Transatlantic trip for glorious Gigha gelato
A BRAMBLE and whisky ice cream from one of Scotland’s smallest producers is proving a hit in America.
Until last week, entrepreneur Don Dennis was happy that Gigha’s Wee Isle ice cream’s six flavours – mocha, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, raspberry and bramble and whisky, with a hint of Hazelburn 12-yearold from Springbank – were starting to sell in Kintyre.
His greatest challenge was how to give his San Francisco-based parents a taste of the product he hopes will boost Gigha’s dairy economy.
Reid, 90, and Peggy, 88, Dennis live in the sunshine state where ice cream is an essential part of staying cool in an often drought-hit environment.
Mr Dennis said: ‘In the spring my wife, Emma, suggested that it would be good if we could send some of our ice cream over to California for my father’s 90th birthday.
‘It was not easy, as there are no financially realistic ways of sending it by refrigerated transport, at least none that we could discover.
‘Large companies use refrigerated containers but the cost was prohibitive at about £10,000.
‘So we missed the birthday.’
The only solution would be a personal courier carrying the ice cream which under the best circumstances would involve a 27hour journey.
Last week Mr Dennis’s daughter, Jennifer, 30, from Edinburgh, was flying over via Heathrow for a family wedding. For the Gigha ice cream to travel it would mean 40 hours of transit time and Mr Dennis hatched a plan.
Mr Dennis said: ‘Nine of the 500ml tubs of our various flavours were packed in a special cool box, called a Kangabox, along with three Eutectic plates, which are found in domestic freezers.
‘A sprinkling of dry ice was added to that box, and the Kangabox was put inside an insulated Waeco cool box.
‘Bags of ice were added to the modest spare space of the Waeco box.’
Last Saturday Mr Dennis took the box to Big Jessie’s tearoom at Ferry Farm where Kintyre Kollector picked it up and delivered it to Glasgow.
The following morning Jennifer began her flight and arrived in San Francisco in the wee hours of Monday morning our time.
Mr Dennis said: ‘We were both surprised and completely delighted to learn this morning that the ice cream arrived in perfect shape.
‘My father’s favourite is the bramble and whisky, followed by raspberry and vanilla. My mother liked them all, but the vanilla is her favourite.
‘I am astonished that we managed to get the ice cream to them in good shape.’