DAVEPOPS: THE BEGINNING
DavePops and the duBlé process were born while I was recovering from a burst appendix. I couldn’t work, so I spent my time making dairy and animal fat-free smoothies. I mixed in all kinds of fruits—fresh, dried, and frozen—but couldn’t work out why I was able to achieve a smooth, creamy texture in some, but not all, of my fruit-based pops.
Since there were no books on the subject I could check out, I took several courses at UC Davis to learn the science of ice cream making and freezing technology. From there, I built custom machines and freezers to find the best way to make all of my smoothie-based pops creamy. Over the course of several years, I developed and perfected my unique duBlé process.
After enlisting my friends and family to test out the mouth feel, texture, and flavor of my pops, they became a hit. First among my family circle and then their popularity grew to farmer’s markets. Kids started asking “Dave, did you bring any DavePops?’ and the name just stuck.
THE MACHINE THAT COULD
For years, all DavePops have been lovingly made by hand using a Champion juicer. For the sake of scale, I needed to build a unique machine so I wouldn’t have to make all the pops by hand. Having an open mind, I looked in an unconventional place for inspiration: the meat industry.
Of course, I first tried reaching out to traditional ice cream producers and dairy-free ice cream makers, but they all had the same response to my inquiries: it just can’t be done. They couldn’t, or wouldn’t, consider the possibility of ice cream being made in a new way. So, I got creative.
I always had a hunch that I could adapt some of the “rust belt” technology in the Midwest to make DavePops. Sure enough, after I moved to Michigan, I found a company in Chicago that made meat grinding equipment. I called the company to see if I could run a test. They said, “Well, we’ve never heard of making ice cream with our meat grinding equipment, but if you show up with 100 lbs of your stuff, we’ll let you try it.”
So, I went to Chicago with 115 lbs of frozen soy milk and it WORKED. But it only solved one problem, and I still needed to find a machine that could both grind the ingredients and add air to them (that’s how we get the texture DavePops is known for).
From there, I embarked upon building a new machine that combined both steps to make the DavePops product with a push of a button. I used a metal fabricator that worked in meat processing to build my new machine. After a few months of experimentation, we came up with a basic machine that could do it all.
THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
Now the machine works, DavePints are a reality. My loyal customers and vendors are what inspire me to keep chugging along, one DavePop at a time.