Local entrepreneur makes healthy ice cream with DOST tech
People enjoy ice cream as a dessert but we know it can have an effect on our health. So why not make a dessert that is enjoyable and good for you at the same time?
Moving forward, this is how a young businesswoman named Clarice Angelica Hau envisioned her ice cream store in Zamboanga City when she opened Sugar and Ice Confections, the first-ever manufacturer of artisanal ice cream in the city.
Hau’s products are made of only the finest ingredients that ensure the high quality of ice cream delights. To date, the company offers 30 ice cream flavors to their local customers.
“Ice cream is a better idea if it is also a healthy treat. During this time, people are now looking for healthier alternatives in their choice of food. In Sugar and Ice Confections, we would like to produce a product which is enjoyable but at the same time, it would not compromise the health of our customers,” said Hau.
To further improve her ice cream product to make it more delicious and healthier, she reconnected with her alma mater, the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB), where she finished Bachelor of Science degree in Food Technology.
In 2018, the Sugar and Ice Confections and the UPLB, through its Institute of Food Science and Technology, submitted a research proposal related to the production of symbiotic ice cream to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) under its Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy (CRADLE) of the Science for Change Program.
“The healthy innovation of symbiotic ice cream for Sugar and Ice had urged and motivated us to proceed with this project.” said Hau during the recent episode of the DOST Report aired on 14 August 2020 by the DOSTv. The DOSTv is the broadcast platform of the Science and Technology Information Institute of the DOST.
Symbiotic ice cream is a mixture of prebiotic and probiotic bacteria that can be mixed in an ice cream. After almost two years, the research team from the UPLB discovered that ube (purple yam) flour is natural prebiotics which is a good source of food for beneficial bacteria or probiotics.
The UPLB has introduced to Sugar and Ice Confections the use of ube flour as prebiotics and probiotics or good bacteria to create what is called “functional ice cream”.
“We are happy to report that we have accomplished the four out of the five objectives of the project. We (UPLB) were able to develop the prototype of the symbiotic ice cream and just studying the other properties of ube and procedures before they hand it over to Sugar and Ice Confections by December of this year,” said Bryan Rey R. Oliveros, an assistant professor from the UPLB-Institute of Food Science and Technology.
Meanwhile, Hau shared that once the project ends, they will convert the existing formulation of Sugar and Ice Confections to symbiotic ice cream formulation.
“We will try to come up with different flavors that are suitable for symbiotic formulation. Once we establish the process of production, we are eyeing to distribute it outside Zamboanga City and if possible, nationwide by 2021,” concluded Hau. (S&T Media Service)
By Allan Mauro V. Marfal, DOST-STII
