What goes into producing your best-loved festive food?
Christmas is just around the corner and over the next month consumers will be stocking their fridges with festive favourites. From traditional Christmas dishes to plant-based variations, Meadow plays a significant role in the production of both staple festive dishes, and more modern variations.
In this month’s blog we’ll look at what goes into producing the nation’s best-loved festive food and explore why Meadow is the essential ingredient at Christmas time.
THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS
milk
Milk is an important component when it comes to the production of our seasonal favourites and luckily here at Meadow we can guarantee milk volumes to our customers all year round, including the festive period.
Ice cream is a popular accompaniment to a whole host of Christmas desserts, and whether it’s a yule log or a warm mince pie, ice cream is the ideal addition to any sweet treat. Our skimmed milk concentrates and whole milk are key ingredients in this frozen favourite
Meadow’s fully traceable and sustainably sourced milk is trusted by customers such as super premium ice cream and Greek frozen yogurt creators Ben & Jerry’s, who can trust that our milk will be a high-quality addition to their ice cream products.
FRESH PRODUCTS
Believe it or not, mascarpone is an important component in some of our best loved foods and sauces at the Christmas dinner table.
Originating from Italy, mascarpone is a smooth and easily spreadable fresh cream cheese which is produced by Meadow within its Fresh unit and is used by our customers in their production of bread sauce.
Bread sauce has been consumed for centuries and is particularly enjoyed during the festive period as it tends to best complement turkey.
However, in recent years mascarpone has become a more widely used alternative to single cream, which is the more traditional ingredient in bread sauce.
We produce both mascarpone and single cream at our state-of-the-art Peterborough site, alongside our other soft cheeses and creams.
butter
The products in our fats unit, are some of the most important for our customers at Christmas time, due to their versatility and presence in a vast array of festive food products.
Our butter is an essential ingredient for both savoury and sweet festive treats, from ready-made stuffing to delicious cakes.
It’s also a key part of one of the most iconic Christmas sweet treats: the humble, yet beloved mince pie. Our butter is used to give the pastry that encases the mincemeat its rich flavour and smooth texture.
Meadow have the UK’s largest butteroil plant, and are trusted by our customers to deliver the finest quality butters and fats.
CONFECTIONERY AT CHRISTMAS
For the sweet-toothed consumer out there, it wouldn’t be Christmas without chocolate. Advent calendars help to fuel the festive excitement during December and chocolate-based desserts have a very welcome place at the dinner table during the holiday period.
Meadow’s customers know that they can rely on our chocolate crumb as an essential ingredient in the production of dairy milk chocolate, as well as a range of chocolate flavoured products.
We provide a range of different crumb strengths to meet your needs, and our FLOCert certification means you can be sure that our chocolate crumb is ethically and sustainably sourced.
plant-based ingredients
Over the last decade, there has been a significant rise in the number of consumers who have started to adopt a vegan diet and this growth has led to a huge expansion in the plant-based food market.
From our segregated plant-based facility at our flagship Chester site, we produce alternative vegan-friendly milks, yogurts and custard.
From vegan trifle to plant-based pastries, Meadow produces the essential ingredient in a whole host of your favourite animal-free festive foods.
If you would like to discover more about Meadow and sample our ingredients, you can do so by contacting our customer service team. Or keep up to date on the latest industry and company news on our Twitter and LinkedIn.
