Speciality-Food-Magazine-September-2024

I t’s a familiar challenge – recreating a wonderful meal enjoyed at a restaurant or on holiday in our own kitchens where authentic ingredients are hard to source and demands on our time are many. Frozen cooking paste producer Ice Kitchen has recognised the problem… and solved it. “Like visiting my local Thai restaurant!” a recent green curry customer announced while another proclaimed that they hadn’t “tasted Jerk that good since Jamaica”. This is a company that puts huge emphasis on sourcing the finest ingredients for authenticity while recognising our busy lives and striving to simplify our mealtimes. Prior to March 2020, Ice Kitchen was creating and selling artisanal ice- lollies that were a hit with customers due to their all-natural ingredients, exciting flavours, and general deliciousness. Then, of course, COVID hit – venues closed their doors and sales plummeted. With creative mindsets and time on their hands, Ice Kitchen founder Cesar Roden and his business partner Nishit Shah began experimenting in their own kitchens and brainstorming ideas. The business needed a nimble shift, and the pair were eager to find a new outlet that would preserve Ice Kitchen’s core values: innovation in frozen goods and a commitment to all-natural fresh flavours. AN AGILE APPROACH Bothmen are imbued with culinary curiosity, Cesar as the grandson of renowned food writer Claudia Roden and Nishit from an international background and years spent exploring global cuisines. Through their research, they added two more Ice Kitchen values: a determination to reduce food waste and the conviction that they couldmake mealtimes easier for people who care about 26 MEET THE PRODUCER @specialityfood Introducing Ice Kitchen mark two: a pioneer in the world of truly delicious, authentic and game-changing time-savers that will delight your customers’ palates creating adventurous, quality, crowd- pleasing meals but lack the time to cook from scratch. “We had the luxury of time to invent and have fun while being aware that this was missing in our usual lives”, Cesar remembers, while Nishit recalls relishing the technical challenges in the pursuit of recipe perfection. “We’re a great teamwith a shared vision and complementary skills!” he says. Cesar had been freezing freshly made curry pastes at home to use as the basis for future meals without the need for jars of ambient paste that would then linger at the back of the fridge until they had gone mouldy and had to be thrown out. Nishit’s engineering experience convinced him that their existing ice-lolly machines could be repurposed to blend and freeze fresh curry pastes on lolly sticks. They did just that. With support fromOcado, who stocked their lollies, they launched Thai Red, Thai Green andMassaman Curry pastes. The reviews soon told them that customers share their authentically global meals guilt-free; those with coeliac disease celebrate Ice Kitchen pastes for providing mealtime adventures without risk of reaction; vegans and vegetarians enjoy the versatility that allows them to be creative with the proteins of their choice. Everyone applauds the convenience and the focus on zero waste without compromise on freshness or flavour. FUTURE INNOVATIONS Having explored the possibility of outsourcing production, the company have come to terms with the fact that their innovative approachmeans that, for now at least, they alone can produce their pastes to the standard they have set for themselves. However, this does not mean they are neglecting new product development. “We are always experimenting, playing around with new ideas,” says Cesar. “It’s the fun of our quest!” He and Nishit have sauces in their sights. Harnessing the power of freezing to lock in freshness, they are keen to devise internationally inspired cooking sauces that will continue to appeal to flavour-seekers and those who aspire to scratch cooking but lack the time required. “We want to shake up the freezer aisle”, says Cesar, “and make people’s lives easier.” values and passion for flavourful freshness. “A perfect solution” to wasted jars, one wrote. “Completely fresh like homemade,” wrote another. The Massaman Curry was described as “Life-affirming!”. Nigella Lawson raved that the Thai Red Curry paste is “a brilliant innovation… If you’re not pounding a paste together yourself, this is the very next best thing. Maybe even better!” NEW RANGE, NEWBRANDING Ever inventive, the small Ice Kitchen teamhas now developed five new pastes to join the Ice Kitchen family: Thai Panang, Indian Jalfrezi, Mexican Fajita, Mexican Smoky Barbecue Fajita, and Jamaican Jerk. Each paste is authentic, boldly flavourful, andmade with top-quality fresh ingredients. Success thus far, along with the enthusiastic backing of investors, has allowed the company to invest in specialist equipment and rebranding. The entire range of frozen pastes now comes perfectly portioned in fully recyclable pots (themselves 100% recycled) and packaging. LOYAL AND HAPPY CUSTOMERS Cesar and Nishit liaise closely with their customers and have thus come to understand the importance of their products for those with particular dietary needs and preferences. Families actively shifting their eating habits away from processed, artificial ingredients value the chance to create Wewant to shake up the freezer aisle andmake people’s lives easier SCRATCH COOKING MADE EASY FRESH FROZEN COOKING PASTES - ALL NATURAL “If you’re not pounding a paste together yourself, this is the very next best thing. Maybe even better!” Nigella Lawson info@icekitchen.co.uk