MACKIE’S honeycomb ice cream flavour is now on sale across Great Britain – thanks to a little help from Gregg Wallace.
The Aberdeenshire-based ice cream maker featured in the latest series of BBC Two’s Inside The Factory back in February.
Presenter Wallace followed a tub of honeycomb-flavoured ice cream all the way through the production process.
He met Deirdre Henderson and Louise Hunter, who make the honeycomb by hand in the site’s “sweetie kitchen”.
The pair makes around 66 tonnes of honeycomb each year – equivalent to about 40 family-sized cars – and recently set a record by making 1,985kg in one week.
Mackie’s farm spans 1,600 acres, and is home to 300 cows, which produce the milk and cream used to make its ice cream.
It also has its own wind turbines and solar panels to power its ice cream factory.
Following Wallace’s visit, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has signed a deal to sell Mackie’s honeycomb ice cream in 500 shops, taking the flavour into England and Wales for the first time.
The grocery chain is now also stocking Mackie’s strawberry swirl flavour throughout Great Britain.
‘Mackie’s moments’
News of the TV-inspired deal comes as Mackie’s summer competition tries to uncover Britons’ secret ice cream eating habits.
Fans are either sharing a post on Instagram – tagging @MackiesofScotland and hashtagging #mymackiesmoment – or completing an online poll to reveal their “ice cream personality”.
Stuart Common, Mackie’s sales director, said: “It’s about finding what acts as that ‘cherry on the top’ for your ice cream enjoyment.
“Some of us have a favourite ice cream spoon or bowl, some of us love ice cream as a midnight snack, maybe some enjoy it as a sweet treat for breakfast.
“Whatever it is that makes the moment special, we want to know.
“We’ve had a great reaction so far, with 6,000 entries on the night the competition went live.”
Members of staff at Mackie’s have been sharing their own ice cream secrets, with Henderson admitting: “I always have boxes of cones and wafers in the house for when the grandkids come round – [there are] five of them.
“Callie – also known as ‘Spud’ – stirs her ice cream into a cream, then adds a flake and hundreds and thousands – her favourite concoction.”
Kirstin McNutt, the company’s development director and part of the fourth generation of her family to run the business, revealed: “My go-to, everyday treat would be ‘Traditional’ with a granulated melted chocolate powder, which I mix up into a creamy, soft consistency.
“I have it in a bowl, in front of the telly with a film and the fire on.
“For a more special evening treat as a dessert or snack, I’d have it with Baileys poured over it.”
Read more news and reviews on Scottish Field’s food and drink pages, in association with Cask & Still magazine.
Plus, don’t miss the secret diner’s restaurant review in the July Issue of Scottish Field magzine.
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