Tauranga family utilising liquid nitrogen to speed up the ice cream making process

Flossy's Ice Cream are reinventing the way that the summer treat is made.

With summer approaching, an all-time classic Kiwi treat has been re-imagined and given a makeover, with one family out to change the way that we make and eat ice cream.

Altering the ice cream recipe Tauranga-based Annelise Boylan and her self-run company Flossy's Ice Cream  are making use of liquid nitrogen to speed up the ice cream making process.

"Flossy's Ice Cream is a unique experience," Ms Boylan told 1 NEWS.

"We make the ice cream using liquid nitrogen, which freezes it at minus 196 degrees Celsius in front of the customer."

"The liquid nitrogen freezes the ice cream almost instantly, that's the unique experience in itself."

She's not joking. The use of liquid nitrogen to remove and replace the entire freezing process means that the ice cream takes just seconds, rather than hours to come together.

Using liquid nitrogen sees fat and water particles in the ice cream don't expand the same way they would if placed in a normal freezer.

As a result, this sees the freezing storage process done away with altogether.

Ms Boylan isn't alone in her endeavours with Flossy's Ice Cream, her family are roped in to help wherever and whenever required.

"Where would you be without your family? Cheap labour, [I] buy them dinner every now and then to keep them happy. They're the best.

"My older brother Matthew partly owns the business with me. Over the big events that we do, our family pitch in when they can.

An idea like Flossy's doesn't just materialise overnight though, a trip to the UK serving as inspiration.

"It's quite a common process overseas, there's quite a few people doing it.

"It's been in the back of my mind for a wee while, but has recently grown quite big in the last six months or so. We started in about August-September 2018, launched in November and we've been going strong ever since.

"I'm a food technologist by trade, and I absolutely love ice cream."

While this new process removes any need for appliances like fridges or freezers, Flossy's also makes an effort to cut down on waste on the consumer's end.

"All our packaging is biodegradable. We used Innocent Packaging when it comes to composting and disposing.

"We're very strong on trying to sustain as much as we can."

Another advantage comes in the form of being able to experiment with as many flavour combinations as she wants.

As for where the ideas come from though, is a whole new story in and of itself.

"Google? Just Googling random flavours," she jokes.

"I'll be reading a random magazine and think 'that might work in ice cream, what can I pair that with?'"

Ms Boylan says Flossy's Ice Cream is starting out small.

"Ideally, we want to get into private events, weddings that sort of thing.

"We do markets, over the summertime, but that's where we have to mass-produce as fast as possible, so our flavours are a bit more simple."

"I love ice cream. I just want to bring good ice cream to people - no disrespect to ice cream companies."

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