The Globe and Mail reports that ”six years ago, John and Marie Miller stood in their kitchen over a steaming pot of eggnog.
"Neither of them liked eggnog – or at least the stuff they could buy in the stores – but the couple had been determined to create one that could convert even the most dubious.”
As the fifth-generation owners of Miller’s Dairy, an 800-acre dairy and crop operation outside the village of Creemore, Ont., they had been fielding calls from customers asking for the creamy concoction for years.
“We were always getting bombarded with requests,” Ms. Miller said. “We just had to make it.”
John Miller
It took a good deal of recipe experimentation, but the Millers say they perfected an eggnog that appeals even to those who don’t typically like it.
Not too spicy and made with extra-rich milk from their Jersey cows, their eggnog has become a hit: They’re on track to sell 33,000 litres across southern Ontario this year after launching the product in 2017, when they sold 14,000 litres.
Now, they’re being asked to push production back to encompass Canadian Thanksgiving, and have even made the eggnog flavour available year round as an ice cream.
“It’s the richness, and it’s the texture. If it’s going to be a treat, it had better be good,” Mr. Miller said.
The Millers’ eggnog production starts in late September, when the farm stops making its strawberry and coffee-flavoured milk products.
The main component of the eggnog – the dairy – comes from the farm’s 130 Jersey cows. Mr. Miller says working with the herd is his favourite part of the production process. “
The farm uses the deposit and return bottle system to keep the production environmentally friendly and they distribute only to the area around Creemore to save on fuel and time, Mrs. Miller said.
Currently, they do not sell to Toronto.
Timing is important: Eggnog production needs to be wrapped a few days before the end of the year, when customers start to watch their waistlines after indulging during the holidays.
“We do not want to have any eggnog in possession after New Year’s, because no one will buy it then,” Mr. Miller said. The first year they made eggnog, they had to throw out nearly 1,000 litres of unsold product.
For those who have extra eggnog, he recommends adding it to pancakes or using it to make French toast.
But in the Miller household, there’s rarely any left by the end of the year. Despite their early doubts, the couple has been converted.
“I have a little bit of eggnog every night, because I absolutely love it,”Miller said.
