Healthy Ice Cream

Gerry and Zac got lost from my view for some minutes. Next thing I knew, they were raving about the ice cream they had at Rene Almeda's Alaminos Goat Farm booth. I know Rene was having a taste test of the sausages BAI developed for his goat...but ice cream? There was not mention of that.

Oh boy...do I love ice cream. But then, will the one from goat's milk taste good? How was it compared to dirty ice cream...they said BETTER! Hmmmmm....what flavors...Ube and Cheese. If these two men say it was masarap...am sure it was. I made a mental note to try it later.

A few minutes later....Rene was walking towards us and brought two (2) cups of Ube and Cheese ice cream. He must have remembered my sweet tooth. Seeing how tiny the cups were for my teeth...Doc Rey gave his cup to me.

YUMMY...promise! I walked over to congratulate the Almedas. Still not available commercialy. They commissioned someone to make it for them for serving during Agrilink :)

Selling at PHP40 per small cup...it was so worth it. Creamy, and real pure ingredients. You can taste the freshness.

Alaminos Goat Farm

Walking around IFEX, I bought my merienda of Goat's milk and went back to the booth. That was when I saw the picture of Toti Almeda in Manila Bulletin's feature for the IFEX booths.

We thought that it would be a nice break to visit a goat farm, Alaminos Goat Farm at that (having a name recall already) and to go on to visit Earthkeepers again in Quezon.

Off at half past 4am from Rizal, we drove the route again of the East Road to Laguna. By 7am, we were knocking at the gates of Alaminos Goat Farm (aka Holy Road, as the private road was between two churches).

As you enter, you are greeted by the dairy plant. You are led to park near the bodega, as the cages are there. First we saw was Rene Almeda, the dad....a gregarious and engaging persona. Non-stop senseful talker! Following is Toti, the son who has such a warm and wholesome personality. From nowhere, Art Almeda appears, The Owner.....They look so clean and flawless, you'd accept why Spas swear by Goat's milk.

My first words were ... "I thought Art was elderly"!

Amazing how Rene was able to raise well mannered young men, more so the fact that they like their farm work. Art is the farm guy, Toti does marketing.

We were not prepared to see such small horses :)....or rather huge goats! We were in time for milking time....see for yourself how big they can get. You won't get intimidated by their size as they are very tame and actually stand to get near you as they think you are there to bring their nursing bottles.

Glad that we went there and met the Almedas. I can see goats in agri shows...but you don't always get to encounter Almedas. They are very generous with knowledge. And yes, experience and age makes you gravitate towards people with same sights.

They were worth the long trip from Isabela to Laguna.

Visit them here.

Try some Milk Star.