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Mackie's employees break honeycomb production record


By Lewis McBlane

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TWO expert honeycomb makers from Aberdeenshire have smashed their record for most produced in a week.

Louise Hunter (left) and Deirdre Henderson pour and spread hot honeycomb.
Louise Hunter (left) and Deirdre Henderson pour and spread hot honeycomb.

Mackie's employees Deirdre Henderson, from Turriff, and Louise Hunter, from Rothienorman, worked together to produce a whopping haul of the popular confectionary.

The two crafted 1985kg of honeycomb in just five shifts to meet a surge in demand for Mackie's honeycomb products in England and Wales.

Louise has worked at Mackie's for 13 years and in the sweetie kitchen for 10 years, making her one of the companies' honeycomb veterans.

She said: “Deirdre and I like a challenge and were not too worried when we saw that the production team were forecast to need more Honeycomb than usual.

"I was delighted when our daily diary proved that we’d made nearly two tonnes in such a short amount of time – it’s very satisfying to have kept up and delivered.

“I was one of the very first people to start making honeycomb at Mackie’s and to this day, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Louise and Deirdre make 66 tonnes of honeycomb per year, which makes it way into several of Mackie’s leading products.

The largest pieces go into honeycomb ice cream, with smaller sized pieces into honeycomb chocolate bars - and the remaining dust infused with natural orange oils for orange chocolate.

To make the honeycomb, sugar, water and glucose are boiled at 158 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes, before being taken off the heat and having bicarbonate stirred in with a giant spoon.

This produces bubbles of air before the hot mix is spread evenly on to a long cooling table, where it hardens in under 10 minutes.

Louise and Dierdre then break it up by hand and Dierdre puts the pieces through a chopper machine and a sieve to separate the different sized pieces.

The process was recently celebrated on an episode of Inside The Factory, which saw Gregg Wallace meet Louise and Deirdre to speak about their integral role in the production of honeycomb ice cream – the product which the show followed through each step of its creation.

Deirdre, who has been at Mackie's since 1999 started in the sweetie kitchen nine years ago.

She said: “I was inspired by my brother to join Mackie’s and I haven’t looked back since. I love my job.

“My favourite thing about it is that it’s a family run business, and we’re treated almost like family too.

"A lot of us are from the local area and it’s a sociable job, which makes for a nice environment to work in.

“Making the honeycomb can be challenging in the summer months because of how hot it gets in the sweetie kitchen, but me and Louise are always up to the challenge.

"The toughest part is putting up with each other on a daily basis!”

Louise said: “My favourite thing is when we get told we have a number of big batches coming up and Deirdre and I just pull up our sleeves and deliver.

"It’s very satisfying looking at an order and just knowing that we can do it.

“Recently, there’s been a big increase in demand for our honeycomb due to increased listings of the ice cream and chocolate, and we are continually stepping up to the challenge.

"I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


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