Nanaimo bar, butter tart: London dairy farm celebrates Canada with new gelato flavours

A London-area dairy farm is whipping up something special for Canada Day.

The sixth generation farmers at Proof Line Farm Creamery & Market are churning up their whole milk to make Canadian-inspired gelato flavours.

From butter tart to Saskatoon berry, the tasty treats highlight a diversity of iconic Canadian flavours.

Janan McNaughton is the co-owner of Proof Line Farm Creamery and Market in Ilderton, just north of London. She spoke with CBC's Josiah Sinanan on Afternoon Drive.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

LISTEN: Tastes of Canada brought to life in gelato by London-area dairy farm

Josiah Sinanan: Before we get into the delicious gelato, tell us a little bit about your farm.

Janan McNaughton: We're a sixth generation dairy farm about five minutes north of London. It's still very much a hands-on family business with four generations all working here. The creamery that is about a year-and-a-half-old was started by my husband and I, and that's where we sell our whole milk, and we make our farm-to-table gelato all right here on the farm.

JS: I have to ask you about the name Proof Line Farm Creamery. Where did the name come from?

JM: Proof Line was actually the original name of Richmond Street which is where our farm is located, right at Richmond and Elderton Road. When we were thinking of building this creamery, we wanted something that really connected to the local history, so Proof Line was right where our farm entrance is.

JS: Why is farm to table important to you?

JM: We live in one of the best growing and harvesting regions in the world. The quality of the food that can be grown here, it's world class and it's really important for farms to be able to bring their products to the local public so that everyone can share in in the bounty of what surrounds us.

Typically, there's not a lot of local farm creameries in our area, even though there are a lot of dairy farms. So, this was just a way for us to to bring a new product, our whole milk and especially the gelato, directly to the community.

JS: You mentioned the creamery is a newer addition to this. Why gelato?

JM: The base of gelato is whole milk. And because we have such great high quality full-fat whole milk from our own farm, it was just a natural fit for us. Ice cream requires a few extra steps to make with just churning cream, but with gelato, we can just take our milk and start churning it right away, and then adding the flavours in that come from our local ingredients. It's a perfect fit actually for a dairy farm like us.

JS: I understand you've got a special line coming up of Canadian flavours for your gelato. Talk to us about what some of those are.

JM: So this weekend we're launching a ton of new Canadian inspired flavours that people have been asking us for. We have buttertart, Nanaimo bar, a Saskatoon berry sorbet with northern lights, which is haskap berries with mint. There's there's a whole bunch of new flavours that are going to be coming out specifically for this weekend.

JS: You said haskap berries are part of the Northern Lights flavour. What are those?

JM: Haskap berries are a very delicate berry that looks sort of like a blueberry but tastes more like a tart raspberry. And they're just gaining more popularity right now in our region. We get ours from a family that grows them in Ilderton. They may be a little bit unfamiliar to people, but they're a really great addition to gelato because they have a very strong flavour and a colour that comes through beautifully.

JS: Talk to us about some of the challenges that come with farming today.

JM: It's an interesting time right now to be a small farm. As much as there's growing public interest in shopping local and eating local, which is great, there's all kinds of pressures on land use right now. As the city grows things like housing, infrastructure, all that and agriculture is one thing where, you know, we really need the land to be able to help us keep local food growing here. So I think really the inspiration for starting the store was to to help us carry on the family farm and create that that direct connection with the community so that everybody can enjoy this for years to come.

JS: Have you seen that boost with people looking to buy more Canadian products?

JM: Absolutely, yeah. We have a lot of first time people coming in just asking questions and that's something we've wanted to be from day one is just to be a safe place for people to come and ask questions about local agriculture.

We try to do the best we can to talk about what we do on our farm specifically and why, having changed a lot of our practices to a more regenerative, sustainable approach recently. But also what's going on in the wider landscape of the food system and where people can go to get things that maybe we don't sell here or but our neighbour makes or grows. We're just trying to offer that connection to people so that they can really enjoy what is all around us.