Welcome To Cream Of The Crop

Cream of the Crop, which is based in Portmarnock, Co. Dublin, has been created by Chef Giselle Makinde. Since moving to Ireland from her native Sao Paulo, Brasil with her family in June 2018, she has held roles at Dublin’s As One restaurant and Cloud Picker’s Cafe (Head Chef) on Pearse St - eateries that both put a sustainable ethos and a zero waste approach to food at the forefront of their businesses.

These experiences ignited Giselle’s own personal passion for battling food waste and opened her mind to the possibility of launching her own range of products that could help extend the shelf life of, and make the most of, surplus produce - something that was fast-tracked as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was fueled further by a week spent staging at Amsterdam’s InStock restaurant late last year, allowing Giselle to better understand exactly how they were able to run a successful business built around a model of turning surplus food into delicious meals. 

Creating a gelato range was always top of Giselle’s wish list and has proven to be the perfect match for her “zero waste, more taste” ethos. Completing specialist courses at the Carpigiani Gelato University in Anzola dell'Emilia near Bologna, Italy has helped her to hone her gelato making skills.

‘“I’m really excited to show people the potential of what we are wasting. A fruit that doesn't look so good, or is too ripe, can be presented in a slightly different way and still be wonderful. Every time I go to collect surplus food, the endless possibilities and flavour combinations truly excite me. It has definitely made me a better chef working with ingredients in this way.” - Chef Giselle

Where possible, Cream Of The Crop’s products use 100% of an ingredient, including its peel and seeds - an approach exemplified by their vegan friendly Tahini Banana Skin flavoured gelato. The entire range is produced using 100% natural ingredients, all of which are free from artificial colours or flavours. Giselle’s sorbets contain an average of 50% fruit, with 30% fruit in the traditional milk and plant-based gelatos. 

Cream of The Crop’s gelato flavours will change regularly based on each week’s ‘harvest’.

Our Gelatos are produced using rescued surplus and imperfect ingredients, which despite being perfectly good enough to be eaten, would otherwise have ended up in landfill due a fall in demand following COVID-19 and the closure of cafés and restaurants. These are collected on a weekly basis from local growers and producers including Sean Hussey’s Fruit & Veg Farm in St Margaret’s, Co. Dublin (who have donated close to 100kg of strawberries in recent weeks, from which four different flavours have been created) and Velvet Cloud’s sheep’s milk yogurt from Aisling and Michael Flanagan’s herd in Co. Mayo. These have been lovingly paired with artisan products like NutShed’s Irish-made peanut butter and Flahavan’s oat milk to create a flavourful range of sorbets, Italian style milk gelatos, and 100% plant-based gelatos.