Careful consideration of ingredients is important to us and our Ice Blocks! contain no food additives what-so-ever, no reconstituted juice, no gluten, no glucose syrup. no alcohol, no eggs, no undisclosed “processing aids” , and definitely no GMO derived “ice structuring protein”.

Our ice blocks are also great for people trying to limit sugar intake as all contain less or equal sugar than a ripe banana of a similar weight. Many contain half that and rely entirely on the natural ripeness of the fruit used to make them.

ORGANIC, FRESH FROZEN & OPEN
Where possible we prefer to use organic ingredients. For example we use organic milk and many of our fruits are organic. Our relationships with local organic farmers enables us to guarantee quality and improve consistency of supply. This has excitingly advance to commissioning local organic farmers to produce crops specifically for us and to a position where we can specify the variety of Watermelon.

Where fruit processing is performed entirely on site we prefer to maintain the nutritional value and natural fibre of juice and pulp by producing Ice Blocks! in the "fresh frozen" or raw state. Fruit Salad, Orange and the bulk of Watermelon and Mojito are an examples of "fresh frozen" products. With these we aim to convert the fruit to a frozen juice Ice Block! in approximately 15 minutes.

We share many peoples concerns about the openness of our foods supply chain. That's why our ingredients are identified to the town and state, of the source farm, for Australian produced fruit e.g. Uki NSW organic Elderflowers (Sambucus nigra). Where the Australian climate is not suitable for a crop or there is no organic equivalent we endeavour to source the best fair trade organic produce indicating the country of origin e.g. Peruvian organic fair trade cold pressed Criollo cacao powder (Theobroma sativum). We also include varietal information where we feel that interesting e.g. Kyogle NSW organic "SugarBaby" Watermelons (Citrullus vulgaris)

Ideally we would not like to add refined sugars of any form to Ice Blocks! Some fruits and juices are naturally sweet enough to enable us to achieve this goal. Fruit Salad, Orange, Pomegranate & Blueberry and Apple & Chamomile are examples of this. Others require minimalistic enhancing, with for example our own in house organic Lime zest syrup, to make a more exciting experience and because taste buds are less responsive when cold.

Sugar poses us additional ethical problems. Whilst we live in a sugar growing region and Australia is a sugar exporting nation there is no local organic sugar. Thus our policy is that where we need to add sugar, we will use organic sugar in the hopes of stimulating a local supply.

FLAVOURS
Our Ice Blocks! are divided in two main categories; milk (organic milk or organic milk and cream) and juice (fruit juice, pulp and often slices of real fruit. i.e. as much of the edible, tasty and healthy parts of a real fruit as possible). Juice flavours are vegan friendly and many are free of added sugar. Milk based are (lacto) vegetarian friendly. We operate a seasonal retail menu of eight popular flavours with occasional specials.

RETAIL
We sell through a widening variety of health food shops, organic shops, patisseries, delicatessens, grocers, kiosks and cafes in north eastern NSW, Sydney, Melbourne, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Cairns and Brisbane.

We intend to invest excess profits into carbon offsetting our entire refrigeration and freezing electrical demand, this includes the demand of all our on-loan freezers. We will do this by purchasing solar panel generating capacity as this method of generation closely matches our refrigeration electricity demand.

Send an email to to get more information, follow us on twitter or contact Benna or John at Ice Blocks! On 04 0607 5266 for wholesale enquiries. Ice Blocks! are processed and packaged in Murwillumbah, Northern NSW. ABN 37 732 820 605

ENTIRELY NATURAL & HAND CRAFTED
NSW Food Authority licenced, we make significant effort to ensure Ice Blocks! are a hygienic, safe and a pleasing experience and strive to maintain and improve flavour and ingredient quality. But because Ice Blocks! are hand crafted and natural their appearance does vary. This is how they are meant to be. You can also expect to encounter whole fruit, fresh juice, real fruit slices, chunks of fruit, fruit pulp, fruit skin, zest, rind, seeds, pits, etc... It comes down to either multinational machine made or hand made from local ingredients, it's your choice.

