We are delighted to have been shortlisted in the East of England Coops Producer of the Year Awards 2017

 

You can see our video here:

 

 

 

And please do vote for us here - we need as many votes as we can! https://www.eastofengland.coop/poty2017?platform=hootsuite

 

 

 

Gooseberry & Limoncello Voted one of the Top50 Foods in Britain

The Guild of Fine Foods has voted our Gooseberry & Limoncello, made with local brewer Adnams finest Limoncello one of the Top 50 Foods in Britain, it now joins ranks with our Damson, which was also voted one of the Top 50 in 2013. See the video here:

 

 

Winner of 7 Great Taste Awards in 2014

Wow! 7 Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Food - one for every product we entered!  To top it all we received the top accolade of 3 stars for our Gooseberry & Limoncello made with Adnams award-winning Limoncello (and one star for our Damson Gin made with Adnams world class Gin) You can find details of our other award-winners on our awards page.

 

 

 

 

 

Winner of the Cream Awards Food Chain Marketing

 

We are delighted to win the Food Chain Marketing category of The Cream Awards: the Dairy Industry Trade Awards organised by Farm Business magazine with winners announced at a Gala Dinner at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham on 5th September 2013.

 

 

Damson One of the Top50 Foods in Britain

Out of almost 10,000 products entered into Great Taste 2013 just 125 have been awarded 3-star. 

 

All 3-star products have been re-judged by a panel including Masterchef judge and restaurant critic Charles Champion, food buyers from Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Whole Food Markets and Michelin Star chef Russell Brown who have together decided on the 2013 Top 50 Foods, including our Damson!!

 

Finally on Monday, 9 September, at a nail-biting Awards’ Dinner at the Royal Gardens Hotel, London, the great and the good from the world of fine food will gather to hear who has won the Golden Fork Awards and the final applause will be reserved for the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2013.  

 

9 Great Taste Awards in 2013!

Building on lasts years success we received 9 Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Food in 2013. Here are the awards, and what the judges had to say:

 

3 star     Damson: fantastic texture, well balanced flavours, nothing we would change.  We                all loved the simplicity of this product, and would all happily eat it in volume!

 

2 star:    Blackcurrant: A wonderfully rich colour and excellent depth of flavour. 

         Summer Fruits: Vibrant colour and intense fruit flavour,  Reminded us of a good              quality Italian style semi-freddo.

         Stem Ginger & Rhubarb: Rich & creamy with true rhubarb flavour shining                         through.  A   good choice and balance of flavours.

 

1 star:    Gooseberry & Elderflower: lovely refreshing gooseberry flavour that delivers a                nice burst of flavour in the mouth

             Tayberry: a lovely deep pink colour and rich fruity flavour

             Raspberry: pretty pink colour and creamy appearance, very simple and delicious.

             Strawberry: Summer on a spoon

             Summer Berry Parfait: really delicious to eat, the judges were keen to take it                    home.

 

Out of nearly 10,000 entries this year, only 125 were awarded the top accolade of 3 stars, now we just have to see if we have reached the Top50!  

 

 

 

7 Great Taste Awards in 2012

We achieved a massive 7 Great Taste Awards from the Guild of fine Food this year - a personal best!

 

Our Raspberry cream ice received the Guilds highest award of 3 Gold Stars, the judges praising the ‘excellent fresh raspberry taste, creaminess and wonderfully ripe fruit’.  Only two other products received top marks in the ice cream and frozen dessert categories, putting usfirmly among the very best in the country!

 

The Great Taste Awards, run by the Guild of Fine Food is the recognised mark for excellence in fine food.  Of a total of over 8,800 products entered across all categories in 2012 only 123 were awarded the coveted 3 stars. 

 

Judges this year included Masterchef winner and restaurateur Mat Follas, restaurant critic and Masterchef judge Charles Campion, food writers Lucas Hollweg and Xanthe Clay and over 300 food buyers from leading food halls, delicatessens and farm shops, including Harrods, Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason.

 

Guild of Fine Food chairman Bob Farrand said that each of the food and drink products entered into Great Taste undergoes the most rigorous scrutiny. “To achieve a 3-star grading involves at least 25 experts blind-tasting and unanimously agreeing that the product tastes divine,” he said. “These products all deliver the most extraordinary taste.”

 

Our Gooseberry & Elderflower, Damson, Toffee Apple & Blackcurrant also received a ‘faultless’ 2 stars and ourTayberry and Morello Cherry received a ‘perfect’ 1 star. Giving a personal best of 7 Great Taste Awards, and 13 stars.

 

We have been smiling all week!

 

 

Anglian Business Green 100

We are delighted to tell you that we have been accepted as one of  Suffolk's Green 100 Businesses. We work hard at minimising our impact on the environment and source as many of our ingredients as locally as we can; in fact much of the fruit grows within sight of the cream ice kitchen.

 

One thing that helped us to get into the Green 100 was the new solar panels that we installed last year.  They have ticked over during the winter months and we are looking forward to the sun shining and the solar energy being generated. If you're down at the farm have a look at the roof by the courtyard to see them.  

 

 

Our Vintage Van is on the Road

 

Our beautiful vintage morris cream ice van is now on the road.  We had a great first outing to the Framling County Show and have got her booked up to lots more events over the summer - see our events page for more information.

