No waffle cones: Egg shortage hits Dunedin ice cream shop

A Dunedin ice cream shop scrambling to source egg whites has scooped up an arrangement that seems to solve the waffle problem.

Patti’s and Cream uses up to 1500 egg whites per week to make its cone and ice cream tacos.

But business owner Olive Tabor said: Checkpoint I had to freeze my homemade waffle cones because my egg white supply had dried up over the past few weeks.

“We have been waiting weeks for the egg whites to arrive. It has been three weeks since the last egg white pouches we received were delivered.”

Stores are only shaving supplies during the summer months as egg shortages have made them difficult to source, including whole eggs for other baked goods such as cheesecake, apple pie and pastries.

“Every week I managed to pick up some egg whites from the supermarket or drive out of town to pick them up,” says Tabor.

“But people want waffle cones, so we decided we had to try and buy them.”

So I opted for a smaller store-bought cone, but the problem is that it can’t handle the same amount of cone.

“It’s true that Dunedin has a lot of hot days, so it melts quickly and people wonder. Where are my usual beautiful hand-made waffle cones?”

There was more to the business of handcrafting waffle cones than just the product. Tabor specially installed a custom-made extractor hood so that people passing by the store could smell it.

“It’s an important part of the business and it’s iconic.”

After advice from people, Otago Daily Times For an Easter weekend article, Tabor reached out to Dunedin’s Pavlova company Cowells.

“We don’t know them personally at all, so we actually went there this morning to get up close to them.

“They have a lot of egg whites at a time, so they’re temporarily helping out with the egg white supply, so maybe next week they’ll be back to producing corn.”