The Inside Scoop

Inside Hamilton’s Duck Island Ice Cream store you’ll find an imaginative range of flavours and a focus on using local and organic ingredients.

When you think of New Zealand ice cream flavours you tend to think of childhood favourites: hokey pokey, orange chocolate chip and French vanilla. Duck Island Ice Cream, located in Hamilton East, is a boutique ice creamery with an inventive range of flavours that would have rocked the taste buds of your childhood self.

Walk inside the store and you’re confronted with tantalising combinations, such as White Chocolate Pomegranate and Macadamia, Blackberry Sage and Honey and Cinnamon Smoked Apple Pie – it’s unlikely you’ll be reaching for plain old vanilla again.

The many flavours of Duck Island Ice Cream

Morgan Glass, Kimberley Higgison and Cameron Farmilo have been co-owners of Hamilton’s award-winning Chim Choo Ree restaurant for the past eight years. They were inspired to open their own ice cream shop after the success of Chim Choo Ree’s dessert menu. “We’ve always made our own ice cream for the desserts menu and enjoyed playing around with different flavour combos,” explains Morgan.

While Morgan and Kim were certain an ice cream shop would be the next best step, Cam still needed convincing, so Kim and Cam took a trip to the US. “We went to the States on an ice cream parlour research trip before we opened, to check if it was a good idea or not – or more to convince Cam to let us do it because he was a bit unsure,” laughs Kim.

Kim says a lot of their inspiration comes from those American scoop shops: “There are a lot of similar ice cream parlours over there, many with much crazier flavours than ours.” They also get inspiration from social media which they find useful for finding out what their fellow ice cream makers around the world are up to.

Opening in June 2015, they imagined getting through their first winter would be a challenge but were surprised by Duck Island’s success. “Winter business wasn’t bad considering it’s ice cream,” says Morgan. “Turns out people still like eating ice cream in the winter.”

Roasted White Chocolate and Miso is one of their most popular flavours, along with Maple Honeycomb and Smoked Almond; Chocolate Cherry Crunch; Raspberry Coriander and Coconut and my personal favourite, Salted Caramal and Cacao.

To create Duck Iland’s unique flavour combinations they experiment with seasonal fruit and vegetables and lots of fresh herbs. “You can infuse anything into a sweet ice cream base and churn it, so if you can think it, you can probably make ice cream out of it. Cheeseburger, pizza or lolly cake would all be possible,” Morgan laughs. Feijoa is another popular flavour, but is only around for the short season. “We always get requests for it months after we run out of feijoas.”

Using only organic milk, free range eggs and local organic ingredients wherever possible, Duck Island’s philosophy is simple: use only real ingredients, all additive and preservative free. They also offer vegan and dairy-free made with a coconut milk base.

Summer sees the release of a range of new flavours, including a Fairy Bread Ice Cream made by steeping toasted brioche overnight and then folding through hundreds and thousands – a staff favourite – which, not surprisingly, has quickly become popular with their kids as well. They have also introduced a buttermilk ice cream with a Strawberry and Balsamic Swirl. Another new summer flavour is their strawberry ice cream. “Some flavours are best left simple,” says Morgan. And when it’s plum season they make a sour plum sorbet which is always popular with locals.

As well as the Duck Island Ice Cream store, a selected range of flavours in tubs are available in specialty food stores. Soon to be released are four new flavours which were previously only available in-store, including Peppermint Slice, Black Sticky Rice (vegan), Chocolate Cheery Chunk and Banana Chai.

As well as ice cream cones and tubs, the Duck Island Ice Cream store makes fresh celebration ice cream cakes to order, available in a variety of flavours.

Morgan says since they opened feedback has been amazing, but there are a few customers that just don’t get it. “Some people come in and just want the old vanilla soft serve, but most are really into it.” She says children are surprisingly open to their unusual flavours. “Kids are especially great at trying new things, they really get into the berry and herb combos.”

What does the future hold for Duck Island Ice Cream? The three have recently purchased an old Mr Whippy truck. “We are working on doing it up, so hopefully that will be up and running early next year,” says Morgan. They plan on taking it to weddings and local events and maybe even the odd road trip.

Just don’t expect any vanilla soft serve cones when you see that familiar truck driving past. Instead try mouth-watering seasonal fruits paired with some perfectly balanced herbs in a sweet creamy base – you’ll be asking for a double scoop.