Turtle Mountain's Dairy-Free Giveaway

Turtle Mountain has been promoting its coconut milk dairy-free alternative as a major product since its introduction.

It wants you to try it so badly that the company is giving it away free.

Oh, not to you, of course. Unless you happen to live in Eugene, OR. Still, it's kinda cool.

The press release has this to say.

Turtle Mountain’s 2nd Annual Dairy-Free Ice Cream Giveaway will be held at Alton Baker Park in Eugene, OR, on Sunday, July 25, 2010. The festival is free to the public, and those who attend will receive So Delicious Dairy Free® made with Coconut Milk frozen confections.

Family-friendly games and prizes will be offered. The company expects to give out several thousand So Delicious Dairy Free® Made with Coconut Milk ice cream sandwiches and stick-bars. The event will also feature live musical performances by popular local artists and bands, including The Blair Street Mugwumps, Soulicious, and Michael Conley. A drawing will be held for prizes, including t-shirts, iPod shuffles, grocery gift certificates for Market of Choice, a year’s supply of ice cream, and a grand prize of a new hybrid bicycle, courtesy of Simply Cycle. Winners will be selected at 3 p.m.

Additionally, in an effort to support Turtle Mountain’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, anyone who rides a bike to the event will receive a free product coupon for So Delicious Dairy Free® frozen or refrigerated items which are widely available in the Eugene/Springfield area.

Coupons are also available at the Turtle Mountain website.

More Coconut Milk Goodness

With all the products that have come out in the last year that are coconut milk-based, you might be wondering whether to skip the intermediaries and start using coconut milk straight.

DaNae Johnson extols the virtues of coconut milk on Natural News.com

Coconut milk is high in saturated fat, nearly 25 grams (225 calories) in half a cup, but the fat in coconut milk is healthy fat. The fatty acids in coconut milk are of the medium chain triacylglycerol or MCT type. The distinguishing feature of MCTs so important to coconut nutrition is that they are burned faster than other types of fatty acids. They are especially beneficial for providing energy for the lymph nodes, liver, and fat cells themselves. (Even fat cells need energy.) ...

A little of the unsweetened coconut milk goes a long way. You probably don't want more than one cup of coconut milk in a two-cup smoothie. Store unused coconut milk in a glass container in the refrigerator or freezer. Or just use all the coconut milk at once to make an extra smoothie for a friend.

As with most natural foods enthusiasts, Johnson has never met a claim he doesn't believe. So he also states:

Using coconut oil in moderate amounts, up to about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) a day, in place of other oils, may help you lose weight (about 1 pound or half a kilo a month) even if you eat the same portions of other foods. You can get the same result from using 1/4 cup of coconut milk a day in your smoothies.

I know of no good studies that have shown that MCT or coconut milk can be used for weight loss. All studies so far have been inconclusive or require such high levels of coconut milk as to make the diet unhealthy. See Health.net for a more measured assessment of studies involving MCTs.

British Mom Markets Dairy-Free Desserts

I've done so many stories on moms who have created cookbooks or foods or entire stores based on their need to experiment with recipes for their allergic kids that I could probably fill this whole post with links.

Probably the biggest success story of them all was Patricia Wheway, creator of a whole line of free-from foods for a British supermarket chain.

Kristy Henshaw is meeting with similar success on a smaller scale. On the Lancashire Evening Post website, Melanie Wallwork reported that Kristy:

created a frozen, dairy-free dessert which is low in calories, boosts the immune system and can be enjoyed by diabetics and people with allergies.

The mother-of-one came up with the idea for desserts Coconuka and Coconice after struggling to find one suitable for her dairy-intolerant son Jacob, aged three.

The desserts use "a mix of brown rice milk, coconut oil, New Zealand Manuka honey and Echinacea – all known for their health giving properties. Coconice, a vegan alternative, is sweetened with fruit extracts and comes in three flavours, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla."

Those are similar to the several frozen desserts made with coconut milk that have been introduced in the U.S. over the past couple of years. It's a guarantee that the UK market will see many more coconut milk frozen desserts. It's the hottest new fad in the dairy-free world.

