Ice Cream with Lupine Proteins

Summer without ice cream - hardly imaginable for many. But those who cannot tolerate milk or lactose often have to do without. Fraunhofer researchers now offer an alternative: "Lupinesse" - the purely vegetable delicacy is free of lactose and cholesterol and contains valuable lupine protein. The ice cream is available at EDEKA.

A summer fairy tale: You sit on the terrace or balcony in the evening. A mild breeze cools the heat of the day. In front of you, a bowl of different types of ice cream and fresh fruit. Just in time for the start of the warm season, this treat is now also available for those who can't tolerate milk. Vanilla Cherry, Strawberry Mousse, Walnut Dream and Choco Flakes - these are the four LUPINESSE flavors available at EDEKA Südbayern and EDEKA Südwest. The new ice cream is made according to recipes developed by Fraunhofer researchers: It is purely vegetable, contains high-quality proteins from the seeds of the native blue sweet lupine and is completely free of lactose, gluten, cholesterol and animal proteins and fats.

Time and again, there have been attempts to produce food from lupine seeds. "We had already written off the lupin at the end of the 1990s," recalls Klaus Müller of the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising. But then came the suggestion from Gerhard Kloth, a lupin expert, to use the blue sweet lupin. "The first products were promising, but in terms of taste and their creaminess and quality they were far from being comparable to the ice cream that is now being marketed," Müller recalls.

The secret of the special taste lies in the selection of the lupine variety combined with a special production process. The blue sweet lupine is particularly rich in protein, has a balanced taste, is easy to grow in Germany and leads to a natural improvement in the soil thanks to its nitrogen-binding roots. The researchers use the high-quality protein of the seeds as the basis for the ice cream. "The high protein content is important for the creaminess," Müller explains. In addition, the cholesterol-lowering effect of the lupine protein makes the new ice cream nutritionally valuable.

A spin-off of the IVV, Prolupin GmbH, takes care of the production and marketing of the ice cream. The company, based in Neubrandenburg, Germany, cooperates with a total of 14 partners in the BMBF-funded growth core "PlantsProFood - Food from Blue Sweet Lupins". This is where the lupin - also known as the soybean of the north - is grown and where lupin protein has been produced since January 2011.

"We are very pleased to be able to offer our customers with the ice cream Lupinesse from now on a new kind of food, which grants nutrition-conscious people as well as milk protein allergic and lactose intolerant people a harmless ice cream pleasure," Hans Georg Maier, Managing Director of EDEKA Südbayern GmbH, explains the expansion of the ice cream range. "The dairy-free ice cream is a world first; there is no comparable product on the market to date. It will certainly be successfully accepted."

LUPINESSE is produced according to the Fraunhofer developers' recipes at Helados Alacant. After the low-fat sausage, which was also developed by the IVV experts, the dairy-free ice cream is the second Fraunhofer product to be launched by EDEKA.