What is so special about our handmade locally produced artisan ice cream?
1. We use only the milk from our own cows. Emma milks about 60 cows at Tarbert Farm, at the north end of Gigha. Much of this is bottled for customers in glass bottles, and we use much of the rest for making our ice cream. The cows graze in the pastures here, and 99% of their diet is simply grass.
2. We make small batches at the farm. Our 440 litre pasteurising vessel enables us to produce roughly 250 litres of liquid ice cream mix. The mixing process causes a deep vortex to form in the tank, as the blending apparatus spins at 1500 rpm. This causes the 250 litres of liquid ice cream mix to come up close to the top of the vessel, hence the limit of 250 litres per batch.
3. We are passionate about creating the best possible ice cream. This is only able to be judged by you..! But we just wanted to make that statement, as it is true.
4. We have created recipes that enable us to be fully in charge of what goes into our ice cream. This may seem an odd point, but have you ever studied the list of ingredients on a tub of ice cream? We have, and it is quite amazing what some companies put in their mix. Do you want Mono & Diglycerides of Fatty Acids? This is the most common emulsifier used in the making of ice cream. Or how about a stabiliser called Propane 1,2 Diol Ester of Fatty Acids? It is usually derived from plant sources, but is also derived from petroleum. These are chemically identical, and are used very commonly in ice cream. Maybe a seaweed extract that causes some bowel irritation? Carrageenan is the stabiliser to choose then..! We have looked at the various options, and have carefully chosen what we believe to be the safest ingredients. We use egg yolk and vegetable glycerine as our emulsifiers. And we use a small amount of Tara Gum Powder (part of the seed of the Tara tree) with Xanthan Powder as our stabilisers. These have no known adverse effects, and have been thoroughly studied.
5. Our ice cream has a relatively short shelf life. Why does that matter? Shelf life in ice creams is all about maintaining the texture created at the time of the making, when the butterfat and water elements are fully blended. Over time in the freezer, these two components migrate apart, leading to the texture becoming icy or simply unpleasant. The principle way that ice cream manufacturers enable their product to sit in a shop’s freezer for up to 2 years without deteriorating, is by adding stabilising gum powders. Have you ever tried ice cream that is too chewy? That’s the big risk of adding too much of these powders to the mix. A long shelf life is achieved, but at a cost: the ice cream doesn’t feel good in the mouth. We use a very modest amount of these powders, enough to give the ice cream 6 months of shelf life.