Ice Cream

I've never been a great fan of desserts. I do eat them, especially when friends have kindly invited us to dinner and have gone to the trouble of making something.  I'm not even a chocolate fan, except when it comes to maltesers and cadburys chocolate flakes. Even then I can make a flake last for a couple of days and an average size bag of maltesers last for a week. I remember being in a play where I had to mime eating a box of maltesers. That is until the last night, when I found someone had emptied a bag into my box as a parting gift. It's very sad I know but I have always preferred savoury things to sweet things.

Ice cream however is another matter. My passion for ice cream (I don't eat it every day however) started when we were still living in Harrow. Up until then I'd been an ordinary and occasional 'cornet with flake' girl. But there was a restaurant in North Harrow that had for a dessert, home-made meringue nests with home-made ice cream. Whenever we went there I always had that. Heavenly. Then I discovered a recipe for Champagne Charlie - a glorious concoction topped off with ground amarettos, which became a Christmas special in our house. I should also mention the hazelnut ice cream cake - beyond description (sound effect of a sigh).

By now commercial brands were picking up in quality, such as Häagen Daaz; Green and Black's. But it was Walls Carte D'or which started the alarm bells, when I discovered that their delicious coconut ice cream available at any supermarket in France, was not available in the UK. 

My ongoing and enthusiastic market research, has revealed a disturbing feature of the British ice-cream supply. On our island we only see about a third of the flavours available, pretty much across the brands. Yesterday in Leclerc I just happened to be passing by the ice cream section. Taking the Viennetta range as an example, how many flavours do we get/see in the UK. Four? Five? I lost count here after the tenth. Aromatic pistachio. Mmmm. There's still a bit left in the freezer. Us Brits., simply don't know what we're missing. Sometimes you can find these flavours in a deli or a special outlet that has it's own special price to go with. But generally speaking we seem to have a significantly more limited range of flavours available. And that, in this world of free markets, is a great shame!