Turn new ideas into scalable, market‑ready ice cream
With the right recipe development, ingredient expertise and process validation, new ideas can become ice cream that runs reliably, scales with quality and reaches the market with confidence and development ease.
Ice cream is a category where familiar favourites continue to evolve. As consumer expectations change, ingredients are one of the smart ways to innovate and differentiate. That might mean adjusting fat blends, testing new proteins, adding inclusions, or shaping a different nutritional profile – all while maintaining the indulgent experience consumers expect.
How new ingredients take shape
In classic ice cream, cream contributes both fat and protein. Today, many products combine dairy with vegetable fats such as coconut or palm, while more producers are also exploring plant proteins. In some cases, these products come remarkably close to classic ice cream in taste and quality. That opens up opportunities to optimise ingredient cost, meet evolving dietary preferences and expand product portfolios – without compromising sensory quality. It also gives producers the flexibility to work with different nutritional profiles, manage ingredient economics and create products that stand out in the market.
Fava beans are one example of how this approach can create new possibilities. They have attracted interest for their ability to support a creamy, indulgent ice cream experience, while offering a relatively neutral taste and light colour. This makes them a strong option for producers looking to balance functionality, texture and formulation.
At our Ice Cream Product Development Centre, we help producers explore ingredients in depth – through recipe development that reduces uncertainty, hands-on formulation trials that support confident decision-making, and process validation before committing to full-scale production.
Ronnie Kragh Enggaard, Ingredients Expert at our Ice Cream Product Development Centre puts it this way
“A new ingredient becomes most valuable when it helps answer several questions at once. Can it deliver the taste and texture you want? Can it work in formulation? And can it keep performing when you bring it into freezing and production?”
That broader view considers how ingredient performance is rarely isolated to one part of the process. A promising ingredient may look strong on paper, but create complications in viscosity, aeration, overrun or line stability. Another may bring the right functional benefits, but fall short on taste, colour or consumer appeal. Like with fava beans, the goal is to identify ingredients that can enhance the product experience while still supporting smooth, reliable production.
This matters because ingredient performance directly affects production efficiency, product consistency and, ultimately, profitability.
Helping ideas move smoothly from mix to market
At our Ice Cream Product Development Centre, new ideas are tested through hands-on trials that look beyond the recipe itself. We explore the relationship between ingredient choice, process parameters and final product performance – bridging lab-scale innovation with industrial production realities.
This makes it possible to evaluate how an ingredient affects flavour release, mouthfeel, texture, stability and processability before major production decisions are made. The result can be risk reduction and faster, more confident progress. It is equally relevant for local producers and regional or global operations, helping producers assess concepts, decide what to refine and build a stable production by shaping product and process together.
As Ronnie explains:
“We don’t just ask whether an ingredient can be used. We look at what it changes in the product, what it means for the process, and whether it gives you a direction that’s strong enough to take forward.”
This distinction matters because any new ingredient must still deliver the creaminess, smoothness and indulgence consumers expect. At the same time, it must support production performance - where reliability, efficiency and consistency affect business results. In today’s market, success depends on getting product experience and production performance right at the same time.
Support across the entire ice cream journey
With the right formulation support, ingredient expertise and trial-scale capabilities, ice cream producers can make informed decisions – making it become clear what belongs in the next product iteration and what does not.
Some ingredients may improve texture. Some may support a cleaner flavour profile, unlock new product portfolios, or accelerate entry into growing categories such as plant-based ice cream. Without testing and validation, however, it is difficult to know which opportunities are both commercially and technically viable.
This applies whether launching a first batch, expanding a regional favourite or rejuvenating a high-volume bestseller. From first concept to full-scale production, the scale may differ, but the value stays the same – a smoother, smarter way to turn ingredient exploration into ice cream that runs reliably, scales with quality and reaches the market faster. With the right expertise, that journey becomes predictable and commercially successful.