Roscrea ice cream is a winner

Boulabán Farm, Roscrea, has received five awards from Great Taste, the world’s most coveted blind-tasted food awards.

The Great Taste awards celebrate the very best in food and drink, and they have just announced the Great Taste stars of 2016. Out of 10,000 products to be judged, Boulabn Farm, Roscrea, was a delighted recipient of five Great Taste awards, a 2-star for Honeycomb Icecream and 1-star awards for Vanilla, Chocolate, Lavendar & Honey and Hazelnut Ice Creams.

Judged by over 500 of the most demanding palates, belonging to food critics, chefs, cooks, restaurateurs and producers as well as a whole host of food writers and journalists, Great Taste is widely acknowledged as the most respected food accreditation scheme for artisan and speciality food producers. As well as a badge of honour, the unmistakeable black and gold Great Taste label is a signpost to a wonderful tasting product, which has been discovered through hours and hours of blind-tasting by hundreds of judges.

Receiving these awards is a fantastic endorsement of our products which we produce with great care on the family farm using our own milk. It is great to get such consistent positive professional and independent opinions on our entries. Some of the comments for the Honeycomb ice cream included “Smooth, creamy ice cream”, “A lovely, appealing colour. The smooth texture is very good, with a fine level of cream and honeycomb pieces. Very easy to eat!” and “A good balance of sweetness, which leaves the palate clean and refreshed.”

Distributed to hotels and restaurants by La Rousse Foods, these awards raise the profile of our products and help strengthen our market share.

Recognised as a stamp of excellence among consumers and retailers alike, Great Taste values taste above all else, with no regard for branding and packaging. Whether it is bread, honey, salami or cereal being judged, all products are removed from their wrapper, jar, box or bottle before being tasted. The judges then savour, confer and re-taste to decide which products are worthy of a 1-, 2- or 3-star award.

There were 10,000 Great Taste entries this year and of those products, 141 have been awarded a 3-star, 878 received a 2-star and 2,520 were awarded a 1-star accolade. The panel of judges included; TV chef and author, Valentine Warner, MasterChef judge and restaurant critic, Charles Campion, fifth generation baker, Tom Herbert from Hobbs House Bakery, and Great British Bake Off winner, Frances Quinn; food buyers from Harrods, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols and Waitrose and chefs including, James Golding, chef director of THE PIG Hotels, and Kevin Gratton, chef director of HIX Restaurants. These esteemed palates have together tasted and re-judged the 3-star winners to finally agree on the 2016 Top 50 Foods, the Golden Fork Trophy winners and the 2016 Supreme Champion.

Great Taste 2016 will reach its exciting finale on Monday September 5th, when the world of fine food gathers at the Royal Garden Hotel in London to find out the Golden Fork winners for each region at an Awards Dinner, with the final applause reserved for the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2016.