We asked dessert experts to recommend their favorite eco-friendly ice cream, so you can cool your palate and the planet at the same time.
LISA CLARK owns Petunia's Pies and Pastries, a sweet shop in Portland, Oregon, that uses local ingredients in its high-end vegan desserts.
"My favorite is the decadent Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge flavor from Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss, which tastes like a rich, fudgy sundae. Coconut Bliss is vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, and committed to fair-trade principles. It's sweetened with agave syrup and made with coconut milk. The company is enthusiastic about local ingredients -- the organic hazelnuts are grown nearby in Oregon. Their recyclable containers are printed with food-safe ink and bleached without chlorine." $6 per pint
JAI KENDALL is the corporate pastry chef at Rosa Mexicano, a bicoastal chain of Mexican restaurants.
"My favorite organic ice cream is Laloo's Goat's Milk Ice Cream in Vanilla Snowflake. It's free of hormones, antibiotics, and lactose. You can almost taste the happiness in the milk because the goats graze on fresh grass and thistleberry in California. It has all the characteristics of the perfect ice cream: velvety, silky, creamy, with an ideal balance of vanilla and that slight tang from the goat's milk. My favorite way to eat it is with sliced peaches and a drizzle of maple syrup." $6 per pint
TAFF MAYBERRY is the executive pastry chef at Olivia in Austin, Texas. An ice cream connoisseur, he makes his own with all-natural ingredients.
"I've always loved the ever-expanding chest of flavors from Ben and Jerry's. Their ecofriendly practices, like using non-rBGH-treated dairy cows and cage-free farm eggs, only bolster my affinity for them. I've always been a chocolate guy, and their Chocolate Macadamia flavor is supercreamy and rich and made with fair-trade-certified cocoa beans. It's affordable, delicious, and backed by sustainable, responsible practice." About $4 per pint
ANN GENTRY owns L.A.'s popular Real Food Daily restaurants, which serve organic vegan cuisine and desserts. She also wrote Vegan Family Meals.
"My favorite is the vegan ice cream from Tempt, which is made with hemp seeds that are non-GMO-grown by farmers with sustainable practices. All the other ingredients are organic, and it's gluten-free and kosher too. Hemp has no drug value; the only high you get is from the luscious and indulgent creamy texture. I love making milk shakes with the Chocolate Fudge flavor, whose feel and flavor stand up to any [dairy] ice cream." $4 per pint
PATRICIA GREENBERG wrote Soy Desserts and The Whole Soy Cookbook. She's also a chef, a nutritionist, and the president of L.A.-based Fitness Gourmet, a consulting firm specializing in diet and exercise.
"My favorite is the dairy-free So Delicious. It's certified organic, vegan, kosher, and the most luscious treat I know. Its taste and texture not only replicate the feel of [dairy] ice cream but actually become more tasty and satisfying because of the purity of its ingredients. They make many different flavors, but I often buy the Neapolitan." $6 per quart