Last updated at 15:32, Thursday, 29 July 2010

Ice cream makers Hartley's of Egremont have teamed up with Carlin's Bistro in Cockermouth to find a new flavour of ice cream. Rosalind Gibb finds out what goes into making nice ices

Ice cream

In the glass-fronted cabinet, alongside vanilla, strawberry and mint choc chip, sit bubblegum, honeycomb crush, blueberry cheesecake, turkish delight, grapefruit and grenadine ice creams, to name but a few.

There are cornets, sundae containers and chocolate wafers next to jars of hundreds and thousands and fruit salad crunch topping; bottles of butterscotch and lime syrups and a slush puppy machine offering bright, almost glowing, blue and green drinks.

It’s not quite on the scale of a Willy Wonka-style factory but Hartley’s in Egremont, where the ice cream is made on site, looks scrumdiddlyumptious.

The only pressing concern is, with nearly 40 flavours on offer, how on earth do you choose? The massive range here is echoed in ice cream parlours across Cumbria.

As we’ve become more adventurous with our food, demand has risen for flavours that are exotic and at times downright bizarre, and the world of ice cream is no exception.

These days, alongside the likes of praline or almond pistachio (at one time regarded as unusual flavours) there are outlets selling strawberry and black pepper and salty caramel.

But then these sound ordinary compared to others: remember Heston Blumenthal’s infamous egg and bacon ice cream?

Morelli’s ice cream parlour in London recently created a range of 20 ice creams to match the tastes of Britain’s best-known delicacies, from Yorkshire pudding to Arbroath smokies.

And this summer a dairy in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, launched fish and chips ice cream – “creamed cod fillet ice cream in vanilla and pepper batter is accompanied by potato ice cream chips”, apparently.

It’s a far cry from the days when a vanilla ice cream cone was a treat, and adding a chocolate flake seemed positively luxurious.

For almost half a decade Hartley’s – established in 1931, the business also has five vans that travel within a 20-mile radius of its base – only sold vanilla ice cream.

But in the 1980s things started to change and rum and raisin, mint choc chip, strawberry and creme caramel with toffee pieces were added to the menu.

Since the early 1990s – when Mark Richardson took over the business from his dad Les – more and more flavours have been introduced and even here in no nonsense west Cumbria, they’ve gone down a storm.

“It’s all changed from what it used to be, it’s changed in a big way. In Italy they are the masters of making ice cream, or gelato, and in the 90s they started bringing all kinds of new flavours in. Now they have a huge range of products,” says Mark, leafing through the pages and pages of flavours available from his Italian supplier, including green apple, pink guava, amaretto and ginger.

“I try things more than my dad did and brought in new flavours because of demand. I just think people’s tastebuds have changed.”

Mark says he comes up with new flavours “when the fancy takes me”. This week he concocted a ‘black forest surprise’ and he’s always experimenting.

So where does he get his inspiration?

“I used to go to an ice cream exhibition in Rimini [Italy] and I’m a member of the Ice Cream Alliance, we meet in Harrogate in November. And some ideas just go round in my head.

“I recently thought of lemon with mini meringues and made that. There’s been lemon and ginger, rhubarb ice cream, blueberry cheesecake, key lime pie.”

He lets me sample a few of these (I know, it’s a hard life!) and they are delicious.

When I tell him so, Mark replies: “Well, I don’t sell rubbish. I find it funny when people say they taste nice; I’m not being big headed but if I think of a flavour, 99 per cent of the time it will work.

“The thing is, everything sells, it’s just some are slower than others.”

He admits he just doesn’t get the notion of savoury ice cream.

“I don’t do these silly flavours like Cumberland sausage or Sunday roast. These are savoury! It isn’t ice cream. It’s a sweet product and isn’t to be messed with.”

And the jury’s out about whether a mix of sweet and savoury could work.

“Well, chilli and chocolate is popular now, but I don’t know...”

Mark will soon be creating an entirely new flavour but it won’t be from one of his ideas.

Cumbrians are being invited to let their imaginations run riot and enter a competition launched by Carlin’s Bistro in Cockermouth to find a new flavour of ice cream, which will be made by Hartley’s and sold exclusively at Carlin’s.

The idea came from owner and self-confessed ice-cream lover Kay Carlin, when she was looking for new inspiration for her menu.

“We really enjoy teaming up with local suppliers and thought working with Hartley’s to create a new taste for Cockermouth would be fun and something a bit different,” Kay explains.

“We want to get as much input from people in west Cumbria as possible and hope we get some really weird and wonderful requests that will really challenge our taste buds. It’s something fun and light-hearted – just what we need this summer.”

At Hartley’s the ice cream is made at the back of the shop, in huge metal vats by Mark and his “right-hand man” Bruce Shutt, who claims he doesn’t even like ice cream.

The handed-down family recipe, which includes sugar, butter and Madagascan vanilla, is blended together, pasteurised, and put through a homogeniser, which helps to create a smoother, richer, taste. It’s put through a cooling plate, into an aging vat then packed into tubs and stored in a huge walk-in freezer.

The batches of ice cream always start off as vanilla, but flavour can be added from tins of syrup or fruit pulp sourced from an Italian firm.

Mark is used to making ice cream to order. Recent requests include maple and pecan ice cream for Muncaster Castle, ‘White Heaven’ – white chocolate and rum-soaked shortcake biscuits for Wellington Bistro in Whitehaven – and, for a wedding, a combination of banana, coconut and grapefruit.

Whether a Sunday roast for Carlin’s in Cockermouth will be next on the to-do list remains to be seen...

Anyone interested in finding out more about the ice cream competition can contact Carlin’s on 01900 823654.

First published at 11:24, Thursday, 29 July 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk