Culinary Arts student creates Spudtacular icecream

It’s a very different use for the humble potato.

And this week, New Zealand’s first-ever potato ice cream is set to go on sale at Patti’s and Cream’s two Dunedin outlets.

Branded ‘Mud’ (a blend of milk and spud), the dark Chocolate "Chip" Crunch ice cream has its roots in a training kitchen at Otago Polytechnic.

Second year Bachelor of Culinary Arts (BCA) ākonga were challenged with developing products that could help reduce waste, by reusing food from the Heartland Potato Chip factory in Timaru (e.g. chips they couldn't sell or agria potatoes that were too small to use).

Otago Polytechnic BCA student Emily Gilbert dug deep when researching possible snacks she could make with potatoes, unearthing an unusual product, potato milk.

She discovered a Swedish company (Dug) had developed the world’s first commercial potato-based plant milk, with their patented barista milk variety proving popular for its foamability as a hot liquid.

Emily set about developing and refining her own unique recipe and process, creating chocolate and caramel-flavoured potato milks, setting up a stall with classmates at the weekly Otago Farmers Market.

_{(Photo: Eryn Bannister-Russell)}

“I sold the chocolate milk as a hot chocolate, which was really popular.”

“But figuring how to make it work as a cold drink was proving difficult, because the amount of chocolate in the blend made it quite thick.”

“And then someone suggested, what about going the whole way and turning it into ice cream?”

After experimenting with different gums, sugars, and a “top secret enzyme” (which assists in processing the potatoes into a liquid), Emily was encouraged to take a sample to Dunedin’s queen of homemade ice cream, Olive Tabor, owner of Patti’s and Cream.

“I’ve tried all sorts of things over the years with ice cream,” says Olive.

“And I've always had a strong interest in the dairy-free side, because it's something that's really popular with customers.”

“But I’d never ever heard of potato ice cream!”

Olive was so impressed with Emily’s mash-up, she offered to work with her to develop it into a commercial product that could go on sale at Patti’s and Cream’s North Dunedin Diner and Mornington Scoop Shop.

“Emily’s ice cream was actually a great texture, great mouth feel. And really you wouldn’t even know it was a potato milk product, it was so close to being a regular ice cream,” she says.

And if that wasn’t enough of a twist, the pair decided to double down on the Heartland chips partnership, adding a bit of extra crunch to the cool treat.

“So we’ve made a dark chocolate ice cream, with a chocolate sauce ripple and chocolate-coated Heartland salted chip clusters,” says Olive.

The experienced ice cream businesswoman says it’s been a fun challenge developing the local product which has included a few “mad scientist experiments” and has required a completely different process.

“There's never been a potato going through our ice cream machines or the pasteurisers before!” laughs Olive.’

Emily says the reaction from people has been overwhelmingly positive, and insists their product “definitely actually doesn’t taste like potato” and has all sorts of benefits.

“This is a gluten-free, dairy-free, low-FODMAP ice cream,” she says.

“So it's good for people with gut issues who can't have soy, and it's good for people with gluten issues who can't have oats, and it's better for the environment than coconut, and it uses less water than almond milk.”

Senior BCA lecturer Tim Lynch says the students were encouraged to be curious, exploring global food trends and pushing beyond their boundaries to create new products.

“Managing the creative process for students is challenging.  It’s a dance between aspirationally throwing the ball further than you can catch, while applying the rigour and process to create a product that is of value.”

The project also aimed to get students thinking about how their creations could contribute to positive change in areas like sustainability and food insecurity, alongside positive collaboration with local businesses.

“Otago Polytechnic students - guided by lecturers – are able to work alongside industry partners to try and help solve real world problems while gaining hands-on experience,” he says.

“This is genuine learning, where creativity, critical thinking, and responsibility converge to prepare students for the complexities of the modern culinary world.”

Other potato-based products produced by the BCA students included a vodka with natural flavours sourced from food waste products, bagels in the style of traditional Māori sourdough bread (Rēwana), and a powdered blended base for spice mixes.

The first 60-litre commercial batch of ‘Mud’ ice cream went on sale this week at Patti’s and Cream’s two Dunedin outlets.

(You can follow Emily's product journey via her Mud Instagram @mud_aotearoa)