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Ice cream maker Sally Newall has scooped a double in the Great Taste Awards.
The enterprising mother-of-four, from Bonnington, whose products are about to go on sale at the new food hall in John Lewis Bluewater won a gold star for two flavours in her Simply Ice Cream range - Sublime Strawberry and Heavenly Honeycomb.
The awards were organised by the Guild of Fine Food, a 1,300-strong association of producers and sellers of top qaulity local, regional and speciality food and drink.
Mrs Newall said: "We entered two categories and won both so this crowns a fantastic year for us, in which we doubled business.
She also announced the addition of four new flavours - apple and blackberry crumble, cinnamon, lemon curd and coconut - to her 18 existing lines. The new flavours were trialled at last weekend’s Whitstable Oyster Festival.
Mrs Newall’s products are now on sale at Waitrose, the supermarket chain, and her ice creams will be stocked at the new John Lewis Foodhall from Waitrose due to open in the Bluewater store on August 6. They will also be available in the London Oxford Street store.
She founded Simply Ice Cream in 2006 to satisfy a growing demand for the sort of luxury ice cream she had served at weddings and other functions. She has gone on to win several awards, and featured on the UK Food channel’s Market Kitchen show.
Telly chefs enjoyed her double cream product so much that they chose her over two rivals to sell it at a Farmers’ Market in Hackney where she impressed shoppers and sold 350 tubs.