Have you ever tried chocolate kale ice cream?
If not, you’re missing out, says Mia Kusen of Mrs. Plump’s
Chocolate. Kale.
Chocolate and kale.
Chocolate and kale?
“It’s creamy, chocolatey, not too sweet with a hint of a kale aftertaste,” Mia Kusen assures us. Mia is the founder and ice cream maker behind Mrs. Plump’s, “Singapore’s first ever original superfood ice creams”, and she’s talking about one of her top flavours, Chocolate Kale.
Her customers agree. “Most people say, ‘What kale? I can’t taste it! It tastes like chocolate ice cream.’”
Mia’s not surprised – she’s been confident about the flavour from the beginning.
“Most people’s reactions were confused,” she says, recalling the moment she expressed her desire to experiment with kale as an ice cream flavour and ingredient.
“Some were honest and told me that it was very strange to have a vegetable in an ice cream.”
Well, they were… wrong. Or they could’ve at least waited.
“I had a feeling that kale – being a superfood and nutritionally dense – would complement chocolate,” she stresses. It did, and it does, and we now have an ice cream flavour to look forward to.
She knows what she’s doing
With a central kitchen that accepts online orders, Mrs. Plump’s specialises in superfood ingredients such as blueberries, acai berries, black sesame, and more.
Available in pints and popsicles, their flavours are free from additives and processed sweeteners. You can choose from their Superfood, Keto, Popsicle, Cheatday and Limited Edition ranges.
Mia’s flavours aren’t just unique, there are also stories behind them – personal ones.
“The first memorable experience I had of chocolate was when I was around seven years old, and my aunt had given me my first Lindt ball,” she says. “To this day, I remember having a taste of heaven when that Lindt ball exploded in my mouth, with milk chocolate oozing out.
“It was such a special moment, and I often talk to my aunt about that day.”
Chocolate to Mia is also about special occasions – a treat she didn’t have that often growing up, and something that’s “wonderful to be shared”.
She’s seen it used in so many ways since then. “Anything with melted and oozing chocolate appeals to me, so anything from chocolate fondue to chocolate lava cake is something that I find very enchanting.”
It’s the same thing with kale; it was a family experience. “The first time I had kale was at home; my mother prepared it as a base in a salad. I remember how delicious it was, and how different it was to lettuce. Having more crunch and texture, it elevated a typical salad.”
And like chocolate, Mia’s been inspired to experiment with it as well. She’s had it “in salads as an alternative to lettuce, in pastas and bakes as an alternative to spinach”.
“I’ve tried baking them to a crisp to prepare them as a healthy snack,” she admits.
“But kale salad is my absolute favourite. I love to add other superfoods such as nuts and sweet potato for texture. Topped with dried cranberries and orange segments for a sweet contrast, and brought together with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing, it’s my go-to salad recipe to a potluck event.
“Everyone loves it, but then they also expect that I bring ice cream!”
How Mia uses kale:
#1 As an alternative to lettuce
#2 As an alternative to spinach in pastas and bakes
#3 Baking them to a crisp for a snack
#4 As a salad with nuts, sweet potato, dried cranberries, orange segments and balsamic vinaigrette dressing
She does not disappoint
Mia’s challenge with a bestseller like Chocolate Kale is “making enough of it” to satisfy her customers.
But then she also needs to make enough of it for Mrs. Plump’s, as it’s become such a versatile ingredient. “We’ve used Chocolate Kale as a base for some of our limited-edition flavours, such as Chocolate Mint for Christmas and Chocolate Biscuit Pudding,” she says.
“We’ve also collaborated with a kid-friendly brand, Fusspot & Foodie, which makes a delicious gluten- and dairy-free cookie dough base, to come up with a super healthy ice cream sandwich.”
In fact, Mia tells us there are two versions of Chocolate Kale. “Our original Chocolate Kale is dairy-based and mainly sweetened with dates. After that, some of our keto customers wanted a low carb, sugar-free and dairy-free version.
“Because of this, we came up with Keto Chocolate Kale, which is coconut-based and sweetened with a natural sweetener called xylitol. It has less than 2g of carbs per scoop! Both are currently available online.”
No wonder people love it. “Chocolate Kale makes me feel happy in that I don’t feel guilty about eating it, and I don’t feel guilty when I give it to my kids,” Mia shares.
Keto, etc
If you’re looking for more keto flavours, Mia has Keto Black Sesame, Keto Maca Hazelnut and Keto Coconut.
“Our keto customer base was growing, and we realised that despite there being keto ice cream available, none had superfoods incorporated – so we did just that,” she says.
“It was super fun coming up with the new flavours, the best part about my job. Getting the texture right was a challenge, so we did spend a lot of time doing multiple versions.
“I learnt that keto customers are so used to not having sugar,” she adds. “Even if the ice cream didn’t taste sweet to us, it did to them. So we did need to bring onboard keto customers for multiple taste tests. Getting the level of sweetness right was tricky.”
If you’re also looking for impressive limited-edition flavours, Mia’s happen to be insane – and I mean that in a good way. Just check out her recent Christmas and Diwali lineup. (Christmas had Rocher, Lemon Posset, Raspberry Peach Sorbet and Caramel Apple Crumble, while Diwali had Masala Chai Biscuit, Rose Falooda, Phirni and Mango Pista Kulfi.)
“With all of our events cancelled, our shop being super quiet as it’s in the CBD, and our corporate orders on hold due to people working from home, we really needed to do festive special flavours in order to survive the devastating effects COVID was having on our business,” she relates.
“A lot of time is spent thinking and researching; also a lot of glasses of wine with friends would be behind our new collections. I’m lucky to have close friends who are big foodies and are able to give input as to what new flavours would work. In return, I provide them with samples for taste-testing and they don’t complain about this.”
How can they – how can anyone – when they could be given something like Rose Falooda?
“Rose Falooda was our bestseller last Diwali, but it was the hardest one to make,” Mia reveals.
“The dessert drink itself contains jelly and vermicelli that doesn’t freeze well. It took rounds of research and experimentation to ensure the jelly consistency even when frozen.
“It also contained two ice cream flavours (rose and vanilla) that we had to make sure was evenly distributed in each and every pint.”
Her coming out with festive flavours is actually a bad thing, she realises. Just kidding; it’s been pretty good. “They were selling much more than our healthy Superfood range,” Mia points out. “It felt like our customers didn’t always want a healthy ice cream, and sometimes just wanted something unique.”
So is there a chance…
… for Mia to resurrect in-the-vault flavours? I’m sure her customers would love to revisit past flavours.
If there’s one that she’s let go of and misses the most, it would have to be Cereal Milk. “We haven’t done Cereal Milk in a while, and this was one of my absolute favourites.”
What would make her bring a flavour back? “Requests! We have a lot of customers messaging and asking us. If we get enough demand, then we bring it back.
“I have customers who can’t wait and order a batch’s worth of their favourite flavour in 10 pints. We do custom flavours for a minimum quantity order.”
See? So don’t lose hope.
“It takes a lot of time and effort to come up with unique flavours, but it’s very fun! When on a mission, it’s all I think, talk and dream about. I often turn to delicious desserts from different cultures for inspiration. Childhood memories and flavours also come into play.
“The frustrating thing is often when you come up with something new, someone else is going to copy-cat. I used to get upset about that, but I’m okay with it now. My friends say I should feel privileged,” she concludes. You should, too – for choosing to taste Mrs. Plump’s first!
How Mia is inspired to create new flavours:
#1 Desserts from different cultures
#2 Childhood memories and flavours
Find Mia and Mrs. Plump’s here and on Instagram. Watch out for them on TikTok soon.