Do you have fruit for our ice-cream? (From Ledbury Reporter)

Do you have fruit for our ice-cream?

1:30pm Thursday 30th August 2012 in News

LEDBURY people are being asked to search their gardens to help save an award-winning local ice-cream.

Bromsberrow ice cream makers Just Rachel is blaming the cold spring and wash out early summer for a poor crop with the usual suppliers struggling to meet demand for the fruit.

Now company owner Rachel Hicks is hoping local people with a bit of land can save the day.

She said: “We are very short on damsons this year, and if we don’t get enough damsons, we will not be able to make our award-winning Damson and Sloe Gin Ice Cream next year.

“The cold wet weather earlier in the year has meant that our regular suppliers have much smaller crops than last year – some do not have any damsons at all.”

Its Damson and Sloe Gin ice cream won two gold star awards at the Great Taste Awards – known as the Oscars of the food industry – last year.

She added: “We need a metric tonne in total to see us through the year. “I would like to appeal to anyone who has damsons in their garden or orchard to spare to contact me and let me buy them.”

Mrs Hicks said her usual suppliers are facing “a big hole” in the crop, which is 50 per cent down on a normal year.

She said: “The buds didn’t set properly, so often the fruit did not form in the first place.”

The business this week was down to just two trays of damsons, and these were frozen ones from the 2011 harvest.

A failure to make Damson and Sloe Gin Ice Cream for 2013 could hit profits hard.

She said: “It is one of our most popular flavours. We only use real fruit. That is our brand. This could impact, potentially, on our sales.”

Anyone who can help can call Rachel on 01531 650639.