Stonehenge charity sells baffling brown bread ice cream costing up to £5 each

09 August 2023 , 11:02

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The bizarre ice cream tastes like brown bread (Image: Jam Press/English Heritage)

English Heritage has sparked a debate online after launching a brand new and bizarre flavour of ice cream at several tourist hotspots around England including Stonehenge and Dover Castle. The charity - which manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings, and places - used an old Georgian recipe from the 1700s to create the flavour, which is supposed to taste like brown bread.

And while munching on brown bread ice cream might sound gross, it's said to have a similar flavour to biscotti or nougat, which sounds more appealing when you also consider English Heritage trialled other odd flavours including parmesan and cucumber before settling on brown bread.

The ice cream costs up to £5 per portion (Jam Press/English Heritage)

The weird ice cream is available at 13 tourist hotspots across the country this summer after English Heritage teamed up with Marshfield Farm, and costs £3.50 for a single scoop, £4.50 for a double scoop, and £5 for a triple scoop. However, the ice cream has been dividing opinion among tourists who have already tried it.

One simply declared: "It is not good," while another said her husband loved it - but only because he didn't know what flavour it was supposed to be. She confessed: "Got this yesterday and gave hubby a dish but without telling him what it was. You know what men can be like. 'That's nice, what is it?' he says. So I then tell him and he says it tastes like a nut ice cream."

While Louise Cooling, curator at English Heritage, explained: "The Georgians certainly had a taste for the unusual, and this summer English Heritage has 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!"

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And Dawn Hawking, owner of Marshfield Farm, 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!"

The full list of locations offering brown bread ice cream this summer are:

• 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

Zahna Eklund