With my inner Greg Wallace engaged, I doned the white coat, hairnet and the blue shoe ‘shower caps’ for my tour around Graham’s The Family Dairy, Bridge of Allan production site.

This was exciting. I drink Grahams Semi Skimmed milk on a daily basis and I smother their butter on everything; now I get to see the production line and how it all gets from farm to factory to fork!

PRODUCER VISIT - GRAHAM’S THE FAMILY DAIRY WITH SCOTLAND FOOD & DRINK EXCELLENCE AWARDS

The house pictured above is where the current Managing Director, Robert Graham, works and Dr Graham still enjoys breakfast in this gorgeous kitchen most mornings. The dairy has been in the family for 3 generations and is going from strength to strength. In total, Graham’s The Family Dairy produce many products from butter to milk, cream to yogurt, kefir and ice-cream.

In 2022 Graham’s The Family Dairy won the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards for Dairy Product of the Year for its Scottish Butter with Isle of Skye Sea Salt, and Healthier Choice Product of the Year for its Squidgies yogurt pouches.

As a Great Taste Judge, I can vouch that they are both delicious. I particularly love the Squidgies, so good for kiddies and adults alike as a snack or breakfast on the go.

THE SCOTLAND FOOD & DRINK EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Graham’s The Family Dairy scooping awards at The Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards, shows that innovative products have the potential to win. The awards are open to everyone, from brand new start-ups to industry giants! Obviously, your products have to be superb in taste and packaging but it’s also about your company ethos and future ambitions too.

The awards have been running for over 22 years. There are 21 product and business categories which are now open and accepting entries, including 2 new categories allowing the awards to showcase the range of produce available from the Scottish larder.

Under Tasted Category we have the likes of:

·         Artisan Product of the Year sponsored by CalMac

·         Fish and Seafood Product of the Year sponsored by Seafood Scotland

·         Distilling Product of the Year - dark spirits

And under Business Category we have the likes of:

·         Best for Scottish (Independent)

·         Employer of the Year

·         Young Talent

Do check all the categories out as there might be a category that’s perfect for you to enter.

Entries close on Friday 21st of April so if you have a great Scottish food or drink product, are part of the hospitality industry or live and breathe Scottish food and drink - get entering! The leading lights of the Scottish food and drink sector will gather at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre for the 23rd Excellence Awards on the 7th of September.

All the info on the awards - www.excellenceawards.foodanddrink.scot 

The process is fascinating and Jenny from Graham’s kindly showed us around. First of all a stop at the tankers filled to the brim with Dairy, Organic and Jersey milk. This is a 24 hour 7 days a week operation. In a week Graham’s collect around 4 million litres of milk. That’s A LOT of milk.

Inside the production room, all kitted out with fascinating equipment and cheerful workers, clever machines tackle the hypnotic work whilst people still mostly run the place; I find that comforting.

I could easily have stood and watched the process all day. The labelling machine is rhythmic and draws you in but it was the milk pouch filling process that was absolutely fascinating, holding my gaze and me bestowing an unhealthy amount of awe upon it. I do love a milk pouch!                              

We then headed into the butter room and I got a peek inside one of the large vats slowly churring over silky thick ribbons of yellowish butter. The butter is pushed out, it is then cut it into those perfect blocks and in the blink of an eye its wrapped and shuffling along the line to be packed by hand into a box.

The whole process of bottling milk takes place on their Bridge of Allan site, from there it’s driven across the country to a supermarket near you in one of Graham’s famous lorries.

We met some workers at the dairy farm including truck drivers and admin who  are all very friendly and happy to chat about the process. What is so evident is the true family nature of the dairy and although a large scale successful business, the employees do seem to feel like they belong. No wonder their strapline is still relevant today – Graham’s The Family Dairy!

Many thanks to Graham’s for an insight into their production and here’s another nudge and reminder to enter the SCOTLAND FOOD & DRINK EXCELLENCE AWARDS.

And on that note, all too soon, we were back on the train heading home to Edinburgh (with some Squidgies in our pockets of course!)