The Summer of 2018 is now the hottest that many can remember and as the sun continues to shine, the news is full of stories relating to ice cream. Here are a few of our favourites, including the launch of an ice cream covered with bacon and pork scratchings.
Dairy farmers are feeding next winter’s food to cows and are paying double for bedding straw, while ice cream makers are selling twice as much of the frozen dessert – two very different impacts of this summer’s weather on peoples pockets.
But what impact will the hot, dry weather have on the economy generally? According to the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) retail figures, and reported by the BBC, we bought more in the shops when the sun began to shine in May, but spending fell back in June.
Darren Morgan, from the ONS, said: “Our spending patterns might change with the good weather.
“We may buy summer clothes and I suggest food for barbecues and barbecues themselves, but actually we are just substituting our spending pattern from one item to another.”
“More people are visiting the leisure sites, the seaside, enjoying the good weather, enjoying an ice cream, enjoying the beach and it has a knock-on effect on everyone.”
Anecdotally that has been good news for tourism, but elsewhere, the effects of the dry weather are likely to be felt in the coming months.
For now, though, it seems we are saving some money by savouring life in the great outdoors – even if we are buying more ice creams.
A popular pie shop has launched a new ice cream treat for the heatwave – but it’s not for vegetarians.
The ice cream from Pieminister is making headlines for a unique reason: it’s topped with pork scratchings and bacon.
As part of their range of soft serve ice creams, Pieminister has revealed its unusual concoction.
Images Courtesy of Facebook/Pieminister https://www.facebook.com/pieministeruk
The pie chain with a shop in Birmingham has created the brilliantly named Pork Pie-scream, reports WalesOnline.
The Pork Pie-scream is made up of vanilla ice cream based and laced with free-range British bacon, bourbon maple syrup, applesauce and a free-range British pork scratching.
Pieminister’s new soft-serve range is priced at £4.50 for a classic and £6.50 for a super.
The new range of frozen desserts are served in a waffle cone “pie crusts” but don’t worry, there’s more than just the meat-based ice cream on offer.
On the menu, you’ll also find Apple Pie (vanilla, apple, salted caramel and sweet pie crumb), Mud Pie (Chocolate brownie and salted caramel) and Cherry Pie (vanilla, cherry, frangipane and toasted almonds) among others.
The unusual topping on the Pork Pie-scream isn’t the only controversial delicacy the restaurant has come up with – last year they were selling a Mexican-inspired cricket and black bean pie.
Ice cream is one dessert that is loved and appreciated universally. But with the difference in preference on how to delve this delicacy countries around the world have adopted variations that have now become a tradition in their own right! ARY News investigates the different traditions each country has with ice cream.
While you reveal a lot about yourself when you order ice cream, you mostly say that you love fun when ordering New Zealand favourite, Hokey Pokey. The blend can vary, depending on which shop you visit, but mostly it means plain vanilla ice cream mixed with generous heaps of honeycomb toffee. The outcome is a super rich, creamy ice cream—and it’s delicious, says McNish. It’s popular throughout the North and South islands of New Zealand and even available at grocery stores, with a leading brand called Tip Top’s Hokey Pokey.
You probably will love giving mochi ice cream a swirl when you visit Japan. Available in nearly every city small and large you might mistake these small circular rounds of ice cream as macaroons at first glance. Ice cream is shaped into bite-size circles and pounded rice paste is wrapped around to keep it from melting. Coming in at just around 100 calories a pop, you probably will want to try at least a handful before heading toward more sightseeing.
You can wander down a grocery aisle in any major Spanish city from Madrid to Barcelona and you’ll likely find Frigo, a brand of ice cream which presents the favourite in a variety of quirky shapes, from rocket ships to pies. For more of a gourmet experience, head to Madrid where you can visit Rocambolesc Gelateria. “They make an absolutely insane coconut and violet sorbet that you can top with a cloud of cotton candy and star-shaped sprinkles. Rocambolesc even offers a cherry strawberry flavoured arbutus bear, which is Madrid’s fuzzy mascot, shaped popsicle as well as funky popsicles flavours, like Girona apple and blood orange plus mango sorbet, in wonky shapes like noses and fingers”.
While exploring the ancient Roman streets in scorching-hot heat, the very vision of a gelato stand may make your mouth begin to water. As a timeless tradition dating back to the Italian Renaissance, gelato is a popular summer day treat that helps you cool down from the sunshine. Gelato likely will remind you of traditional ice cream at first glance, but it’s actually lower in fat. You’ll find it to be a thicker consistency with richer flavours, infused with all sorts of sweet and savoury spices and ingredients.
Taiyaki, or fish cone ice cream, is a common sight in Japan, but it’s a rarity in the US In order to create a taiyaki, pancake or waffle batter is popped it into a fish-shaped mould. A dollop of sweetened red vanilla azuki bean paste is dropped in the bottom of the fishtail and then you get to put your favourite flavour of ice cream on top.
Made with salep, an orchid root found locally, ice cream in Turkey is super-stretchy (like mozzarella cheese) and also very chewy (like gummies or taffy). And yet, it’s still cold. Made in a variety of flavours and served throughout the country, Turkey is the only place where you can actually nibble on this strange concoction since orchid root is illegal to export.
A traditional Cuban flavour is ‘mantecado,’ which has a custard base with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. Or if you’re more into fruit, coco glace is a coconut ice cream served inside of a coconut shell.
As beautiful and picturesque as beaches in Thailand are, its location means that the weather is humid, sticky and hot nearly year-round. You’ll need a refresher when you’re trekking through streets and sands, so make a pit stop to try ‘I Tim Pad.’ Easy to eat on the go—and a super-popular street snack—you might think you’re buying a small veggie wrap when you stumble across a stand. In Thailand, ice cream chefs don’t churn their ice cream, but instead, they flash-freeze it to make a circular, thin shape that they scrape off and turn into tiny ice cream rolls. Pretty easy for a quick, sweet bite.