Who’d have thought we’d still be having warm, sunny days right through until the end of September? When we heard that a brand new ice cream trike – Amelia’s Ice Works – was about to enjoy its first day of trading on the Harbourside on sunny September 26th, we couldn’t not try it out…
Owner Amelia has just been granted her harbourside pitch, which she’ll be trading at every Saturday from 11am to 6pm until the end of October. Currently studying for a PhD at Bristol University and with cooking one of her favourite hobbies, she decided to combine her passion with her free time at home and set up Amelia’s Ice Works.
The business is a one-woman band: Amelia not only makes and sells all of her own ice cream and sorbet, but even put together her trailer herself too. Passionate about all things local, she makes her ice cream from scratch using local ingredients where possible, including blackcurrants from Herefordshire, rhubarb from her mum’s garden and organic dairy from Ivy House Farm.
In order to further minimise her impact on the environment, Amelia commutes from her Eastville home to her pitch by bike, the trailer hitched to the back.
But what about the ice cream itself? On the day of our visit, there were five varieties available – maple & pecan, roasted white chocolate, fig & mascarpone, blackcurrant cheesecake and fresh mint chip – as well as two sorbets: rhubarb & raspberry, and Victoria plum. Priced at £2 for a mini cone, £2.50 for one scoop or £3.50 for two (in a choice of cone, chocolate cone or tub), prices may seem high compared with other vendors, but the price is worth it for the quality, the variety and the attention to detail.
Amelia was keen to point out that she uses no corn syrup whatsoever in her creations: an ingredient, she says, that is rife in artisan ice cream making as it gives a good texture very easily: something that can be hard without artificial stabilisers.
The maple and pecan ice cream that Chris chose, for example, is sweetened only with maple syrup: the ice cream was still more than sweet enough, the flavour of the maple came through strongly and the number of pecan pieces included was generous. We’d suggest, though, that the cones need to be changed – Chris’ cone broke very easily, making it hard to finish off his ice cream without making a mess…
I opted for the blackcurrant cheesecake instead: unlike other cheesecake ice creams I’ve tried in the past (I’m looking at you, Haagen-Dazs), the flavour of the cream cheese came through nice and strongly. Paired with large pieces of crushed biscuit and tart-yet-sweet blackcurrants, this ice cream was a definite winner.
If you have a chance, I’d definitely recommend catching Amelia at her Hannover Quay pitch before the end of October – especially if the weather stays this warm! If you miss her, though, make sure you keep up with her plans via Twitter, Facebook or her website: apparently the winter will be all about home deliveries and recipe development, so there’s plenty more stlll to look forward to…