producers of handmade luxury ice creams and gluten free ice creams

What has got into our kids?

The likes of Jamie Oliver and other celebrity chefs have pointed out how important it is for our children to have a healthy, balanced diet. Those tricky E numbers can often sneak their way into our food, but which are the ones that should be avoided?

In 2008 a 750,000 study by Southampton University looked at the connection between the preservative sodium benzoate (E211), other artificial additives and hyperactivity in primary-aged schoolchildren. It found that children became distracted and failed a computer attention test after consuming certain 'critical' E numbers. The researchers estimated that 30 per cent of cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) would be prevented if companies removed the colours used in the 13bn-a-year global additives industry.

The decision meant the country's biggest confectioners and supermarkets had to reformulate hundreds of products including ice cream, sweets and fizzy drinks. It also lifted the lid on this hidden area of chemicals in the food chain. Children's organic food manufacturer, Organix, called on the Government to remove additives from children's food. They identified the most common artificial additives that appeared in products aimed at children.

Get Out And Stay Out

Additives that were removed included:

Colourings: Tartrazine*, Quinoline Yellow E104, Brilliant Blue E133, Sunset Yellow E110, Carmoisine E122, Ponceau 4R E124, Indigo Carmine E132.

Artificial Sweeteners: Aspartame E951**, Saccharine E954, Acesulfame K E950.

Flavour Enhancer: Monosodium Glutamate E621.

Preservatives: Sodium Benzoate E211, Sulphur Dioxide E220.

* Tartrazine is a synthetic yellow dye that was found in products including squash, cordial, fizzy drinks, cake mixes, custard powder, soups, sauces, ice cream, ice lollies, sweets, chewing gum, marzipan, jam, jelly, marmalade, mustard, yoghurt.

** Aspartame is a sugar substitute. It is routinely used in sugar-free and low calories drinks.

The Hyperactive Children's Support Group claimed that 21 out of 24 parents stated that Aspartame had an adverse effect on their children. It appears that the worst offenders have been removed from the food chain but manufacturers are under intense pressure to remove other, less-harmful chemicals.

Watch Out - E Numbers Are About

Many E numbers, however, still lurk on the supermarket shelves. The ingredient list cannot lie but shoppers require some knowledge to interpret it.

One would think the ingredients in ice creams should start with milk and cream, followed by sugar and egg yolk. So when a major, and very famous, ice cream brand's content list starts with skimmed milk, water and milk fat early on in the list, it's a worry. By the time it ends with hydrogenated vegetable fat, vegetable oil, E421, E442, E341, E500, E501, E407, E410, E412, wheat flours, salt, peanuts and almonds, the savvy shopper should be concerned. The other international brands are not much better.

How does one make more informed shopping decisions? First of all not all E numbers are bad for you; natural ingredients such as beetroot juice (E162), sandalwood (E166), locust bean gum or carob bean (E410) and carrageenan or red seaweed (E407) have their own E numbers. But what about the others?

Let's take a look:

E171 Titanium dioxide (to make ice cream look whiter).

E172 Iron oxides and hydroxides.

E341 Calcium phosphate (mineral salt).

E412 Guar gum extracted from the guar bean.

E421 Mannitol (a sweetener for diabetics or used as a cutting agent for heroin or other illicit drugs).

E442 Ammonium phosphatides to prevent separation (manufactured either synthetically or from a mixture of Glycerol (E422) and partially hardened rape seed oil).

E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (as above, derived from glycerine E422).

E476 Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate, a liquid extracted from the castor bean and since 2006 used as a cheaper ingredient in making chocolate instead of using cocoa butter.

E500 Sodium carbonate or washing soda/soda ash more often used as a water softener.

E501 Potassium carbonate or white salt, more commonly used in making soap or glass.

Recession-Proof Luxury

Where does one go to avoid the additives from hell? The local artisan producer not far from your back yard and most likely to reside on a farm. Proper strawberries in the ice cream? No concentrates? A year's shelf life? Exquisite taste? You can imagine the man at Unilever or Pillsbury with a look of terror on his face. It's no wonder the super-premium ice cream sector is growing, while the main, bulk, basic market is gradually shrinking.

Ice cream is a comfort food and a luxury that is always affordable, even in a recession. Artisan ice cream is undoubtedly the best taste that money can buy. Until you have tried it, you will never understand why so many people are desperate to get their hands on it. The proof is always in the eating and your kids will really appreciate it; it's about getting goodness into your kids and not a cocktail of artificial additives.

