Independent Ice Cream Shops: Fredericks

Fredericks Dairies, the UK’s largest independent ice cream manufacturer has produced a Fish and Chips flavored ice cream to celebrate National Ice Cream Week.

According to research by the company, vanilla is still the UK’s No.1 favourite flavour with 9 out of ten Brits opting for the traditional taste.

It’s hoped that the unusual Fish and Chips creation will raise awareness of the bountiful choices available in the market.

The ice cream will be sampled on Friday 4th June at George’s Fish & Chip shop, 329 Portobello Road, London – renowned for being Jamie Oliver, Julien Macdonald and Chelsea FC’s favourite chippie!

An homage to our favourite national dish, the ice cream will be ‘a taste of the British seaside in a lick’. The unique recipe has been specially created to include Creamed Cod Fillet ice cream in Vanilla & Pepper Batter. Accompanied by Potato Ice Cream Chips made with Maris Piper potatoes and served with Salt & Vinegar seasoning & Lemon Wedges, on a bed of newspaper.

In the UK, ice cream sales are worth £1.3 billion with the top (non vanilla) flavours being in order of preference – Chocolate, Strawberry and Caramel. Londoners spend the most on ice cream whilst those in the North East spend the least. In fact, we eat enough ice cream as a nation to fill over 5,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year and that’s before National Ice Cream Week has kicked in (starts today Tuesday 1st June 2010.)

Fish & Chips Ice Cream will join the portfolio of other distinctive flavours produced by Fredericks which include Lyle’s Golden Syrup Sponge, Cadbury Crunchie Blast, Vimto and Barratt Refreshers. Last year the company won Best Ice Cream in the World for its Antonio Federici Pistacchio Gelato (International Ice Cream Consortium Awards 2009/10).

National Ice Cream Week is a celebration of the taste of the British summer. To further enhance the celebrations, the Best of British beaches will be honoured in the first Cadbury Flake 99 Best Beach Awards. From Blackpool to Bournemouth and Southport to Southwold, the British public has been voting for their favourite seaside, with the winning beach announced next week.

Jenny Bostock, Consumer Marketing Manager for Fredericks Dairies comments: “Britain has long been a nation of ice cream lovers and with a rise in UK holiday bookings this year, we think that National Ice Cream Week is the perfect way to kick off the summer holiday season. The unique Fish & Chip flavour may sound like a surprising combination, but it tastes delicious and will certainly raise a smile with our customers.”

To celebrate National Ice Cream Week, here are some interesting facts you might not know about ice cream:

• In the last 12 months Fredericks produced 17million kg’s of ice cream mix, 53million ice cream cones, 16million Cadbury Flake 99 cones

• It takes an average of 50 licks to finish off a single scoop ice cream cone

• The first evidence of ice cream comes from China during the Tang period. King Shang used to have a frozen dish made for him out of buffalo milk, flour and camphor

• Ice cream first arrived in Europe in Italy in the 13th Century

• Ice cream sundaes are so called because they used to be sold on a Sunday as a way of getting around a law which made it illegal to sell flavored ice cream on the Sabbath

• The ice cream cone was first mentioned in Mrs Marshall’s Cookery Book in 1888

• Brits eat an average of 9 litres each of ice cream every year

• Whenever ice cream sales rise, so do shark attacks!

• Over £100 million worth of ice cream is sold from UK ice cream vans every year

• As a teenager, Barack Obama used to work in an ice cream shop

• Surveys have shown that men are more likely to choose ice cream as a dessert than women

• Research has also shown that eating ice cream can actually make you feel better as it affects parts of the brain associated with good feelings. No wonder you can’t help smiling when eating ice cream!

• Fredericks is now the number 2 ice cream manufacturer in the UK after Walls, and the largest independently owned