Local ingredients and suppliers

At Kastbergs, we take an unwavering approach to the ingredients we use. We are firm believers in doing business the right way, and part of that is using good ingredients, preferably from local suppliers, while keeping our environmental impact and CO2 emissions as low as possible. With this approach we are also fortunate that Denmark is an outstanding agricultural country, producing top-quality ingredients that in most cases are better than if we were to buy equivalent ingredients from abroad.

Local ingredients

By shortening transport, we not only ensure the freshness of the ingredients, but also reduce our total CO2 emissions, of which transport accounts for more than 25%.

Milk and cream are responsible for more than 40% of our total CO2 emissions, even without counting transport. That is why we work with the best local dairy we could find - Them Andelsmejeri - (https://www.them-andelsmejeri.dk/), which lies only 40 km from our production in Herning. All the farms connected to the dairy are in the immediate vicinity, and the furthest is only 30 km from the dairy.

We strive to source as many ingredients locally as possible, and that is why every ingredient that can be produced and grown locally is chosen over its cheaper counterparts. In this way we also ensure freshness and quality, and the lowest environmental impact from transport.

– Strawberries and rhubarb come from Samsø, Denmark, and used to come from Poland. This cuts transport from 900 km to 135 km and saves 40315 grams of CO2 per tonne.

– Cherries, which used to come from Poland, now come from Denmark, reducing the distance from 900 km to 250 km and saving 34255 grams of CO2 per tonne.

– Honey, previously sourced from Hungary, now comes from Central Jutland, cutting transport from 1500 km to 50 km and saving 76415 grams of CO2 per tonne.

– Salted caramel sauce, previously sourced from Norway, now comes from Give, Denmark, cutting transport from 510 km to 42 and saving 2466 grams of CO2 per tonne.

– Before 2022, milk was sourced from Mammen Drøsbro, 60 km away, and it is now sourced from Them, 40 km away, a reduction of 20 km and a saving of 1054 grams of CO2 per. In addition, as described earlier, the milk comes exclusively from farms very close to the dairy, which also makes a difference. So not only is the transport from the dairy to us very short, the transport from the farm to the dairy is very short too. This also matters, but we do not have a precise calculation of how much, although we assume it is significant.

Foreign ingredients

Some ingredients are impossible to get locally and must therefore be sourced elsewhere. Examples are chocolate and vanilla, which are hugely popular flavours for every ice-cream producer and simply have to be there. Even though it is a shame that we cannot get everything locally, the answer is to make sure we use proper ingredients that meet certain standards.

When we use ingredients that we cannot source locally, we therefore consider the best quality and the lowest environmental impact on the market.

For some of our ice-cream flavours we cannot get the ingredients locally. In situations like this, we make sure our sources are sustainable and environmentally friendly. We take into account their origin and their impact on the environment and communities.

– That is why we have chosen Callebaut for chocolate and cocoa products. For example, our own Kastbergs Dark Organic was developed in collaboration with Callebaut's development department in Paris. Their chocolate is Fairtrade certified and largely organic, and so is ours.

– For vanilla ice cream, our most popular products, we source organic vanilla beans of the finest quality from "Vanille Lavany Bourbon de Madagascar (Laline Saveurs)". There they have special techniques and proud traditions for growing vanilla, and they are likewise organic and Fairtrade certified.

– Our coffee beans come from the company "Peter Larsen", which itself makes a great effort to ensure that environmental and social requirements are at the highest level.

– We also make sure that products such as bananas and mango always meet strict environmental and social standards, as determined by Rainforest Alliance. (https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/find-certified/banamigo/)

At Kastbergs, we always prefer good local ingredients from Denmark, and we have many examples of such ingredients, which we are very proud of, as we believe this is the right way to produce food. Partly because Danish ingredients are of exceptionally high quality, which contributes to the good, fresh and clean taste of our products, but also because using local ingredients is better for the environment.

When we are forced to source ingredients from abroad, such as vanilla and chocolate, we make sure it is done in a proper, responsible and respectable way. We believe that is part of running a thoroughly decent business.

You can also read more about our approach to ingredients by clicking here (insert link)