Morelli’s launches new dairy free ice cream flavours
Morelli’s, the UK champion ice cream producer, has launched two dairy free ice cream flavours that are also suitable for vegans.
Morelli’s, a Food NI company, has just introduced chocolate and strawberry flavours under the new Libero brand for its dairy free and vegan ice cream products. The company, which is based in Coleraine, has also introduced milk shakes made using soya milk.
The family owned and managed business has been named the UK’s leading ice cream producer by industry body the Ice Cream Alliance (ICA).
The business was established in Northern Ireland in 1911. Since then, the company has developed the dairy free ice cream flavours to meet the growing demand for allergy free products.
Sales and marketing director Daniela Morelli-Kerr says: “The new dairy free flavours are the result of extensive research and product development. It’s probably the most challenging new product development we’ve undertaken. We’ve been approached over many years for a dairy free ice cream. We had, of course, to find a way of replacing the milk with ingredients that maintained the creaminess and flavour long associated with Morelli’s ice cream. We settled on a base of healthy coconut oil to replace the milk. Feedback from our taste panels has been very encouraging about the creaminess and flavours of the new products and given us the confidence to launch the ice cream under the new Libero brand.” Daniela adds.
The company, which employs 20 people at Coleraine, has been working on the dairy free ice cream with its suppliers of ingredients for the last six months.
Morelli brought the coveted UK National Champion award to Northern Ireland for the first time ever earlier in the year.
The business, headed by Daniela’s brother Arnaldo Morelli, has long been at the forefront of successful innovation in ice cream in Northern Ireland. It launched the first diabetic friendly ice cream.
A frozen yoghurt was also created successfully from yoghurt sourced from Clandeboye Estate in Bangor. The yoghurt subsequently collected a gold medal at the Blas na hEireann Awards – The Irish National Food Awards – held annually at Dingle, Co Kerry.
