. Luckily I ended up with something that was enough to get into stores, have some success, secure distribution, but there finally came a time to scale up to the big leagues. It was tiring but also exhilarating trying to crack the code. Honestly that period alone took months, and I was still practicing law at the time on top of it. So there was a ton of experimentation at that point in scaling up the recipe-which ingredients worked and didn’t work, how to replace the sugar in the ice cream (which not only sweetens, but provides body and texture), et cetera. In fact, the first time I ran my scaled-up recipe in a commercial ice cream facility was such a disaster that I had an “uh oh” moment. Making large quantities on serious equipment is a whole different ballgame. And I quickly learned that taking your kitchen recipe and just multiplying it by 100 does not work. So I first had to scale up my little kitchen recipe. But after realizing it tasted pretty good in my kitchen, and being absolutely miserable practicing law, I decided to take the plunge, quit law, and give Halo Top a real shot, because even in my kitchen it was really good. (I can’t eat a lot of sugar without feeling weird, so I liked to tool around with different foods and sugar replacements on my own.) I was practicing law at the time, and I’d honestly just bought a Cuisinart machine from Amazon to play around with. Was there a long period of trial and error with Halo Top? What was that process like?įirst, Halo Top began because I was making it in my kitchen for myself without even thinking of bringing it to market. Think about it: how many lower-calorie products use top-notch ingredients? And it really does help the taste-there was a noticeable difference when we experimented with cheap ingredients in the early days. Halo Top is good ice cream because, despite it being a “better-for-you” food, we use extremely top-shelf ingredients (e.g., organic lemon peel, real vanilla, etc.) That’s oddly rare in this “low-cal” category and I think we were the first company to take that route. I'm sure you don't want to reveal too much of your secret, but what can you tell me about Halo Top's approach that allows for a satisfying ice cream? How do they make it taste so good? Why can't I find it at my local store? We spoke with CEO and founder Justin Woolverton via email to find out. But it also presents us with a set of questions. So it seems that the L.A.-based company has it all lined up. Half of the flavors contain less than 300 calories in an entire pint the highest count comes in at 360.Ĭheck out a video from one of their California packaging factories: All this has conspired for a perfectly guilt-free indulgence. Part of the secret, as noted at Bloomsberg, is a no-calorie sugar alcohol called erythritol, a zero-calorie sweetener called Stevia, as well as milk protein to make up for the omitted fat (which, aside from other things, helps ice cream maintain its scoopable texture). And the "red velvet" is similarly rich, giving us a full-bodied profile that's replete with cocoa and brownie dough. The "peanut butter cup" is unabashedly sweet with the strong undertow of, what else, peanut butter. And the flavors-covering a broad range from "vanilla bean" to "birthday cake"-are strikingly bold. There's the requisite milkiness-yes, there's dairy in it, as well as other basics like eggs. But we did sample the dessert, and we're happy to report that this supposed ambrosia tastes.exactly like ice cream. We weren't quite as bold we didn't subsist on Halo Top for over a week, nor did we hook ourselves up to an IV bag filled with ice cream. And when one GQ writer ate nothing but Halo Top for 10 days straight, he actually lost about 10 pounds by the end of his experiment. BuzzFeed, in one of their patented people-trying-things posts, gave Halo Top glowing reviews for its taste. An entire pint of ice cream that clocks in at less than 400 calories? One that's low on carbs, but relatively high in protein? This all sounded like a bunch of alternative facts, before the term was even coined. The L.A.-based Halo Top made waves in 2016.
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