Everyone loves pigs in blankets at Christmas time – but what about as an ice cream?
That’s the newest seasonal flavour from York-based ice cream company Yorvale.
And their unusual festive Pigs in Blankets ice cream has been chosen to be stocked in Aldi stores all over the country, as seen on the Channel 4 programme Aldi’s Christmas Secrets last night (Monday).
This year, supermarket giant Aldi were on the hunt for new suppliers to work with who can offer the perfect Christmas product – and among the hopefuls were Liverpool bakery, Desserts by Dre, with his Christmas Pudding Cheesecake; Wigston Deli, who pitch Pigs in Blankets Samosas; and a festive themed steamed pudding from Worcestershire based The Pudding Shop.
But Ian and Lesley Buxton, founders of Yorvale, came out on top with their ‘Pigs in Blankets’ flavoured ice cream.
Ian and Lesley have run their dairy farm in Acaster Malbis, York since 1984. It’s an 80-acre farm with 42 cows, and has an onsite ice cream factory with 14 staff. They make around 50 flavours, including classics like vanilla and mint choc chip.
This isn’t their first out-of-the-ordinary flavour, as over the years they’ve made unusual flavours such as dijon mustard, horseradish, and caramelised onion.
In the programme – which was first shown on Channel 4 on Monday 18 December at 9pm – Ian and Lesley pitched their Pigs in Blankets ice cream to the managing director of buying at Aldi UK, Julie Ashfield and communications director at Aldi UK, Richard Thornton.
“I am a little bit apprehensive,” said Richard, before tasting.
The ice cream that Julie and Richard first tasted was a smoked bacon and pork flavour and contained ‘bacon bits’ – but the ice cream was completely meat free.
After tasting the ice cream, the verdict was in. “My taste buds are very confused,” said Richard. “I think I like it.”
“It tastes a bit like really nice ice cream, with a smoky bacon crisp,” said Julie.
“I think we sold ourselves as well as we could do,” said Ian, after the pitch. “I think the ice cream went down very well.”
After a successful pitch, Ian and Lesley had an anxious wait to find out if their product had been chosen by Aldi. And sure enough, they received the phone call with the good news.
“My heart is racing,” said Lesley.
“The one that really excited us was Yorvale and their pigs in blankets ice cream,” said Julie.
However, production of the ice cream hit an issue when the bacon bits in the ice cream couldn’t be sourced to the scale required in time for a Christmas order. Ian and Lesley decided to slightly change the flavour – which ran the risk of Aldi no longer liking the product and potentially losing out of their opportunity.
The ice cream needed to be redeveloped, which was taken on by Yorvale’s development chef Ross Harwood. The idea was to retain the flavour that they already had but to remove the bacon pieces. The smoked bacon flavour was combined with a ham and pork flavour, which was then combined with a salted smoked maple ripple.
The altered flavour was a hit with the supermarket, and Aldi ordered 25,000ml of the bacon and maple ripple.
“I think it’s great that the whole family could be tucking into pigs in blanket ice cream at Christmas time,” said Ian. “I hope it brings a smile to their face.
“This is definitely one of Yorvale’s best Christmases!”
Could it be turkey and stuffing ice cream next?
Yorvale’s Pigs in Blankets flavour ice cream is available to buy from your nearest Aldi store from today (Tuesday). To watch the full Aldi’s Christmas Secrets programme on catch-up, visit the Channel 4 website.