Coconut Craziness Scales Another Mountain

I've posted so many times about agave-sweentened coconut milk non-dairy products over the past year that Planet Coconut is a possible spin-off. Or would I get sued by Jimmy Buffett?

You must be loving it out there. I see as many coconut products as I do coconut trees on desert islands in cartoons. Watch out for your heads! They're falling everywhere.

Let's start with Turtle Mountain. In January I posted Turtle Mountain Goes Coconut Crazy, about the company lines of So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt and Purely Decadent Coconut Milk "Ice Cream." (They don't use quotes around the "ice cream," which drives me crazy. Ice cream is made from milk. Real dairy milk from animals. You can't have non-dairy ice cream. It's confusing and wrong. But they make more money than I do so they get to set the rules.)

What are they doing now? Kefir!

NEW! A world's first, coconut milk kefir is now So Delicious!
We have taken an old world classic and combined it with the delightful richness of coconut milk to create a new age beverage designed to enhance your overall sense of well being.

Coconut milk is naturally rich in medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs). Two of the primary MCFAs found in coconut milk, lauric and capric acid, are known for supporting the body’s immune system. MCFAs combined with ten live and active cultures make our coconut kefir a great dairy free alternative. Drink it alone or splash it over your favorite fruit or cereal. Also makes for a wonderful addition to a variety of home recipes.

And it comes in Vanilla, Strawberry, and Original flavors.

More stuff's coming from them, too, but I'll wait until you can find it on their web site.

Or you can be like all hip and modern and cool and young and follow them on Facebook and get up-to-the-minute announcements. Which spoils the secret about their new Coconut Milk Creamer, announced on GoDairyFree.org. Just pretend you haven't seen it yet.

I've Got a Loverly Bunch O' Coconuts

The dairy-free world has gone coconut crazy. No sooner than I reported the fifth example of a coconut-milk based dairy alternative than The New York Times reporter Melissa Clark gives a recipe for making a rich, creamy hot chocolate at home using coconut milk. Here's her original article in case you want to read about what not to do.

KōV Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert

Who's the hottest person in the entire food business? Some anonymous food chemist who figured out a process for turning coconut milk into a non-dairy base is my guess.

Consider. Within the past year I've posted about Sid Wiggy's Coconut Creations (sweetened with agave), Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss (sweetened with agave), Turtle Mountain's So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt and Purely Decadent coconut milk frozen dessert (sweetened with agave), and Stogo's vegan ice cream alternative (sweetened with agave).

Coincidence? Four in one year? All of them sweetened with agave? I don't think so. I mean, how many people even know what agave is? (It's the juice of a Mexican cactus, a form of fructose sugar called inulin.) I guarantee that some chemist figured out the combination of coconut and agave and has been peddling the rights all over the country.

Four? Let's make that five. My latest find is KōV Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert. It uses a cococut milk base and it's sweetened with agave. That's less coincidental than getting a straight flush in poker.

Our delicious and creamy non-dairy frozen dessert is made from all natural ingredients like coconut milk and agave. Flavored with fresh ginger root, ground vanilla, fair trade cocoa powder and pure peppermint extract, KōV [pronounced cove, and standing for kosher, organic, and vegan] delights the taste buds. Even better, KōV is vegan, kosher, has fewer calories, carbs, and a lower glycemic index than ice cream and other non-dairy frozen desserts.

Like Sid Wiggy's and Stogo's, KōV is another local product, found in stores in and around Philadelphia. They plan to introduce more products in the future.

Turtle Mountain Goes Coconut Crazy

Turtle Mountain, the makers of So Delicious, Soy Delicious, Purely Decadent, and Sweet Nothings products, has started making coconut milk versions of, well, almost everything.

It's So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt is being billed as the first in the world. It's dairy-free and soy-free.

Read the reviews they have posted.

Their Purely Decadent line has a coconut milk variety as well, and also a reviews page.


Want more? How 'bout a Coconut Milk Beverage? You'll just have to wait for that one. It doesn't hit stores until March and won't get true national distribution until the summer. The company says that it's coconut milk products are a hit and are out-selling their traditional soy products, so there may be more coconuttiness in everybody's futures.

UPDATE: The people at Turtle Mountain sent me a link to the Whole Foods Market blog, Whole Story, with an entry and comments on their coconut milk yogurt.