Sweet tooth foodies can enjoy a full access tour of Mackie’s family farm and ice cream dairy from their sofas this week – as the Aberdeenshire producer is set to take centre stage in the latest episode of Inside the Factory.
The BBC series sees host Gregg Wallace exploring how famous products from around the UK are made, and on Wednesday (February 9) viewers will be able to enjoy his visit to the Aberdeenshire farm business.
The Masterchef presenter was given a behind the scenes tour, where he helped make some of their famous Honeycomb flavour real dairy ice cream.
The episode will cover every part of the process from milking the cows to filling and freezing the tubs.
Hosted by Kirstin Mackie, one of three sibling owners at Mackie’s, Gregg met several of the staff team including Dave Smurthwaite (Head Cattleman), Morag Haggerty (Production Manager), Louise Hunter and Dierdre Henderson (from the Sweetie Kitchen) - and of course, their all-important cows.
He discovers how the family business, which makes more than 12 million litres of ice cream each year, uses fresh milk from its herd to make their dairy ice cream.
Gregg was also shown the techniques and equipment required for Mackie’s to make their own honeycomb and packaging on the farm.
The episode will focus on Mackie’s “Sky to Scoop” ethos, which sees them using renewable energy from their wind turbines to power the ice cream dairy.
Speaking about the exciting episode, development director Kirstin Mackie said: “We are busy making ice cream here on a working farm – it’s not a visitor centre and it can be difficult to show people around the business. We loved the experience of working through this and having Gregg and the filming crew up to see us and we hope that viewers will enjoy learning more about Mackie’s.
“While I and some of our team were initially quite nervous – it was made fun by Gregg’s chat and the friendly film and sound crew. It was very interesting to see how much work goes into making the programme as well – it was a full and busy three days filming!
“We are delighted to have this opportunity to show how Mackie’s make ice cream on this fantastic programme.”
Gregg was also given an exclusive glimpse inside Mackie’s new twin drum spiral freezer, Mackie’s newly installed Low Carbon refrigeration system, which runs on ammonia and biomass heat – and is expected to reduce Mackie’s energy use and carbon emissions by up to 80%.
You can watch the episode at 9 pm on Wednesday (February 9) on BBC 2.
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