Some of the best fruit in the world grows in Australia, yet most ice blocks sold in Australia seem be machine produced foods from the 1980's. It's a market dominated by Unilever (Streets) the worlds biggest ice cream manufacture and Nestlé (Peters) the worlds largest food company. We think we can do something better and something uniquely Australian.

ETHICAL PACKAGING
Ice Blocks! are not packaged in plastic they are wrapped in a marine safe, compostable cellulose film part derived from eucalyptus wood pulp. This film has passed the internationally recognised tests to confirm full biodegradability in in marine and waste-water environments and home compost heaps. Normal plastic degrades in sunlight by slowly breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. Thus plastic which hasn't either been recycled or burnt still exists somewhere in the enviroment.

No animals marine or otherwise will be killed or maimed with this packaging. The film also has a carbon neutral status.

Most of us recycle and put things in bins, but lets face it packaging for this kind of product does not always get disposed of properly and much of that end up spoiling our natural environment, in some cases for hundreds of years. We don't believe that's acceptable when compostable films are available which are designed to bio-degrade to natural nutrients in a year. Just because our packaging is compostable however does not mean you should be irresponsible with litter. What it does mean is that those accidents that do happen don't have long lasting consequences.

Ice Blocks! pioneered the use of Natureflex for frozen food. We were the second user of the film in Australasia (first being Gingerbread Folk) and were the first to use it for this type of application.

Our sticks are made from Australian Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) a native to north eastern Australia, harvested from pesticide free sustainable forests in Queensland. The plantations are controlled by the State of Queensland Government and have sustainable forest management certification AFS/01-21-03 recognised by PEFC. Hoop Pine ice block sticks decompose naturally after being discarded and exposed to the elements.

We are also proud that much of our advertising material is made from recycled waste in particular snapped surf boards. The broken surfboards are cut to look like x100 sized versions of our Ice Blocks!, a hoop pine wooden stick is bolted on and they are used to display menus or as large signs.

Finally what do we do with Watermelon, Lemon, Lime & Orange skins? Feed them to a local farmers calfs. You have never seen a herd move so fast as when 200 kg of Orange rinds hit the turf. Gone in 5 minutes of pure indulgant joy.

NO FOOD ADDITIVES WHAT-SO-EVER
We have a no food additive whatsoever policy. That's all of them (natural and artificial) i.e. E100 to E1525 and FSANZ food additives 100 to 1521 inclusive. i.e. no acids, acidity regulators, anti-caking agents, anti-foaming agents, antioxidants, bleaches, colours, emulsifiers, firming agents, flavour enhancers, flavour solvents, foam stabilisers, foaming agents, gelling agents, glazing agents, humectants, improving agents, packaging gas, preservatives, propellants, raising agents, resolving agents, sequestrants, stabilisers, sweeteners and thickening agents.

This is possible because we freeze very quickly and keep Ice Blocks! frozen. There is no need for flavour enhancers if you use enough correctly ripened fruit and many fresh fruits have more than enough natural antioxidants if processed quickly. We also hold the opinion that if its natural ice crystals form, that's how the Ice Blocks! should be (avoiding gums, thickeners and “ice structuring proteins”).

Many of the ingredients companies like Nestlé (Peters, Mövenpick) and Unilever (Streets, Ben & Jerry's) use, such as the emulsifier Guar Gum (Guaran, E412) or Agar (E406), are added to make possible the shipment, storage and efficient mass production of iced confectionery. We reject that rationale and add only what is entirely necessary for a recipe.

Our citrus tastes are derived from real citrus fruit. If you see “natural” citric acid (E330) as an ingredient it comes from an industrial process using the Aspergillus niger or black mould fungus. Citric acid was the first food additive that was produced on a large scale biotechnically. Commercial production of citric acid started in 1919 by Pfizer by the surface fermentation of A. niger on sugar. Genetically modified A. niger exists and is utilized to obtain higher yields but manufacturers regard its usage information as proprietary.

