Chance to scoop 'brown bread ice cream' at West Country landmarks this summer

'Brown bread' was a popular ice cream flavour in the 1700s Credit: English Heritage

People visiting landmarks across the West Country can try a scoop of "brown bread" flavoured ice cream - just like their Georgian ancestors.

Back in the 1700s, people were obsessed with "icy cream" and they enjoyed flavours like cucumber, pineapple and parmesan, which we would think bizarre.

Now, English Heritage has asked Chippenham's Marshfield Farm to recreate one of the Georgian era's favourite flavours.

After taste testing a weird and wonderful variety, including marmalade, black tea and pineapple, it was unanimously agreed that brown bread was the nicest, and reminiscent of biscotti or nougat.

Brown bread ice cream will be available throughout the summer at 13 sites including Tintagel Castle in Cornwall and Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

'Icy cream' in the 1700s

Although refrigerators and freezers did not come along until the 20th century, Georgians found an ingenious way of keeping their ice cream cold.

Wealthy homeowners built ice houses on their estates, including Lord Mansfield at Kenwood and even Queen Victoria at Osborne on the Isle of Wight.

Ice was "farmed" in and stored under straw and bark in ice houses, until the summer, when it was used for cooling drinks, making water ices and "icy cream" or "iced-cream".

The ice was usually of such poor quality that it was not put in food, but used to chill and freeze food and drinks.

Georgian flavours

Some of today’s staples – like chocolate and pistachio – were enjoyed during the Georgian period.

These appeared at ice cream parlours and confectionery shops alongside more unusual flavours like jasmine, artichoke, rosewater, and orange-blossom.

Louise Cooling, curator at English Heritage, said: “The Georgians certainly had a taste for the unusual, and this summer English Heritage have decided to indulge in that fact.

"Although parmesan and cucumber (thankfully) didn’t make the cut for our Georgian ice-cream, we hope our traditional but new flavour will make visitors feel like they’ve stepped back in time when they enjoy a taste of our delicious concoction – though I imagine brown bread flavoured ice cream might not be for everyone.”

Dawn Hawking, Marshfield Farm owner, said: “We were super excited to work with English Heritage on such an unusual project.

"We love to be creative with our flavours and take inspiration from many different places, so why not from history?

"Brown bread ice cream is proving a divisive flavour, it’s a real ‘love it or hate it’, but we’re hoping it will get people talking and trying new flavours both from past and present.”

Making ice cream in the 1700s

The Georgians used a piece of equipment called a sorbetiere to make their ice cream.

This pewter vessel was put into a wooden bucket containing a mixture of ice and salt, with the ice cream mix then poured inside.

Adding salt to the ice surrounding sorbetiere allowed the mixtures to be frozen solid.

The salt creates an endothermic reaction that lowers the freezing temperature of water, making it colder.

Once the mixture was poured into the sorbetiere, it was stirred with a handle, or a flat spoon known as a spaddle.

The technology was surprisingly effective, actually freezing the mixture in a shorter amount of time than most contemporary ice cream machines, and some original Georgian sorbetieres are still on display at London’s Kenwood today.

At South Yorkshire’s Brodsworth Hall, there is a Marshall ice-cream maker, supplied by Agnes Marshall, a cookwriter famed for her ices.

It is a large circular wooden barrel, with black china knob for turning handle on top.

The cream would have been placed in the centre with ice packed around the edge, and turned by the handle until it started to solidify.

As well as this, there are also a number of ice creams moulds in the shape of strawberries, peaches, plums, apples, pears, pineapples, pomegranates, raspberries and oranges.

Wildflowers at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall Credit: English Heritage/PA

Georgian Brown Bread ice cream will be available at 13 English Heritage sites this summer:

  • Stonehenge, Wiltshire

  • Osborne, Isle of Wight

  • Audley End House and Gardens, Essex

  • Scarborough Castle, North Yorkshire

  • Brodsworth Hall and Gardens, South Yorkshire

  • Witley Court and Gardens, Worcestershire

  • Tintagel Castle, Cornwall

  • Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden, Warwickshire

  • Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens, Northumberland

  • Dover Castle, Kent

  • Wrest Park, Bedfordshire

  • Kenwood, London

  • Pendennis Castle, Cornwall (from July)