The primary goal is to obtain a finished product with high nutritional quality, still rich in the essential nutrients originally present in the raw material, such as lactic ferments, minerals, vitamins and omega 3-6.
The second goal is to avoid damaging the molecular structure of our raw materials, particularly milk and cream, which make up more than 75% of the finished product.
We achieve this dual objective by working from raw, unprocessed ingredients — meaning they undergo no or minimal processing outside our workshops — and by using carefully considered manufacturing methods.
Ingredients are never replaced by food powders, whether for dairy products, eggs, chocolate, or flavourings, even natural ones. We also work with raw milk and raw cream that we purchase directly from farms in Wallonia, not from a dairy plant. Our dairy products are therefore not treated in a dairy plant like long-life milks: no UHT treatment, no homogenisation by micronisation, no standardisation.
The structural integrity and nutritional value are all the better preserved.
What are these treatments that we avoid?
The long-life milk we know in cartons undergoes three treatments.
UHT treatment for the well-known long shelf life of milk, with the disadvantage that it severely degrades, or even completely destroys, the lactic ferments and micro-organisms, as well as other essential nutrients (vitamins, etc.) that give milk its real value.
Homogenisation by micronisation, for its part, aims to prevent the natural separation of milk into layers when at rest (cream, whey, water, fat, etc.). This means the consumer no longer needs to shake the carton before opening and always has a nicely homogeneous milk. This is of no benefit whatsoever in making ice cream, since freezing solidifies the product. Yet this homogenisation by micronisation, which essentially involves bursting milk molecules apart, is suspected of making the product difficult to digest and of creating milk intolerances.
Finally, the third treatment is standardisation, which involves removing the fat from the milk and then reintroducing it in the desired, invariable quantity (3.5% milk fat for whole milk, half that for semi-skimmed, etc.).
While these treatments allow everyone to access milk through retail distribution, they are not without consequences for its nutritional qualities or digestibility.
As for the supposed consumer demand for standardised products, we do not believe in it much. If consumers accept a seasonal effect on fruit and vegetables at the start and end of season, why would they not understand the same for cow's milk?
At Sikou, the only treatment applied to raw farm milk and raw cream is a pasteurisation, which is gentler and more appropriate given the specificities of ice cream, and which is why our products are known for being easy to digest. This pasteurisation is carried out in our workshops and is necessary for making ice cream.
The absence of UHT treatment and micronisation also results in products that are better tolerated by our bodies. Micronisation of dairy products, for example, can cause intestinal cramps in some individuals. Just as we take care not to damage the structure of our ingredients, we also do not use food chemistry — just ice cream made with a few ingredients that are as simple, as transparent and as close to what nature produces as possible.
Of course, using farm milk and cream is more complex and delicate to manage than using powders or butter re-diluted with water, and this complexity has an impact on the price of our products. It requires us to work on a just-in-time basis: milk delivered in the morning is turned into ice cream the very next day.
But the result is a finished product that is decidedly more transparent, more digestible and of high nutritional quality. This is the hallmark of Sikou products.
This is a stance — ours — and the choice we offer our customers: to approach their food, their fuel, from a perspective other than price alone, but rather in terms of value for money considering the counterpart of the price: nutritional quality and the health risk inherent in the opacity of components, the poorly understood implications of their processing on our bodies, and their origins.
The use of semi-refined cane sugar, fresh eggs, whole vanilla pods, the exclusion of all flavourings — even natural ones — the making of caramel in our workshops, and the use of carob flour* as a natural stabiliser, all reflect the same commitment to preserving the structure, transparency and high nutritional quality of our raw materials.