The first farm in Britain to produce an Icelandic-style super yoghurt has completed a major expansion to keep up with demand.
Hesper Farm Skyr, based at Bell Busk near Malham, began producing skyr, a super-nutritious yoghurt which is a staple across Scandinavia in 2015, using milk from their pedigree herd in the Yorkshire Dales.
The skyr, which is produced onsite in a purpose-built dairy by the Moorhouse family has proven so popular that the family run business have now expanded the system to enable them increase capacity by ten-fold. The dairy will now be able to produce at least 12 tons a week – with scope to significantly increase capacity again in the future.
Sam Moorhouse, who started the now award winning business, learnt the age-old techniques of making skyr in Iceland where he was trained by skyr master Thorarinn Sveinsson. He late welcomed Thorarinn back to the farm to ensure the new equipment was producing the best possible product.
The award winning business who recently added a Great Taste Award to their list of accolades, use four times as much milk to produce their product as is used in an equivalent pot of traditional plain yoghurt. This means it’s incredibly thick and beautifully creamy, contains no fat, is low in sugar but high in protein and calcium making it an incredibly healthy option.
Sam said: “Thorarinn has been instrumental in making sure we are producing top quality skyr here in the England. We use a heritage Icelandic skyr culture dating back 874AD and are proud to be producing a quality product.
Sam continued: “We’re excited about the possibilities that increased capacity can bring us. Our two newest flavours – black cherry and raspberry are doing really well and we continue to get really positive feedback from our customers.”
Skyr is now available from farm shops and selected Booths supermarkets across Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria, as well as being distributed to cafes and restaurants across the country. For more information visit www.hesperfarmskyr.co.uk