USDA-Certified Organic Product 2009

Outstanding USDA-Certified Organic Product: Organic Nectars Raw Agave Gelato—Pistachio

For the second consecutive year, Organic Nectars, Malden, N.Y., has taken home the sofi™ Gold for its Pistachio Raw Agave Gelato. Although the recipe has remained the same, earlier this year the company’s gelatos were certified organic. “We believe in clean products,” says Lisa Protter, co-founder. “If a product has organic certification it tells us that it has no genetically modified organisms, it’s made under certain conditions and it’s just a cleaner ingredient.”

Although it was not certified before this year, the company had already used organic ingredients. Because the owners were spending so much on the ingredients, Protter says, “We decided we should have the seal on them because that’s what people are looking for.”

As always, Organic Nectars is devoted to taste. “Our whole reason for getting into this business was to create alternative versions of conventional sweets,” notes Protter. “Creating things that everybody is familiar with but using much healthier ingredients and much healthier processes.”

Protter, along with her husband, business partner and “culinary mastermind” behind the products, Steve Treccase, “wanted our gelato to replicate traditional gelatos in every fashion: the way it looked, the way it melted, the way it felt in your mouth,” she explains. In fact, the couple ate ice cream for dinner continually while developing the award-winning formula.

Using pathogen-free pistachios, this dairy-free gelato is handmade with raw organic unpasteurized cashew milk and is sweetened with low-glycemic agave syrup. Utilizing children’s focus groups, Protter says they have received honest feedback “because kids don’t lie and they have no interests in sparing your feelings.”  This feedback has been positive and “for the most part,” she says, “[our gelato] tastes just like a yummy ice cream.” Suggested retail price: $5.99/pint. organicnectars.com.—D. Marrero