Our story
Ice Kitchen started as an artisanal ice lolly company, selling our delicious lollies nationwide. We even made an appearance on Korean TV home shopping – what an adventure! Then Covid hit – venues closed their doors and sales plummeted. We brainstormed, experimented, and diversified, developing a range of fresh frozen Thai curry pastes (an industry first, as far as we know). The idea came from Ice Kitchen founder Cesar Roden, a trained chef, who had been freezing freshly made curry pastes at home to use as the basis for future meals. This meant no more jars of ambient paste lingering at the back of the fridge until they had gone mouldy and had to be thrown out. Waste eliminated; fresh flavour locked in!
Making use of our existing machines, we froze the curry pastes on ice lolly sticks. It seemed like a gimmick, but was actually the most efficient way to do it at the time. Hopefully nobody took a lick! With support from Ocado, we launched Thai Green, Red and Massaman Curry pastes.
Rave reviews
The reviews soon told us that customers share our values and passion for flavourful freshness without any nasties. “A perfect solution” to wasted jars, one wrote. “Completely fresh like homemade,” wrote another. The Massaman Curry was described as “life-affirming!”. Nigella Lawson raved that the Thai Red Curry paste is “a brilliant innovation… If you’re not pounding a paste together yourself, this is the very next best thing. Maybe even better!” These reviews persuaded us to bid farewell to the ice lollies and go all in on the cooking pastes.
New range, new branding
Ever inventive, our small Ice Kitchen team has now developed five new pastes to join the Ice Kitchen family: Thai Panang, Indian Jalfrezi, Mexican Fajita, Mexican Smoky Barbecue Fajita, and Jamaican Jerk. Each paste is authentic, boldly flavourful, and made with top-quality fresh ingredients. The entire range of frozen pastes are no longer frozen on ice lolly sticks, but now come perfectly portioned in fully recyclable pots made from recycled materials.
Loyal and happy customers
We love hearing from customers and have come to understand the importance of our products for those with particular dietary needs and preferences. Families actively shifting their eating habits away from processed, artificial ingredients value the chance to create authentically global meals guilt-free; those with coeliac disease celebrate Ice Kitchen pastes for providing mealtime adventures without risk of reaction; vegans and vegetarians enjoy the versatility that allows them to be creative with the proteins of their choice. Everyone applauds the convenience and the focus on zero waste without compromise on freshness or flavour!
The future
We're working on new Asian stir-fry pastes, Thai soup pastes, and more Indian curry pastes. We’re in touch with many customers on the phone, sharing ideas and sending them new product samples for feedback. Get in touch with us if you'd like to have a chat!