The only colouring we use comes from the ingredients that are a necessary part of the recipe for our Ice Blocks! Many companies can and do add “natural” E120 Carmine (pink, red or purple) for example. However we don't believe Mexican cactus dwelling cochineal insects (Coccus asctis) are an entirely “natural” ingredient of any of the products it appears in. Natural is when we use red or pink stalks for a rhubarb for example or fresh red strawberries.

Some artificial colourings with proven problems, are still in use in Australia and NZ when they are banned in many other countries. For example E122 Azorubine / Carmoisine (red) is banned in USA, Canada, Japan, Norway, Sweden, UK and is being phased out in the EU. Azo dyes generally have been known to be carcinogenic for over 45 years.

ICE STRUCTURING PROTEIN
On 24 November 2005 Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) approved Unilever's (Streets) application to use genetically modified yeast to grow “ice structuring protein”, more correctly Type-3 ice-structuring protein HPLC 12, with a gene from the ocean pout (Macrozoarces americanus) fish and use it to improve the consistency and storage properties of its ice creams. Between 2003 to 2007 Unilever (Streets) sold more than 47 thousand litres of ISP containing ice cream confectionary in Australia and New Zealand. (The EFSA Journal (2008) 768, 1-18) Since FSANZ approved it as a “processing aid” it does not even require labelling as an ingredient.

TURTLE DEATHS
Research by the University of Queensland's Moreton Bay Research Station found that found that plastic marine rubbish was the leading cause of sea turtle deaths. http://www.uq.edu.au/. Plastic constitutes the most common type of rubbish found by Clean Up Australia (32%) and of that plastic rubbish the most common is confectionery wrapping (17%).

HISTORY OF THE ICE BLOCK
In 1905 the 11 year old Frank Epperson mixed some soda water powder and water and left the mixture on the back porch overnight with the stirring stick still in it. The temperature dropped to a record low that night in and the next day Frank had a stick of frozen soda water to show his friends. He realized the commercial possibilities of his invention and applied for a patent, which was granted in 1924. Frozen Confectionary.

The Australian term ice-block, for a water ice on a stick, was first published in 1948 (Australian National Dictionary) and has recently been regarded as a word which is dropping out of common usage. Lets hope we can revitalise this small niche of Australian culture.

NAMES FOR ICE BLOCKS
English: ice pop or popsicle (US, Canada), ice lolly, lolly ice, ice-cream bar(UK), ice block, iceblock, ice pole, icy pole (Australia, New Zealand). German: wassereis, eis am stiel, eislutscher Dutch: ijslolly, ijslollie, waterijsje, eis-pops, ijsco, ijs, ijsje. French: glace à l’eau, glace parfumée, sucette glacée, sucette de glace, esquimau, bâtonnet glacé, bâtonnet de crème glacée . Spanish: paleta (Mexico), polo, barra de helado, paleta de helado (Spain), chupete, helado de agua (Chile, Peru). Portuguese: picolé, gelado de chupar, gelado com pauzinho, gelado chupa-chupa. Italian: ghiacciolo, cremino, gelato da passeggio. Pig Latin: iceay iollyay. Norwegian: ispinne. Swedish: isglass, isglasspinne, chokladdoppad glass. Danish: ispind, sodavandsis. Manx: kibbin millish. Irish: líreacán int reoite. Polish: lizak. Czech: nanuk. Latvian: auglu saldējums. Finish: mehujää, jäätelöpuikko. Estonian: pulgajäätis. Hungarian: jégkrém. Turkish: meyveli çubuk dondurma. Israel: kartiv, artic, ‮קרטיב, ארטיק, שלגון‬. Morocco: eskimo. Arabic: ‏(الاسم) نوع من الحلوى‏ Chinese: 冰棒. Indonesian: es loli. Korean: ice keki, 아이스캔드. Japanese: ポプシクル Greek: παγωτό γρανίτα Russian: леденец на палочке Maori: poro hukapapa.