Originally I was going to discuss and rate two kinds of non-dairy frozen desserts. Alas, after checking into it, one of my potential choices wasn't new--I'd already covered the So Delicious company's wares back on April 24th, 2023, about yogurts. So, it'll just be one product today--the Cuties from the Tofutti company, based out of New Jersey.
The Tofutti company was founded by David Mintz. Mintz, who'd been born in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, had been the proprietor of a Kosher restaurant called Mintz's Buffet. While at this establishment, Mintz wanted to help out his Kosher customers who required non-dairy substitutes. Mintz recalled the tofu he'd first tried from Chinatown in the early 1970's, and developed non-dairy items using this as a base. In 1981 Mintz made the manufacturing of these new products his main business. Currently Tofutti makes dairy-free versions of cream cheese, sour cream, dips, cheese slices, ricotta, and frozen desserts. If you're curious, and/or have specialized dietary needs or food allergies, all Tofutti wares lack dairy (including byproducts) and eggs. Any lactic acid used comes from vegetables, and not animal sources. Sesame and coconut are also absolutely not utilized. However, some Tofutti wares do have wheat and gluten, and some also contain peanuts and tree nuts. Notably, all of their products have soy, tofu, and corn. And sugar, although this is not processed with bone char. (I didn't know what this meant, so I looked it up. Some (most?) sugar gets its bleached white color from being filtered through incinerated cow bones.) As you might have already guessed from the references to Kosher consumables, Mintz was Jewish, and apparently very devout. He contributed to many Jewish charities. He passed only a few years ago, in February of 2021, at the age of 89.
Tofutti Cuties, vanilla flavor: These are mock ice cream sandwiches, or chocolate "bread" pieces enclosing a vanilla ice cream filling. They were about half the size of a typical ice cream sandwich, being only about 7 cm. by 4.5 cm. (about 2.75 inches by 2 inches), rectangular in shape. And they tasted like....regular ice cream sandwiches. The chocolate outer halves were tasty, and the inner "ice cream" was very good as well. So these were a triumph, a more than competent imitation of a familiar treat. They did have a slightly different aftertaste, but this was only slight. If you like ice cream but are looking for a substitute, for religious, moral, or health reasons, these Cuties are a very good choice. And even if you still enjoy dairy, but want to eat a bit healthier sometimes without sacrificing the flavor, there's also good. I'll have to seek out some other flavors of Cuties, or other Tofutti products to see how they are.
Just as a preview, I will be doing another movie quiz next week. Not shockingly, it will be associated with Christmas. More in the "Die Hard" sense--as in it's set at Christmas time, but it doesn't really incorporate Christmas themes in the plot or anything. See you next week.
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