Mackie's launch glow in the dark ice cream for Aberdeen light festival

The light up ice cream will be showcased at the Mackie's 19.2 parlour from 8 February.

Author: Vanessa WalkerPublished 8th Feb 2024
Last updated 8th Feb 2024

Scotland's first ever glow in the dark ice cream has been created to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Spectra light festival in Aberdeen.

Aberdeenshire-based family firm Mackie's will showcase it's first-of-a-kind creation at it's parlour in the heart of the city whilst the festival takes place from 8 to 11 February.

The “Light Up” Lemon Sherbet flavour was created using natural ingredients including riboflavin, also known as Vitamin B2, which causes it to glow under UV light.

The idea, inspired by the Aberdeen’s Spectra Light Festival, was brought to life by Pauline MacLeod – NPD Technologist at Mackie’s.

Pauline said: “We wanted to do something memorable to celebrate the festival, and what better way than a glowing ice cream?

“Despite it looking unusual, it’s totally safe to eat, and made using natural ingredients. We also felt a flavour like lemon sherbet perfectly summed up this treat, which has had glowing reviews from the staff who have tried it!”

Parlour Manager, Yvette Harrison who had the initial idea for the UV ice cream said: “To have such a unique ice cream available for ice cream lovers over the weekend is really exciting.

“On top of the delicious taste, it brings a real wow factor, which fits in wonderfully with the Light Festival next door, with customers taking part by placing their ice creams under the light to see it glow.

“I was inspired by a friend who is featuring in the festival this weekend, and was really impressed that Pauline was able to start experimenting and manage to bring it to life in time for the festival. We’re confident it will be a big hit across the weekend.”

Stuart Common, Managing Director at Mackie’s of Scotland said: “We take our job of creating tasty, premium sweet treats very seriously at Mackie’s, but the beauty of the ice cream industry is that there is always scope to have a little bit of fun.

“Not only are we really excited to be launching a new limited-edition product at such a well-attended event, we’re overall just very proud of the team for executing and delivering a technically challenging idea, which has resulted in a brilliant end result. We’re sure festival-goers will agree!”

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