Category: Highland Fold

Posted on by — 4 Comments

Our Philosophy

Argyll is full of flavour and capturing that is what we want to do with our unique Highland Fold Ice Cream; we want to share the freshness and wildness of this amazing place and create tastes to compliment the wonderful feelings, sounds, smells and views of our spectacular surroundings.

Our ice cream is designed to make our customers smile. We like to know where our ingredients come from and we are privileged to have artisan producers on our doorstep creating exciting quality products right here in Argyll. This means we can support local businesses at the same time as knowing we are using the very best of ingredients. Our syrups are made especially for us by Paradise Kitchen on the Isle of Seil – established artisan makers of preserves; our chocolate comes from the (amazing) Oban Chocolate Company made in their little chocolate factory; our crumb sprinkles are from the most delicious organic biscuits produced by The Island Bakery on the Isle of Mull, our traditional tablet chips (to die for) are made using tablet from The Scottish Tablet Company in Campbelton who have a wonderful ancient family recipe. For our special Highland Welcome sauce, we use Jura Whisky from the Isle of Jura.

We don’t have to look far to find fantastic Argyll flavours. As well as food provenance, we are interested in looking after our environment and contributing to our local economy by sourcing our ingredients as close to home as we can to keep road-miles down and support local business. We don’t like waste, so all of our packaging is recycled and compostable and we offer incentives at events for returned tubs and spoons so we can take them home with us to turn into compost to put back on the fields, to grow better grass for our cows so that we can make even more delicious ice cream. Our gorgeous vending trailer is an upcycled horse trailer, adapted for carrying and selling ice cream and powered by a bank of rechargeable batteries designed especially for us by Scoraig Wind Electric. We care about Argyll, we care about our customers and we care about making the best ice cream we possibly can.

And most of all, we care about our cows! ?

Posted on by — Leave a comment

We Are Launching!

We have been taste-testing and recipe perfecting for over a year now and we are excited to announce that Highland Fold Ice Cream will be selling our traditional dairy ice cream for the first time at the 60th Annual Appin Agricultural Show.
Come along and have a taste of some of our wonderful local flavours on August 19th.
Posted on by — 6 Comments

Our Cows.

We have a small fold of Highland Cattle free to forage on the herb rich pasture which grows naturally here at Achinreir Farm. We choose cows with a kind gentle nature and we enjoy accommodating their individual quirks and needs.

Highland Cattle are an ancient breed known to have survived the poor land and harsh conditions presented by the hills, glens and islands of the Scottish Highlands since the sixth century. Celebrated for their dazzling looks and hardy characteristics, they are also generally amiable and easy to work with.

For many generations these unique cattle made a significant contribution to the lives of the Highland subsistence crofters; they were a source of meat and milk and their hair was used to spin yarn. The cattle were herded the length and breadth of the country to sell calves at the annual trysts.

In 1884, the Scottish Highland Cattle Society was formed, the oldest recorded breed society and is still strongly represented.  Over the years this unique breed has become increasingly popular overseas with cattle breeders in at least 18 countries around the world.

The breed is particularly hardy and has a fantastic ability to naturally convert poor grazing for the production of strong well grown calves. Their rich milk, their strong maternal instinct and ease of calving makes them outstanding mothers.

Although these days milking Highland cattle is not customary, traditionally they were used as house cows, providing milk, butter and cheese for families across the Highlands and Islands.

There is much folklore surrounding milking of Highlanders in the ‘old days’ and it is said that great virtue belonged to cheese made by women at the summer shielings. They infused the cheese with herbs and gathered Pearlwort (or Mothan in Gaelic) from the high peaks to add to the milk to keep it safe from fairies; those who ate this cheese were said to be protected.

The butterfat in the milk of the Highlander can be as high as 9 to 10%, much higher than that of conventional milking breeds which tends to be between 3 and 5%. The Highlanders milk is rich and sweet and we have found it to be ideal for producing a perfect gelato style ice cream.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Our Farm.

Our Farm is a small Argyll hill farm situated between two lochs on a hillside in the beautiful area of North Lorn.

The farm is made up mostly of permanent pasture providing ample natural foraging for our cows. Surrounded by Barcaldine Forest there is shelter from the infamous Highland wind and rain whichever direction it happens to be coming from and the wet climate also produces plenty of natural running water.

The pastureland is characteristically herbaceous and our five-year pasture improvement plan to encourage natural growth of the native grasses and herbs which the cattle thrive on.

A small woodland in the centre of the farm, is packed with native broad leafed trees, conifers, shrubs, wild flowers and mosses; a wonderful sanctuary for wildlife.

The Ice Cream kitchen is housed in the old stable on the west side of the cobbled courtyard in our traditional stone built steading; this state-of-the-art ice-cream production unit has been designed so that it doesn’t interfere with the structure or look of the beautiful old building.   Our airy milking parlour is a converted traditional corrugated tin shed which opens onto paddocks for mothering cows and their calves.