New Hemp Foods

Hemp Cookies Win Food Fight

Written by Kelvin Heppner

Monday, 25 April 2011

Maria Rocha and Kelsi Sorenson, two of the student chefs from ACC taking part in the Great MB Food Fight An entrepreneur from New Bothwell took the top prize in the fifth annual Great Manitoba Food Fight in Brandon on the weekend. The event was held as part of the Capturing Opportunities rural business forum. Natalie Dueck of Natalie's LifeSense Natural Foods was awarded the gold medal and $15,000 prize for her Rawdical Chocolate Hemp Cookies. The cookies are high in protein, fibre, antioxidants, and omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Dueck started marketing the product at farmers' markets last summer. The silver medal was presented to Belinda Bigold of Winnipeg for Imperial Cookies and Reynald Gauthier of St. Claude was awarded the bronze medal for his Millet King Crunchies Cereal. Eight food entrepreneurs took part in the contest at Assiniboine Community College. Source: www.portageonline.com Hemp Ice Cream Source: godairyfree.org Taste-Testing Four Tempting Dairy-Free Ice, Soy-Free Ice Cream Flavors Ah, the things I do to taste the latest dairy-free foods. Cooler box packed into the car, we headed down to Reno, and the nearest Whole Foods. Of course, the trip to a town that is 45 minutes (and an “over-the-mountain” trip) away was about more than Whole Foods, we had errands to run. But I never pass up the chance to stop in to buy a few things since we visit less than once a month. On this trip, I opted to pick up some hemp-based ice cream called Tempt (from Living Harvest). I was leary when I first heard about it, but it seems to be getting rave reviews, even from dairy-consuming columnists. We decided to get two pints, and I let my husband pick. He chose Mint-Chip (yes!) and Chocolate Fudge (Really? Are you sure you don’t want the Vanilla Bean?). After silently whining about his choice for a few minutes, I realized I could dress up the Chocolate Fudge ice cream with … hmmm, some peanut butter perhaps? As it turned out, this stuff tastes pretty awesome, so I really didn’t need a topping. It has a rich fudgsicle flavor with a pleasant chocolate fudge ribbon throughout. Ours did melt slightly in transit, so I think it was more hard packed than a freshly purchased pint. But even so, not the least bit of ice … this stuff was truly dense and rich! Of course, a hard-shell topping of sweet peanut butter never hurts (I used the Peanut Butter "Chips" recipe in Go Dairy Free), and this combo was magically delicious … I expected us to both love the Mint Chip flavor (usually one of our favorites), but it just wasn’t quite right. It was a bit more ice than cream and the flavor was very (very) minty. It wasn't bad, but just didn't melt nicely onto our taste buds. Since I sensed a vanilla base in the Mint Chip version, I feared that the vanilla would fall to the same fate.  Fortunately, my worries were unjustified. My next trip to Reno and Whole Foods was sans husband, so I popped two new (to me) flavors into the cart, the Vanilla Bean and the Coffee Biscotti. I recently confessed our guilty love for a certain cheap brand of vanilla … yes, for us it’s taste and texture, however processed, still kicked the pants off of store-bought coconut milk ice cream. But fortunately, I think I have found an equally suitable alternative with slightly more virtuous ingredients. And the blessing in disguise part is that it costs more money … so I’m not as likely to buy a pint, or three, of it every week. Unlike the Mint Chip, the Vanilla Bean was smooth, creamy, and incredibly rich with vanilla. Even after suffering a drastic melt and refreeze (it's a long drive!), there were no ice crystals, no chunkies … mind you it was hard-packed, and I nearly needed an ice pick to pry some loose, but it still melted like a creamy dream on my tongue. And it was delicious! At least in my opinion ... and my husband's. The flavor, not unlikeTofutti, is certainly different from traditional dairy ice cream, but rich and tasty in its own right. This entire pint serviced a big batch of chunky apple crisp (based on my Crumbly Maple Apple Crisp) that I made to use up some nearly expired granny smiths. As for the Coffee Biscotti Tempt ... it is strictly for coffee fans. I really do not like the taste of coffee (yep, seriously), but some of those mocha-ish “ice creams” that are labeled as coffee make the grade. This wasn’t a mocha, it was a true coffee flavor (hence the name "coffee" instead of "mocha" - but sometimes I'm a bit slow) with (gluten-free) cookie-like chocolate chunks throughout. Perfect for all of you recovering Starbucks-aholics, but not for these herbal tea taste buds. The only other current flavor of Tempt is Coconut Lime – but I haven’t been able to bring myself to buy it. I love coconut, but am seriously on burn-out from the very concept of coconut ice cream! To note, taste-wise, I’m not a fan of agave nectar and neither is my husband, which could be one of the reasons the coconut milk ice cream isn’t our cup of tea (all major brands seem to be sweetened with agave). Tempt is sweetened with organic sugar. This to me, just fits better. Article and photos by Alisa Fleming, founder of GoDairyFree.org and author of Go Dairy Free: The Guide & Cookbook. This is a third party review. For more information on this vegan ice cream, visit the Living Harvest website.  Go Lightly Answers My Scream for Vegan Ice Cream BY Jenn Schiffer  |  MONDAY, APR 25, 2011 10:30AM   Source: baristanet.com A "Little" cup of Soy Cookies & Cream, Hemp Maple Walnut, and Hemp Blueberry I’m a year-round ice cream kind of girl–just as likely to be seen running across town in frozen rain with a waffle cone as the next guy, so long as there is a local spot selling delicious vegan ice cream. Go Lightly, nestled on the corner of South Fullerton and Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair, is where you will now find me running for ice cream in rain, sleet, sun, or snow. When you walk into the shop, you are surrounded by eco-friendly and animal-friendly products. Up front and center is the ice cream freezer, showcasing several different flavors made of soy or hemp. I’ve had plenty of soy ice cream from the grocery store, which usually is too sweet for my liking. Hemp ice cream, though, was a completely new experience for me. I asked Go Lightly owner and vegan/green-living afficionado, Jen Chaky, about the origin of the ice cream, which she says is homemade off-site. She was more than happy to offer a sample, but I like to live dangerously: I purchased a size “Little” cup ($4.50) of an off-beat combination of Hemp Blueberry, Hemp Maple Walnut and Soy Cookies & Cream. Not one to pretend that vegan replacements of dairy products are perfect and alwaysdelicious, I’ll admit that most soy ice cream I’ve eaten is normally slushier than it is creamy. The Soy Cookies & Cream ice cream had a little bit of a slushy consistency, but it redeemed itself with its plentiful chunks of chocolate cookie throughout. The hemp ice cream is surprisingly as creamy and delicious as the “real stuff.” The Blueberry was fresh and tasted natural, not like fruity ice creams and sorbets that usually have a lot of artificial flavoring and unnecessary sugars. Hemp Maple Walnut, my favorite. The “best in show” flavor was definitely the Hemp Maple Walnut. Creamy, flavored with maple, and packed with walnuts, I enjoyed it somuch that I went for a full cup of the stuff the next day. While staring at the ice cream case and drooling over that Maple Walnut, Jen told me and other prospective ice cream buyers that all of the flavors were gluten and sugar-free, sweetened with agave. The hemp ice creams were soy free, too. You can’t go wrong with healthy, guilt-free and delicious ice cream, especially if you have a diet that prevents you from eating foods with sugar, dairy or soy. Just like I had gone back the next day for more, I see myself going back again and again regardless of the temperature outside. Go Lightly is located at 4 South Fullerton Avenue and is open Tuesday through Sunday, so it’s the perfect spot to grab a delicious vegan dessert after a meal downtown.