Hurray for Goat Milk Pops
Pop Goes the Goat Milk
Goat milk is having a moment. For years, cows have dominated the immense dairy industry and all its delicious facets, but in an age where educated consumers are seeking out locally made provisions, healthy pantry staples and lactose-free alternatives, the goat has risen up to the challenge. In fact, goat milk is the pivotal ingredient in Houston gelato maker Trentino’s latest award-winning creation: popsicles.
Marcelo Kreindel of Trentino Gelato and Stacey Roussel of All We Need Farm have partnered to craft the creamy, mobile dessert, whipping up milk from Roussel’s Nubian goats, combining the white liquid with Kreindel’s signature gelato ingredients and imagining such flavors as strawberry, vanilla, cajeta, dark chocolate and more. “Stacey and I have known each other as friends for years—I used to make lemon basil sorbet with her lemon basil plants—but it took Monica Pope suggesting we work with each other on this idea for it to all come together,” Kreindel says. “The whole notion of using goat milk was very foreign to me, but it all ended up being very romantic—using these local ingredients to make a dessert that customers really respond to.”
Kreindel is not exaggerating about the pop’s popularity. In the years since testing their initial batches, the treat has snagged some game-changing awards—taking home the top prize at the 2014 American Dairy Goat Association’s Dairy Product Competition and first prize in Rodeo Houston’s 2016 Best Bites Dessert Award category.
Roussel credits the sweet success to the partnership’s commitment to ingredient transparency and sustainability. On Roussel’s fruitful Needville farm, the free-range goats live on a steady diet of non-GMO grain, Texas alfalfa and hay, and wild edibles like dewberries, which helps the mammals produce the purest milk possible for the frozen confections.
Milking her lively herd twice a day, Roussel chills the Texas dairy before sending it off to production to be paired with Trentino’s trusted ingredients, including local strawberries, Venezuelan and Bolivian dark cocoa liquor, fragrant vanilla beans, Blue Heron Farm’s cajeta and more—but never any preservatives or gums. “We’re respecting every process straight from the farm to the factory and the table, and we’re very proud of the time and care that goes into that,” Roussel says.
As is true with any overnight success, growth must be steady and slow to maintain the utmost quality and care. And that’s just what Kreindel and Roussel plan to honor over the months, and hopefully years, to come. “We’re very logical about how we’re planning to move forward,” Kreindel says. “We’re talking to a big grocery store right now, but before we make such a heavy leap, we want to make sure we’re ready for that.”
In the meantime, consumers can purchase these milky pops at locations including Eastside Urban Harvest Farmers Market, Punk’s, Underbelly, Hay Merchant, Home Sweet Farm in Brenham, Dozier’s Grocery & Market in Fulshear and Western Power & Hardware in Needville.
>Trentino Gelato celebrated their 10th anniversary earlier in March. Find them at trentinogelato.com
