Ullapool ice cream maker savours success
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A NEW ice cream maker in Ullapool is tasting success after being featured on Scotland’s first ever ice cream trail map.
Cathy Higginson launched Gelato Ullapool last year and her delicious Italian-style dessert has been a hit.
Now her company is featured along with more than 100 businesses across the country on a trail designed to allow visitors and locals to travel around Scotland’s best ice cream sellers.
The campaign is part of a celebration led by the Scottish government to coincide with the Year of Food and Drink. The government estimates that Scotland generates over £2.5m every day through food and drink tourism and has produced the map as a guide to the best ice-cream the country has to offer. The map includes big name makers such as Nardini’s and Mackie’s.
Cathy says: "I’m really delighted to be featured on Scotland’s first ice cream trail and put Gelato Ullapool and the village itself on the foodie map. To be included as a new food producer alongside big names like Nardini’s in Largs feels like a real achievement."
As well as classic flavours like Scottish raspberry and luxury dark chocolate, Cathy regularly creates quirky new tastes such as blue bubblegum.
Her handmade treats are stocked locally in a range of outlets from restaurants to delicatessens and she delivers from Stoer to Badachro. She also sells to passers-by from her base overlooking Ullapool’s picturesque harbour.
This summer she launched Gelato Ullapool’s vintage-look pink tricycle. Not only has it been a familiar sight around the village on sunny days but Cathy is increasingly taking the trike to weddings, ceilidhs, theatre performances and forthcoming music events like Loopallu and the Ullapool Guitar Festival.
She said: "The trike has that unhurried charm of the good old ‘stop me and buy one’ days which people seem to love. Ice-cream is a light, refreshing alternative when you want to offer guests a treat without leaving them feeling overloaded. It’s perfect for eating before dancing."
Cathy, who trained in food science and nutrition, moved to Ullapool three years ago and runs a B&B. She plans to extend her range and is already working on ice-cream cakes for children’s parties and celebrations.
"I make everything with the best quality ingredients and I keep tweaking a flavour until it’s absolutely the best I can make it," she said.
"My own family seem to enjoy being guinea pigs when I’m trying out new products!"
