Amongst the weird and wonderful product launches across food and beverage this Christmas, this was one of the stranger ones - Aldi's Pigs in Blankets flavoured ice cream. The new product launch came courtesy of this year's 'Aldi's Christmas Secrets' which aired on Channel 4 and saw British suppliers pitch for a spot on the supermarket's shelves in the run up to Christmas.
Pigs in Blankets Ice Cream from Yorkshire based dairy farm Yorvale, came out on top and in doing so became the dairy farm's first ever Aldi listing. Their quirky Pigs in Blankets Ice Cream wowed Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, Julie Ashfield and Communications Director at Aldi UK, Richard Thornton, and now their product will land on shelves nationwide from today.
The unique savoury-sweet ice cream is pork flavoured with a salted smoked maple syrup. Its creator, Lesley Buxton, who runs the Yorkshire-based dairy farm alongside husband Ian, said: "We knew it had to be unusual so we set about looking at typical Christmas flavours that might work in ice cream.
"We experimented with different flavour profiles: Brussels Sprouts, bacon and chestnut, Port-soaked cranberries and blue cheese, blue cheese and smoky bacon. Even a Christmas spiced 'Cuthbert' the carrot cake.
"But we finally landed on Pigs in Blankets as it was by far the best, and most festive tasting of them all."
Innovation and variation across Pigs in Blankets was a theme covered in our recent seasonwatching report wrapping up all the trends we've tracked across this year's festive season. The 112-page report can be read in full here, for tfp trendhub subscribers only. If you're not yet subscribed but are interested in finding out more about receiving our regular reporting then get in touch via the form below.