Cheshire: Daresbury Dairy is cream of the crop in this year’s awards

Daresbury Dairy’s stem ginger ice cream secured a two-star rating with the plain ice cream and raspberry ripple ice cream each receiving a one-star award.

All three award-winning ice creams have been in the dairy’s range for a while, but this was the first time the plain ice cream and the stem ginger ice cream had been entered into the annual awards.

Raspberry is a one-star ice cream

The Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste Awards 2024 are dubbed the Oscars of the food and drink world.

Nearly 3,500 companies entered Great Taste this year, between them offering 13,672 products for review.

Each entry was blind-tasted by the Guild’s expert judging panel of more than 500 food critics, chefs, recipe creators, buyers, retailers and other specialists in the field of food and drink.

Daresbury Dairy has been making ice cream on the family-run Penkridge Lake Farm on since 2011, although the family has been farming here for several generations.

They use milk from their cows on the Newton Lane, Daresbury farm and make small artisan batches of ice cream.

The awards, now in its 31st year, judge products made anywhere in the world with organisers saying it is the largest global accreditation scheme for food and drink.

Entries were analysed across 92 judging days, each receiving detailed feedback, whether or not they obtained an award.

Claire and Emma Whitlow

Claire Whitlow said: “We sent our ice creams off to be tasted and tested by the judges earlier this year.

“We were delighted with the results from the Great Taste Awards 2024 – it was worth the wait!

“It’s lovely to get such positive feedback and to be recognised for the high quality artisan product we are making.

“We put love and care into making our ice cream and use the finest ingredients.

“With our raspberry ripple, we puree the raspberries that go into the ice cream ourselves and it is fabulous to have that celebrated.

“The feedback from the judges was also really positive and useful.

“With our Daresbury Dairy plain, the judges liked the fact the milk is allowed to shine in this pain dairy ice cream.

“It’s lovely to have the cows and their role in this acknowledged too!”

The shop stocks 12 flavours and six flavours are rotated either weekly or monthly

Daresbury Dairy is no stranger to winning awards with the chocolate ice cream awarded one star in the Great Taste Awards 2023.

The team has also won a number of awards with the Ice Cream Alliance as part of its National Ice Cream Competition.

In 2020, they won a bronze medal for the salted caramel ice cream and earlier this year they picked up a diploma for the strawberry ice cream.

Claire said: “We will be busy over the next few weeks now that summer has arrived.

“People love ice cream all year round but especially so in the sunshine!”