Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Recently I wrote a blog that you don't have to go far to taste and buy delicious products. That was also the case this time because the best ice cream is made less than two kilometers from my house. And not just any ice cream, but ice cream made from goat's milk.
The slogan of goat farm Lekker Gemekker is therefore "a bit exciting yet familiar". And if you are sitting on such a gem, you will of course want to share it. So it was about time for a food bloggers event in Andel and Lekker Gemekker on the farm.
Ael
Ael you will think, what is that? Nowadays you will also find our village name in the dialect on the welcome signs in our village Andel, so Ael. Belonging to the province of North Brabant since 1813, we are located on the dammed up Maas. The dike that meanders along Andel is therefore very popular with cyclists on beautiful sunny days. According to old legend, trumpeter Jan Claesen is buried near the Romboutstoren. The trumpeter from the army of the Prince of Orange. Mainly livestock and arable farming brought the inhabitants their source of income. Today it is a quiet village where it is good to stay.
't Boerenhof
Goat farmer Johan van 't Sant has lived here all his life. As the son of a cow farmer with a small herd, they have lived for years on Kammetweg in the middle of the village. Johan takes over his parents' business, but growing on that small piece of land in the village is not an option. In 1995 he decides to continue as a goat farmer.
Because the supplier asks for a fast milk production, Johan says he buys up “everything that bleats” and starts with a colorful collection of about 150 goats. Soon his ambitions turn out to be greater than the location can handle and the family moves to the edge of the village.
Nice Gemekker on the farm
The company started under the name 't Boerenhof. With the construction of a second stable in 2003, the company now has around 600 goats. Due to many regulations and fluctuating prices of animal feed, the price of milk, Johan decides that he wants to keep more control himself. The idea of producing goat's milk ice cream had been around for a while. And so "Lekker Gemekker" was born.
The ice cream was produced elsewhere for the first two years, but Els Ekelmans, who once started as an intern on the farm, is now responsible for a substantial production at home. Partner Dave van der Stelt also started as a small boy as a stable helper on the farm. Both have stayed with the goats and have full-time work.
Goat experience day
I've been driving past the farm for years and there has always been an idea of doing something with it, and in the end we were able to give shape to this with a fun event for food bloggers. Who better to tell the story than a number of enthusiastic foodies? We decided to make it a beautiful day with a complete program. A tour of the company, a delicious lunch and of course the opportunity to cuddle with the kids. We decided it would be a good idea to try some goat meat. This is still relatively unknown in the Netherlands and therefore a great opportunity to introduce everyone to it.
Foodies on the farm
And so on a beautiful sunny Friday morning, all the foodies slowly trickled into the farm. Jessica van MeatJess' food truck and Johan's ice cream truck formed the setting around cozy picnic tables on the grass. We split the group in two and led by “Ice Queen” Els started working with one group on the ice. The other group was told the whole story about Johan's company. After switching these groups and getting all this information it was time to fill the hungry stomachs.
The lunch of Lekker Gemekker on the farm
My share for lunch was two delicious salads, topped off with scoops of goat cheese from the Bettinehoeve. Xander van de Bettinehoeve was also present all day and managed to capture everything beautifully on photo. With freshly baked bread from the baker from Andel and freshly prepared herb butter by me in the morning, we enjoyed being outside in the sun. In her food truck, Jessica made sure we all got a delicious wrap with goat meat.
Kids, kids, kids
The highlight for many ladies was secretly the end of the afternoon. We had specially made sure that the event was held when there were quite a few lambs. And they knew that. In neat skirts and floral blouses, the ladies dived into the stables to pet and cuddle the animals. With a lot of aaaah's and oooooh's and loving looks, they were allowed to stay with the kids as long as they wanted.
Nice Gemekker on the farm
As a farewell present we unfortunately could not give the desired goats, but very tasty regional products. A pack of goat custard from den Eelder, sweet strawberries from De Ruiter from Genderen, a bottle of apple juice from the Fruitschuur and delicious goat's cheese from the Bettinehoeve. And so this fantastic experience day at the farm came to an end and through all these enthusiastic food bloggers many more people can get acquainted with the tastiest ice cream from Ael!
Do you also want to see what we experienced? In the week 21.19 week vlog you can watch our event.
Delicious Happen is a multi-media company, so you can also find me on various social media. follow me on Facebook, Pinterest en Instagram under @delicioushappen. If you make this recipe I would love it if you tagged me #delicioushappen. A comment below in the comments is also nice of course!
Francine at De Lange Hoeve in Genderen