 

 

 

Silver Success!

We recently received the Suffolk Carbon Charter Silver Award.  Suffolk is aiming to become “the greenest county” and we are proud to be doing our bit!

How we got silver:

• We installed solar panels towards powering our production facilities,
• We changed our packaging to create less waste and more recycling (and it is prettier too – pretty is important!)
• Stephany worked with the Low Carbon Champions Programme by the Green Light Trust
• We have a carbon reduction plan.
• We source everything we can as locally as possible; fruit from our own farm, and we use local services and suppliers wherever possible.

 

 

Christmas came early on Thursday when we hand delivered, not quite a white Christmas, but definitely a cold and frosty one!

 

Earlier this year we joined up with Firebrand Creative from Ipswich to run a special competition called ‘Do Yourself A Flavour’.  Launched at the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival we asked people to suggest a flavour they would like us to make.

 

There were some unusual entries such as Peanut Butter, Liquorice, and Salmon & Cream Cheese. Certainly novel, but we're not sure people would buy them! Crumbles and pies were very popular and hundreds of different fruit combinations were suggested. 

 

Black Forest Gateau was chosen as the overall winner and Lydia & Fliss Kindred were really excited to have special batch of it made just for them delivered to their door. We had a lovely day delivering all the prizes and seeing the smiles on peoples faces - all we were missing was a sleigh & 8 tiny reindeer!

 

The runners-up were Marissa Wright from Hertfordshire with Eton Mess and Julie Foster from Suffolk with Sloe Gin made from  Adnams Copper Pan Gin. A big thank you to everyone who took part.

 

                                

                                        Fliss Kindred                                                                    Julie Foster

 

 

We were delighted to reach the final of the BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards & really touched by all the wonderful things the judges Sheila Dillon & Richard Corrigan had to say about ices:

 

‘The Gooseberry is to die for’  Richard Corrigan, Chair of Judges

‘Possibly the best ices I have ever had’  Sheila Dillion, The Food Programme

 

You can hear the judges visiting Alder Tree on BBC iPlayer

 

A fabulous day at the NEC, we didn't win this time, but it was a privilege to get this far and we enjoyed seeing all the celebrities tucking into our pots for dessert!

 

 

        

                                                            Tiffany Jones, Valentine Warner &

                                                                                           Stephany Hardingham

 

       ..

Richard Corrigan & Adam Henson tuck into pots of Alder Tree at the awards.

 

 

We are delighted to have received 5 Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Food, for our Raspberry, Tayberry, Blackcurrant and two new flavours - Morello Cherry, available from the 1st August and Apple Pie, available from the 1st September.

We are delighted to be able to introduce are new 500ml packaging.  Made using 36% less packaging and 75% less plastic they are made from Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper, from sustainable managed sources.  We hope you like them as much as we do!

Audrey passes her check-up with flying colours!

We are delighted to announce the arrival of our latest recruit - Audrey the 1967 Morris LD Ambulance.

Originally made fo the Suffolk & Essex Health Authority she then spent 25 years at the Brantham Works in Manningtree.  In 2010 she moved to Stroud in Gloucestershire.

On the 23rd March 2011 Stepahny & Graham bravely drove her all the way back to Suffolk - it took us over 7 hours (with a picnic stop!) but she made it back in one piece.

We now plan to sympathetically convert her to an ice cream van, so visit facebook/aldertreeltd to see her progress - & give us a wave if you see us out and about!

The judges said the Gooseberry & Elderflower was 'absolutely stunning' 'light summer & refreshing' 'a gorgeous balance of flavours' and they wanted to 'go out and buy it right now!'

We are delighted to start the cream ice season with the launch of our newestflavour: Vanilla!  After 23 years of making our very fruity cream ices we decided that it was time to add the world's most popular flavour to our range.  We spent over a year developing the product, to ensure it was the very best we could make, and finally have something really quite delicious that we are proud to offer alongside the rest of our range.  Available in 100ml, 500ml and 4 litre containers in independently owned outlets nationwide.

We are thrilled that the well known food writer and Daily Telegraph columnist has included us in her top food guide:

'Usually when ice cream is made on a farm it is because it is a dairy farm, but in this case it is the soft fruit grown by the Hardingham family that is the important factor.  You can come here to buy or pick your own, but also to buy te fruit cream ice, so-called because there is more fruit than anything else in the pot .  It is also uniquely free from any additives such as fillers and gums.  It is shocking how many 'artisan' ice cream makers use skimmed milk etc.  The business is now run by Stephany, Nick & Joan Hardingham's savvy daughter, and you can buy the ices in a number of outlets.

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded 4 Great Taste Awards by the Guild of Fine Foods this year!  We recieved the highest award of 3-stars for both our Damson & our Tayberry flavour, indicating that the expert judges considered them to be faultless.  Our of nearly 5,000 enteries only 83 received 3 gold stars so we are thrilled to have received two of them!

 

We were also awarded 2-stars for our Gooseberry & Elderflower and 1-star for our newest flavour Toffee Apple.

'To win gold at the Great Taste Awards is a terrific achievement, but to win a 2 or 3 star award means joining Britains elite' Charles Campion, Food Critic.