Mary whips up an ice cream war: Bake Off star's battle to drive out 'synthetic junk'

By Aladair Glennie
PUBLISHED: 01:32, 9 October 2012 | UPDATED: 09:42, 9 October 2012
There's nothing like a 99 to make a child’s eyes light up.
But according to Mary Berry, many such ice creams are not far off 99 per cent ‘synthetic junk’.
The Great British Bake Off judge is on a mission to expose the truth behind one of our best-loved treats. She  wants to encourage shoppers to buy quality ice cream made from pure dairy products.

Mary Berry (pictured left) wants to encourage people to buy quality ice cream made from pure dairy products

Speaking before the Great British Food Revival – to be screened on BBC2 later this month – the 77-year-old revealed manufacturers only have to comply with minimal legislation for their product to qualify as ice cream.
She said many are guilty of bulking out their products with chemicals, vegetable fat or palm oil.

 

She said: ‘By law, it only has to contain 2.5 per cent milk protein to be called ice cream. Lots of it is actually filled with preservatives and chemical flavour enhancers, which I absolutely hate.
‘Budget ice cream is all air and synthetic. It has an enormous number of ingredients that don’t bear any relation to proper ice cream. The stuff of childhood bliss has changed completely in my lifetime.
‘It has gone from simple, natural ingredients to the bulk of it being over processed and synthetic. People realise that it is more expensive to buy the best. But it is absolutely worth it. It is made from the finest ingredients.
‘Or you can make your own. It is not difficult. It is actually great fun. All you need is egg yolks, sugar, milk and cream. Simple.’

We all scream for ice cream: Mary Berry believes 'children definitely shouldn't hold back from ice cream.'

She said the list of ingredients in some cheap ice cream ‘seems endless’ – skimmed milk concentrate, glucose syrup, palm oil, whey powder, dextrose, fatty acids, reconstituted skimmed milk, vegetable fat.
Zelica Carr, chief executive of Ice Cream Alliance – a trade body for British ice cream manufacturers – said her members try to use ‘authentic’ ingredients where possible.
She said: ‘It is much better to make a quality product with real dairy ingredients.
‘Sadly it is not always possible. Sometimes it is hard to find the best ingredients, and sometimes prices are prohibitively high.
‘However, sales of real artisan ice cream are on the increase. Ice cream is a £1billion industry in Britain, so it is important people get the best.’
Mrs Berry said her own favourite ice cream flavour is vanilla and ginger. The grandmother-of-five said: ‘My first ice cream was a water ice when I was five or six.

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‘I think children definitely shouldn’t hold back from ice cream. When we get to the end of a meal in which little ones have been sitting for a long time, I’ll often get them a cornet and fill it with homemade ice cream.
‘Out they go in the garden and play. Then they don’t have to sit so long. And then they don’t make any mess.’
The Great British Food Revival with Mary Berry starts tomorrow on BBC2. The ice cream episode is on October 24.