FOOD
Upscale ice cream’s new twist: Creator digs into South Asian heritage to create premium kulfi
Upscale ice cream’s new twist: Creator digs into South Asian heritage to create premium kulfi
Beyond a change of climate and scenery, one of the most important reasons why people love to travel is to experience new cultures and taste local foods.
Now, curious foodies who are time or cash-strapped can skip a trip around the world by experiencing the incredible flavors of South Asia at home with Heritage Kulfi, a creamy frozen treat inspired by the staple kulfi dessert of India, Pakistan, neighboring countries and their diasporas.
Using high-quality ingredients such as Alphonso mangoes from India, a Persian saffron from Iran, and vanilla beans from Madagascar, as well as locally sourced farms with all-natural, non-GMO ingredients, the premium ice cream is built from scratch to be vegetarian, egg-free, gluten-free, and halal.
Source: Heritage Kulfi
“I wanted to create something that’s using authentic ingredients sourced from all over the world and share that with South Asians that do have that experience and connection with the food and the culture,” Heritage Kulfi founder Mansoor Ahmed told Bon Voyaged.
A native New Yorker raised in a traditional South Asian household by parents who immigrated from Pakistan, Ahmed has always obsessed over flavor profiles, sharing a story of how creating beverages with rosewater would later inspire one of Heritage Kulfi’s most popular flavors.
“I intended to introduce kulfi as a new concept to the world of ice cream,” Ahmed says. “The product does fall within the standard of identity of ice cream but there are some key attributes to kulfi itself that make it stand out.
Mansoor Ahmed, founder of Heritage Kulfi
“Such as its creaminess and very low density which means there’s very little air in there, and there’s no eggs. But one of the main defining features of kulfi is the kinds of flavors used. For example, rosewater was inspired by a summer drink that I used to enjoy and love. I mostly grew up with vanilla ice cream with a rose syrup topped up with some vermicelli and other aspects to it so that was the inspiration for Rosewater.
“Then pistachio and saffron were kind of used always as garnishments on other desserts and dishes so what I wanted to do, by bringing them into their flavor, is give them that space to just really shine, and so each flavor has its own back story.
“What you’ll find throughout the entire flavor line is a unique texture, and density, and like a bold flavor that comes through our proprietary slow steeping process.”
Source: Heritage Kulfi
Among the range of products — priced at $7.99 and come in 1-pint/16-ounce containers — are Cardamom Chai, Earl Grey, Alphonso Mango, Saffron, Pistachio, Rosewater, Vanilla Bean, and Coconut.
The process of creating Heritage Kulfi from sourcing the ingredients to being in the hands of a customer “is a long one” but is worth the wait, Ahmed explains.
“Each flavor has a slightly different formulation in terms of balancing it with the milk and the cream and the sugar, so if you’re dealing with fruits like our mango and our coconut they require different formulation as opposed to our tea flavors.
“After you bring the ingredients together, you slow cook them. This process allows the kind of ingredient to really infuse with the dairy and the sugar and all the rest of the ingredients. Then you let it cool overnight so that kind of adds to that flavor depth. And then from there we go to production so it’ll go through a continuous freezer which will make the ice cream mix very cool. Our ice creams are very dense, it gives us this very almost velvety texture to the ice cream and then it’s packaged and sent out.”
Heritage Kulfi is currently available in New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania, with distribution expanding rapidly.
“We’re adding retail locations almost every day so people can most easily find the closest location near them on our website. If there’s a particular store that does not sell it, feel free to email us or message us on Instagram and we’ll get it up and going,” Ahmed said.
Plus, there are more products on the way. Ahmed plans to introduce a vegan line to customers in early 2023.
“I’m pretty excited. There’s a few more dairy flavors on the horizon that I’m hoping to bring in the next few months. I also have my formulation complete for a vegan line and that’s exciting because I’ll be able to showcase a whole new line of ingredients and flavors to the vegan customers,” Ahmed says.
For more information, visit www.heritagekulfi.com
