Kokova Magazine

Garlic, basil and ice-cream really aren't ingredients that we would put in the same bowl but it seems that Yummy Yorkshire have done just that and managed to create flavour combinations that are worthy of Great Taste Award Gold Stars.

The artisan ice cream producer has been awarded a two star Gold rating for its Basil flavoured Ice Cream while its Coconut & Mango and Black Garlic™ flavours received a one star Gold rating each.

It is the sixth consecutive year in which Yummy Yorkshire has won Great Taste Awards, bringing its total number of awards by the Guild of Fine Food to nine.

The Great Taste Awards are acknowledged by producers, retailers and consumers as the definitive, independent benchmark for speciality food and drink. They have been described as 'the Oscars' of the food world.

The 2013 Great Taste Awards saw a record number of almost 10,000 products entered, which were blind tasted by 405 independent experts comprising key buyers, retailers, chefs and food writers. Foods are judged by at least three different judging panels at three different venues over a period of 45 days and judges awarded the flavour based on three factors; its appearance, texture and taste.

To award a product with the highest rating - 3 gold stars - as many as 40 experts must unanimously agree the food delivers that indescribable 'wow' factor.

The judges described Yummy Yorkshire's Basil ice cream as having 'a very true and fresh basil flavour and the ice cream is of excellent quality', while the Black Garlic™ was described as 'a really interesting product with a lovely smokiness to the flavour. A good underlying ice cream.'

The Coconut & Mango meanwhile received the following feedback; 'a very smooth ice cream with generous mango ripples. A nice balance of sweetness between the sweetness of the ripples and the base ice cream. We really like the combination of coconut & ice cream and liked that the mango had a nice freshness.'

Winning not one but three individual Great Taste Awards is a major achievement for a small, family run business like ours, especially for the sixth year in a row. We like to try and break the boundaries a little to create unusual using regional producers where possible so it’s a great honour to also receive awards for them. The Great Taste Awards are carried out in a totally un-biased way, and judged on taste and texture by industry experts, who give full credit where it’s due. We have gained a lot of recognition and new customers from our GTA win over the years and are hoping that this year's awards will have a similarly positive effect on the business.

Jeremy Holmes, Co-founder of Yummy Yorkshire