Jamie Oliver is right and most of us would certainly not disagree with the tactics he employs to get our children to eat better. The warning is loud and clear - if you wish to stop your child from throwing tantrums or driving you mad, just take a look at what is in his or her food and understand that you only get out what you put in.

Inflated Profit from Inflated Ice Cream

How happy would parents be to discover that the smooth, whipped confections sold from seaside vans are not the iced dairy cream of our desire but made from frozen, whipped palm oil, artificially emulsified, preserved and flavoured? Ice cream has come a long way from the original syrupy sherbets of the Middle East - especially in Britain, where the real cream element has been compromised by some clever chemical additions.

According to an article in The Telegraph, one of the first jobs undertaken by a young Margaret Thatcher in her father's shop was to discover ways to 'inflate' ice cream with air and boost its value. With supermarkets forcing producers to cut their costs, some ingenious producers have added up to 250 per cent air by volume to their ice creams.

Fat chances

In pots marked 'ice cream', any fat that is not dairy cream or milk can simply be marked 'vegetable fat'. Consequently, manufacturers use cheap fats, such as highly saturated palm kernel oil. This is most commonly used in the whipped ice cream sold from vans. Ingredients must be listed in order of quantity - which can often include water. In the big world of business, each substitution of a fresh product by a cheaper one adds to the bottom line. Few ingredients are cheaper than water, added to a product already bulked up by air.

Added colourings, especially chemical reds and oranges, have been linked with hyperactivity in children. Starches may be a problem for the gluten-allergic but beetroot-based reds are fine and cane sugar is preferable to other sugars. Water and stabilisers are added to preserve it, together with emulsifiers to help 'fix' the fat.

Egg yolks are used in traditional mixes to emulsify. They also aid texture and flavour. Despite some consumers concerns, it is almost impossible to suffer from salmonella poisoning from the egg yolks or brucellosis from the milk; all ingredients are pasteurised to kill bacteria.

Commercial ice creams contain cheaper glycerides, emulsifiers made from partially hydrogenated fat. Dairy fat is healthier. Those made with sheep, goat or buffalo milk will always be labelled as such, although can be hard to source.

If looked after properly and put away carefully and quickly after use, ice cream will keep for a long time. In the case of dairy ice cream, the fewer artificial additives there are, the shorter the freezer shelf life will be. In order to thicken the water in the milk and stop the formation of ice crystals, most manufacturers add polysaccharide stabilisers. These are the additives that make some ice creams seem chewy.

Gelatine is a more natural alternative, but because it is animal-based, makers prefer to use plant-based gums, such as guar gum, extracted from the guar bean or the more natural locust bean gum made from carob beans. Carrageenan, a red seaweed-derived thickener, is the best natural alternative.

Why buy local artisan ice cream?

All good, local, ice cream manufacturers will only use liquid milk and cream, sugars and often egg yolks. The sourcing of the ingredients will be localised so as to help protect local farmers and local jobs, and it will certainly taste much better than the mass-produced alternatives. Usually, there is little difference in price, as the artisan producers will deliver their own ice cream, avoiding distributors and wholesaler costs. Traceability is all important to today's consumer who can see the local cows, fruit trees or plants that help produce an ice cream that's healthier, tastier and more ethical.

Big companies use clever accountants and these bean-counters constantly look at ways to improve their bottom line through substituting natural products by cheaper chemicals. More worryingly, is the disregard towards the consumer, whose taste buds are assumed to be half dead when eating and comparing a once mighty product that has undergone a bean-counter's axe.

Subtle changes are hard to detect but over a period of time, the consumer is no longer fooled and often turns to another brand in search of the original quality. In the meanwhile, vast profits have been accumulated, sales have soared and the bean-counter is made CEO. Nevertheless, the seeds are then sown for the gradual erosion of the perception of that particular brand in the eyes of its followers.

The Secret of Survival

What should a thrusting, upwardly mobile company do? The answer is stick to its guns. Do not sell one's soul to the supermarkets and refuse to discount one's product to garner ever greater sales. Many a company has lost its crown in the name of volume and some searching on the part of the consumer for a quality product is no bad thing.The war between Tyrrell's Crisps and Tesco and the forcing of the giant supermarket to remove bags purchased on the grey market from its shelves was a case in point. The loss in profits by refusing to sell to a supermarket was far outweighed by the free publicity gained.

