#BRAVE ROBOT ICE CREAM STOCK FULL#

The animal-free production process is also more sustainable: Livestock takes up nearly 80 percent of all farmland and accounts for 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

In fact, “when you test products for genetically modified markers, they wouldn’t be that,” says Paul Kollesoff, the general manager and co-founder of The Urgent Company, the makers of Brave Robot ice cream. And it’s not considered a genetically modified organism (GMO), because the whey itself isn’t modified. The resulting whey is identical to what’s produced by cows, in terms of nutrition and function. Once Perfect Day had that microflora, the next step was to put it in a fermentation tank with sugars and let it do its thing. It’s basically a fancy form of fermentation, the same process that happens when yeast (a fungi) turns grains into beer or bacteria (another type of microflora) turns cabbage into sauerkraut. Here’s how: Their scientists took the genetic sequence of a cow (without harming it!), and used that as a “blueprint” to change sections of the DNA of the fungi so it would produce whey when fed certain sugars. Read more PopSci+ stories.To recreate the protein, Perfect Day developed a specialized microflora (theirs is a type of fungi, though a bacteria could also work) and “trained it to act like a cow,” says Briggs. This story originally ran in the Summer 2021 Heat issue of PopSci.

Because its synthetic milk provides the same taste and texture as the real thing and is a true one-to-one substitute in the kitchen, it could play a starring role in eco-friendlier butter, yogurt, and even the elusive wonder that is cheese. But that’s just the start of Perfect Day’s delectable plan.

You won’t find any lactose or cholesterol, either.įrozen treats in scrumptious flavors like Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk and Oregon Strawberry ship nationwide from the Brave Robot, Nick’s, Graeters, and Smitten creameries. It also doesn’t use any of the hormones or antibiotics (or, for that matter, land) needed to keep that immense livestock machine running. Perfect Day’s research found that its process generates 85 to 97 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional dairy production. From there it’s simply a matter of adding a bit of water and some plant-based fats to create creamy goodness that requires no animals at all. Give those modified microbes a little sugar and a stint in a fermentation chamber and they churn out a mixture of dairy proteins, including casein and whey, that are molecularly identical to those that give products made with regular old moo juice their wonderful consistency. The California startup skips the udder by adding cow DNA to a prolific strain of a fungus called Trichoderma reesei. The vegan recipe starts with a milk substitute created by Perfect Day. Although it is every bit as delicious as a bowl of your favorite melty treat, it doesn’t involve our bovine pals at all.

The dairy industry accounts for a massive 3.5 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and the nation’s 8.8 million cows are a huge source of the planet-warming gas methane.Ī generous helping of Brave Robot’s cool confection-may we suggest the Raspberry White Truffle?-is different. Alas, that single serving of classic vanilla may cool you off, but it has the exact opposite effect on the Earth.

#BRAVE ROBOT ICE CREAM STOCK FULL#

NOTHING HITS quite so good as a cone full of ice cream on a sweltering summer day.

Brave robot ice cream stock