York Olive Oil Co. -

From the August 2013 edition of the York & Districts Community Matters, written by Lindsay McNeill:

“It is official, York Ice Cream Co makes the best liquorice ice cream in WA.

The company recently won a gold medal and championship sash for its liquorice ice cream in this year’s Perth Royal Show competition. All 12 of its entries received awards, two gold and 10 silver medals, the most won by a single ice cream maker at the show.

York Ice Cream Co is owned and operated by Arnaud Courtin and business partner, Jenny Baxter. They also own and operate York Olive Oil Co from their factory and crushing plant on Ashworth Road.

Liquorice is a recent addition to the range of flavours Arnaud makes. It was inspired by local retailers Garry and Linda from Penny Farthing Sweets in Avon Terrace.

Arnaud was sceptical about liquorice, black ice cream isn’t very attractive he thought, but eventually gave in and decided to give it a try. Garry and Linda supplied the liquorice in the form of the intensely flavoured Pontefract Cakes imported from the UK.

Using his traditional ice cream recipe flavoured with liquorice cakes, Arnaud was amazed at the end result and by all accounts, so were those who have tried it. “Even people not fond of liquorice reckon it is pretty good. “What is more, it isn’t black but a pleasant coffee colour!” Arnaud said.

York Ice Cream Co makes its ice cream using time honoured recipes in batches of six litres at a time. “We use traditional French recipes tweaked a little to suit our conditions. “These include eggs and full cream milk pasteurized to maintain quality and flavour,” he said.

“If we need 30 litres of ice cream we don’t just increase the volume, we make five or six small batches. “You can’t make one big mix and achieve the same quality and flavour. “It is a true artisan approach to ice cream making,” Arnaud said.

Apart from the factory, the company’s  ice cream is only available from Penny Farthing Sweets in York.”

Lindsay McNeill

Arnaud Courtin proudly displays the awards won by York Ice Cream Co’s entries at this year’s Perth Royal Show competition along with cartons of the award winning liquorice ice cream and the all important Pontefract Cakes used in making it.