At Purbeck Ice Cream, the focus is on the best possible quality – with some intriguing new flavours in the mix…
Hazel and Pete Hartle are the husband and wife team behind Dorset’s Purbeck Ice Cream, and the family still make their award-winning ice cream on the farm using local fresh milk, thick double cream and 100% natural flavours. Their range now stands at about 40 flavours with brand new varieties added all the time…and as well as the more traditional flavours, you’ll find plenty more to get excited about too.
“It’s our vanilla, honeycomb, salted caramel and chocolate ice creams that are the bestsellers”, says Ben Hartle, son of Hazel and Pete, “but we’re always looking to create new things that nobody else has tried.”
It’s this approach that has led to flavours such as their ChilliRED (with red chillies) and their Dorset Marmalade, both of which have stories behind them.
“My father used to be a full-time fireman”, says Ben, “and they once hosted a Mexican-themed evening. His idea was to come up with a special ice cream for the evening, and so ChilliRED was born. He thought it was exciting and quite different, and so played around with the recipe to make a version for us to sell.”
The Dorset Marmalade ice cream saw Purbeck Ice Cream teaming up with another local business to create something new. Screenbites were showing Paddington as one of their movie nights in 2015…of course, Paddington loves marmalade, so the new ice cream was born. “We’re one of the founder members of Dorset Food and Drink”, says Ben, “and we try to work with other local businesses wherever possible. We agreed to work with Tracey from Ajar Of in Dorchester as a local supplier of marmalade, and the flavour went down so well at the event that we decided to release it as one of our new flavours last year!”
These local connections are important to Purbeck Ice Cream’s mission to make ice cream of the highest possible quality they can, while using only natural flavours and supporting other local businesses. The latest flavours you’ll find include their Salted Maple, with 100% Pure Canadian Maple Syrup and Cornish Sea Salt, their Chai Latte (in collaboration with Tea India, a sister company of Dorset Tea), and the dairy-free Pineapple Sorbet for a taste of the sunshine.
This November, there’s another intriguing new flavour on the horizon with the launch of their Dorset Truffle ice cream…as Ben explains, they’ll again be working with another local business to create a new flavour that sees their rich and creamy ice cream paired with the earthiness of fresh truffles. It’s a flavour that will only be available from November to January following the truffle season, and Ben’s seeing it as more of a high end ice cream, targeted more at chefs than at those looking for a cone of something to enjoy.
“It’s all about the ice cream, rather than the money”, says Ben. Quality and innovation are important to the Purbeck Ice Cream team – and we’re looking forward to seeing which creative flavours they come up with next!