A SCOTTISH ice cream company is celebrating winning eight Great Taste Awards.

Hamilton-based ice cream producer Equi’s was awarded Two Star Great Taste Awards for six of its flavours, including its Double Cream Vanilla.

The judges recognised the ice cream as being “clearly made from fresh, Scottish dairy products”. Two Stars are awarded to products which judges consider, “above and beyond delicious”.

The win comes only months after winning the top prize at the Scottish Ice Cream Championships. David Equi, Equi’s managing director, said: “The Great Taste Awards is often described as the Oscars of the food and drink industry, so to win and compete alongside some of the UK’s very best producers is a massive honor. We’ve had a great year producing some amazing ice cream flavours and winning awards for 8 of our products is astonishing.

“We’ve got a great team who continue to create the very best ice cream. We have a lot of exciting plans in the pipeline and I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year has in store for us.”

There were 12,772 entries into Great Taste Awards this year and of those products, 208 have been awarded a three-star, 1326 received a two-star and 3409 were awarded a one-star accolade.

The panel of judges this year included: cook, writer and champion of sustainable food Melissa Hemsley, MasterChef 2018 champion Kenny Tutt, author Olia Hercules, chef and food writer Gill Meller, Kavi Thakrar from Dishoom, food writer and stylist Georgina Hayden and author and chef, Zoe Adjonyoh, as well as food buyers from Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Sourced Market and Partridges.

Other Two Star Great Taste Award winning flavours included Vanilla Pod, Hazelnut, Blackcurrant and Wild Fruit Ripple and Dark Chocolate Sorbet.