MEET YOUR {OUTSTANDING} MAKER - APPLEBY FARMS

Take two farming mates and premium A2 milk from the sun-dappled, lush pastures of Nelson and you’ve got award winning Appleby Farms Ice Cream. Appleby Farms flavour guru Kristy Giles tells the story from before the first scoop in December 2017. 

“Friends and dairy farmers Murray and Julian had long considered the key to unlocking the delicious flavour in their premium farm fresh A2 milk so they could share it with more Kiwis. As one of their friends, and with my experience as a food technologist creating recipes and developing products, I joined their discussions. Between the three of us we kept circling back to the idea of creating delicious ice-cream. It’s fun to work with and create – people enjoy eating ice cream for lots of reasons. When they’re happy, as a celebration or if they need cheering up….so the die was cast.

Jump forward four years and the Appleby Farms creamery sits pride of place fifteen-minutes down the road from both Murray and Julian’s farms. It’s a state-of-the-art facility, ensuring that our ice-cream can be shared with the world without ever losing the quality and integrity that is at the heart of everything we set out to do.  

For me, one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of creating Appleby Farms Ice Cream is keeping up with food trends, while at the same time honouring New Zealanders favourite ice-cream flavours. Balancing these two elements keeps us stimulated and allows the team and I to delve into the exciting process of creating flavour combos.

‘Cow to Cone’ is a phrase we’ve devised to explain what sets our ice cream apart. We have complete control over the supply chain. We pick up fresh milk and cream from the farm to make our ice cream and we complement it with the best quality ingredients. If ingredients are sourced locally, that’s a bonus. It means every one of our ice creams celebrates Kiwi producers including Murray and Julian’s A2 milk.

Appleby Farms is like an extension of family with an amazing team of people. We look out for each other and care about the quality of the ice cream we are creating and making. We challenge our processes and the status quo, backing each other up and always asking how can we do things better to continually improve our ice cream and ensure each pack is filled with flavour.

Receiving recognition filled the entire team with pride. We were delighted to receive two Gold Medals in the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards in 2020 – for our Appleby Farms Coffee Ice Cream and Appleby Farms Salted Caramel Ice Cream.

Our unique cow to cone philosophy, coupled with premium A2 milk, excellent Kiwi grown ingredients and a great team has enabled us to achieve much in our first five years. We’re looking forward to building on this to continue churning delicious, award-winning ice-cream.”

Check out the complete Appleby Farms Ice Cream story by visiting the website www.applebyfarms.co.nz