Ice cream culture is booming in the UK and there’s no better time to try new flavours than during a heatwave. Our adventure through upmarket supermarket tubs explores the best intense chocolate ice creams on offer and nostalgic favourites like rhubarb and custard and raspberry ripple, through to more innovative flavours such as pistachio & sour cherry and strawberry & sumac from Ottolenghi for Waitrose.
It has taken a long time for us to develop a year-round ice cream culture in the UK and we do, understandably, eat far more ice cream and sorbet during the summer months. But according to Grocery Trader, in-store sales grew 12.7 per cent last year, to £1.6bn, while market researchers value the overall industry at between £3.17 and £4.16bn.
I ask Jacob Kenedy, who opened Gelupo gelateria in London’s Soho in 2010, why we love ice cream so much. “There can be no food more transportative to a childhood state. It is a food that does a phase change in your mouth – we serve it solid, and it melts on your tongue – only great things do this. It is an adult-accessible candy shop: albeit sweet, there is nothing immature in enjoying it, and it is an opportunity to celebrate and explore flavour.”
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