gluten-free ice cream cookie sandwich
(currently sold exclusively through
Whole Foods), Gleason went out to
find the most innovative professionals
in the niche and after two years found
Glutenfreeda Foods. Specializing in
gluten-free baking, Glutenfreeda
Foods worked with Julie’s to create a
cookie that tastes like an Oreo, not
like many other gluten-free options
which could be likened to cardboard.
“These are absolutely yummy!”
Gleason said. “It used to be that organic processed goods didn’t really
taste great either, but like organic,
gluten-free is getting better and better.
This is still dessert we are selling so it
has to be really good.” Plus, he added,
“They not only fit the gluten-free diet,
but they also fit the specific shape of
the machine used to put the cookie
sandwich together which shoots out
over 12,000 an hour. They have to be
durable and a very specific size.”
product with more flavor and a smoother mouthfeel—which has become the
signature difference of the extrusion process.
Figuratively “breaking the mold” is not about having the right machinery,
but having the right frame of mind. “We get the most pleasure out of rethinking a better way to do things; doing something that other manufacturers say you
can’t do or that someone tried before and gave up on,” he said. “It’s about not
accepting industry paradigms. Most people never asked why it didn’t work.
Maybe the timing was off or the execution was done wrong. Maybe the right
management teams were not there or the market wasn’t ready for it. There are
l
Breaking Out of the
Processing Mold
Gleason has broken the mold both
iterally and figuratively. Literally, most
frozen dessert bars you find out there
are made in a mold because it’s the
cheapest, fastest route. But early on,
Gleason decided to invest in the same
European technology used to extrude
high-end bars like Häagen-Dazs. At a
cost of $7 to 10 million a line, some
could say he has expensive taste, but
as one of the few organic certified
plants in the United States that offers
this type of processing, he has set the
bar for high quality.
Why is it better? With extrusion machines like Gleason’s, the product is
kept at 20 degrees while processing to
ensure no ice crystals form and then
it’s immediately flash-frozen to - 20
degrees. This makes it possible to
process ice creams with higher solids
that would not solidify in the less arctic temperatures of the mold-freezing
process. Higher solids mean a denser
