Tarun Anand remembers his grandmother spending hours in the kitchen, churning milk and freezing it for dessert. “Perhaps, this is how I developed a sweet tooth,” he smiles as he offers me an ice-lolly at his home at Singanallur assuring me that “it is fresh and just out of the freezer.” The Honey-Banana ice cream is smooth and not cloyingly sweet. Tarun wanted to do something on his own after completing his degree in Culinary Arts at Manipal University and so he launched Sticksy, his brand of ice lollies, a few months ago.

Tarun Anand  

There were hiccups, recollects Tarun. His experiment with green mango and chilly did not turn out as planned. “I don’t know how to explain. It tasted weird and its texture was slimy!” It took him a while to figure what the problem was. It was, he realised, in the freezing technique of the ice lolly. “ The faster it is done, the smoother will be the ice-cream.”

Tarun says that he did not want to be too experimental when he started. “That is why I introduced the flavours that everyone is familiar with.” He now sells Strawberry, Rose, Filter Coffee, Blueberry Yoghurt, Cookies and Cream, Mango, Ice Milk, Honey Banana and Inside Out. “The Ice Milk is milk flavoured with vanilla and Inside Out has milk chocolate inside and white chocolate as its outer coating.”

The 23 year old uses a combination of natural fruit pulp and artificial flavour. “Initially I used only fruit juice but the flavours were very mild and so I had to add artificial flavouring.” Sticksy is free from vegetable fat. “Milk fat is healthier and tastier than the vegetable alternative. The stabilisers that I use are also plant based,” he says.

The frozen berries for his lollies come from Bengaluru, while the bananas and mangoes are from the local market.

He has three people in his team who help in the production unit behind his house. Tarun claims that the calorie count of his products is less compared to other popular ice cream brands. He says people sent him feedback saying they would like the lollies to be sweeter, but he stuck to his guns to keep it not so sweet. “Most of my ice-cream sticks are 120 calories. Each has about 10 gm of sugar. I do not want to increase the sugar; I like to keep the taste mild.” His personal favourite is the Cookies and Cream. “It has chunks of cookie and I like the crunchiness.” His products have a shelf life of 12 months if kept at minus 18 degrees Celsius.

Tarun plans to launch an exclusive store in the future.“I am experimenting with it in my ice-creams now and I hope to incorporate a cheesecake variety. I make excellent cheese cakes.”