RAINY DAYS AND SUNDAES
Five generations of the Morelli family have been making award-winning ice cream in the classic Italian style. As part of the Simply Better Range, they have no intention of slowing down, whatever the weather.
Neven Maguire meets Arnaldo and Daniela Morelli, purveyors of the award-winning Morelli’s ice cream
SHOP THE RANGE
THE CREAM OF THE COAST
Before you even calculate quantities and batches, you need to start with the raw ingredients. Being nestled on this stretch of the Causeway Coast, the Morellis have access to some of the finest produce there is. “The milk and cream comes from Ballyrashane Creamery, which is just a couple of miles from here. We get their deliveries every day. We know it’s the freshest double cream there is. The quality of dairy ingredients in Ireland is the best in the world.”
The collaboration between the Morellis and Dunnes Stores has paved the way for produce from other Simply Better producers, too. “That’s the beauty about Dunnes Stores. We’re using Strawberry Preserve from Wexford Preserves. Our Butterscotch sauce comes from What’s For Pudding and so on.”
Having secured the produce, the mixing and making takes place in the facility below the Morelli’s office.
“There are two stages to making ice cream. You’re making the mix the day before it’s frozen. The batches that were made yesterday were all frozen today through a big industrial ice cream freezer.”
The raw materials – the fruit, cream, chocolate and other components – give the ice cream its flavour, but another vital component in ice cream-making is air. It is aeration that gives it that unmistakable melt-in-the-mouth texture, as Arnaldo explains, “If there was no air, it would be like a solid block. You incorporate the air gently and, combined with the ingredients – the double cream and we use a little bit of butter as well – they add to the texture. All that comes together to give the ice cream its richness.”