So keep true to the philosophy of quality over quantity, keep to quality ice cream recipes and one cannot go wrong; the slippery road down to palm oil is a dangerous game and not one that is likely to lick the opposition in the war of the ice creams. Now the secrets of the multi-nationals are out, would any of us touch a seaside van or would we search for a local supplier of the 'real thing'? The choice is yours.

Long Live Local Ice Cream!

How far would you travel to source delicious ice cream? Quite a long way, it appears. In the current dreary and wearisome recession, demand for national and international brands has wavered whilst those at small, family-run, independent manufacturers is booming.

Although the general industry in the UK, excluding the mega-manufacturers, has grown by a meager 12.4% over the previous 10 years, the top fifty grew at greater than 15% last year alone. A small number grew by over 100% so what can we conclude from these figures? If you have got what it takes, even a recession will not blow you off course. It would appear very logical if hardship amongst its customers drove them to purchase cheaper ice cream or sorbets but curiously, this does not appear to be the case.

Driven to despair, many consumers seek solace in the tastiest, delicious and downright wonderful handmade and homemade ice creams and sorbets produced by a number of artisan manufacturers. The more indulgent and homemade the ice cream appears, the greater the determination is to sample the latest recipes for this novel ice cream. The word 'luxury' on a tub of a nationally or internationally branded ice cream no longer has the draw of yesteryear, since these famous names have succumbed to the demands of supermarkets for BOGOF (buy one, get one free) deals, adding water and bulking agents to fill the gap left in their owners' bottom line.

Real Cows, Real Milk. Real Fruit Too.

Those with discerning palettes have noticed the lurch in quality and have gone in search of fresher pastures where cows' milk and cream are still used to make the real thing. Freshly made sorbets utilising fruits from the countryside nearby and offered in season are giving the consumer something to look forward to as time progresses. Scenting and devouring the supply from local farmers, these connoisseurs have spread the word and a thriving cottage industry is growing under the noses of the erstwhile brand leaders.

From 'Darkly, Delicious Chocolate' to 'Scrummy Vanilla', new names for flavours hark back to the days when ice cream was made by granny in her kitchen - it was also wholesome and tasty. Strangely, as it contained no processed foods, it never made either mummy, daddy or granny fat. The ingredients were natural and the taste pure and fresh.

Recipes such as 'Strawberry & Mascarpone' and 'Honeycomb' reek of sheer indulgence to make even those with the strongest willpower bend at the knees whilst mouth-watering images spring to mind. Older brand names that once offered a tub-full of 'hokey-cokey' or other doughy, dunked delights have lost their allure when the ingredient list screams artificial additives, wheat, water, powdered milk, fatty acids and bulking agents. The downtrodden coeliacs never had a chance of a look-in but recently, they have been joined by the rest of the sinking ship.

Driven by despair over their current situation, the rising mortgage costs, the redundancy notice or the depressing weather, these appreciative souls tuck into a tub of liquid gold and are removed to heaven in the blink of an eye. How could anyone not drool at the thought of Blackberry and Apple ice cream made with real fruit, de-pipped and de-cored, the blackberries sourced from the fruits off a hedgerow?

Local, Not Organic, Counts

It wasn't long ago that the buzz word was 'organic' but the recession has put paid to that. Many farmers who converted to organic and have now returned, albeit expensively, to whence they started, as consumers refused to pay for crops, just because they were organically grown. The desire for affordable traceability has eroded the inherent, perceived value of organic and the farmer down the road producing delicious, homemade ice cream by the churnful has driven a coach and horse through the field of organics. Even the supermarkets are hurriedly and clumsily scrambling for local!

One can be sure that there will be a number of losers, as many farmers are not cut out to be businessmen, but a fair few will survive and prosper and more likely, give up dairy farming to concentrate on producing ever more tubs of homemade ice cream, utilising the best of locally sourced fruits to enrich their scrumptious ice cream flavours. The writing is on the wall for many hard working dairy families. Even though the price of milk and cream is gradually creeping up, the need to completely diversify out of farming is staring many of them in the face.

Cheer up! At least we are not cattle in an abattoir wondering what fate awaits us. Few of us possess the abilities of hindsight. So one deliciously, dreamy tub of Jack Daniels ice cream and the world has suddenly become a decidedly, more mellow place in which the manufacturer down the road, or farm track, makes the sort of quality, healthy ice creams and sorbets that most of us actively seek out in times of need; made without all those nasty chemicals or fluffed up with air and bloated with water.

Pass the spoon, I'm diving in.