6 NEWS OF THE WEIRD
new & views|
4 LIVE LOCAL
live local. live small.
Meet Alph, a decadent, wholesome sweet treat
W
hile strolling through the farmers’
market last week, I fell rapturously in love with my new object of admiration: Alph. Alph’s might be the dessert of my dreams—a bananabased frozen treat on a stick, which equals three ounces of real goodness. It’s also taking the norm of flavors and twisting it in an interesting fashion: tomato-avocadodill, rosehips and peanut cacao are only a few on the list. The latest offering by Angela’s Pepper-Pickled Foods, I had to ask co-owner Bill Brown about Alph’s debut into our local world of food. encore: Why is it named Alph’s? Bill: “Alph’s” is a play on the idea of the alpha figure in the social organization of the apes. Predictably, we are using an ape because the product is based on bananas—not too much originality there. Look at Alph as Alph’s was created for us by Mark Herbert. Because I am contrary, perhaps, I wanted to question all the assumptions about the sexuality, deportment and disposition of characters in leadership (alpha) position in a social group. Anyway... encore: Where did the idea come from, and where are they available? Bill: I am a committed, non-prevaricative vegetarian, who also prefers to eat only real, whole, unprocessed food. There is [hardly any] prepared frozen confection [like this] out there. One day as I was enjoying a frozen banana, the whole thing started to form in my mind. We sell them at the farmers’ markets—downtown, Poplar Grove, Wrightsville Beach, Leland—and at our shop. Soon, I hope, they will be in lots of locations around Wilmington. We’ve had interest from good retailers; we are working out the details of selling wholesale. encore: How many different flavors are available? Bill: Eighteen now—we anticipate one or two new flavors a week, maintaining a large catalog, some of
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which will always be available, all of which will sometimes be available. encore: There are a list of things on the package that it does not contain, can you tell us why you included those rather than the normal ingredients list? Bill: Alph’s carefully does not contain “food-like” substances, [mainly because] I try never to eat it and [I know] other people avoid it for many reasons. Processed sugar is a source of so much of what is wrong with our collective health, for example. Many people have particular problems with soy or gluten. When you are eating an Alph’s, you never have to be careful about any of that. encore: You use stevia in the product instead, right? Bill: Stevia is an herb that grows mostly in South America. It has been used for eons in parts of the world that are not run by American agri-business and the FDA. Stevia is a sweetener many times sweeter than sugar, but is not treated by the body anything like processed sugar. Diabetics can use it with impunity. Stevia is often amended with malodextrine or other substances to make it easier to measure, but the stevia we use is an absolutely pure extract. The whole plant is good, but retains an herbal flavor of its own, which may or may not be desirable in a given recipe. Stevia is readily available locally at Lovey’s, Tidal Creek, and other locations. When I have a choice, stevia is the only sweetener that I consume. Come see the plant growing in my garden! encore: How did this play into your development parameters? DId it put a strain on its perfection? Bill: We wanted to make a delicious, enjoyable confection that I could choose to eat any time, all the time, without the slightest reservation—so, yes, the substances that I want to avoid were part of the development parameters.
My parameters made the development of Alph’s difficult only in that other people’s expectations for a sweet frozen food were challenged. Alph’s is not, in my mind, fake ice cream, or fake anything else. Most vegan “substitution” foods aspire to be like what they fundamentally are not, so they always fail to some extent. encore: What response have you had so far? Bill: I’ve actually been surprised at how many people have been unreservedly enthusiastic about Alph’s. Some people, of course, find all the flavors and textures a little too unusual. Because each flavor is so assertive and particular, often someone who is wild about one flavor doesn’t like another one at all—which is just how the world should work. Thank God for strong opinions. encore: Are any of the ingredients local—or regional? Bill: Unfortunately, bananas, the main ingredient in each Alph’s, come from Central or South America, and the herbs and spices come from all over the world. Happily, all of our coffee flavors (almond coffee seems to be our most popular flavor) use Folks’ blend. I’ve been using ground peanuts from the machines at Tidal Creek and Lovey’s, but we get our peanuts for Angela’s pickled peanuts from Bakers [Southern Traditions] in Bertie County, and I’m going to try using them as a source for ground peanuts as well. encore: Y’all are best known for pickling, which is a really hot process! How do you make frozen food in the same building? Bill: It is usually much too hot in here to make frozen anything—it’s usually much too hot to make even pickles. So I often take the late, late shift to make Alph’s, after some of the heat has dissipated from the building.