Salcombe Dairy has been making artisan ice cream in South Devon for forty years – and celebrates this milestone birthday in June 2019. The alchemistic factory been at the heart of the town’s meteoric rise in popularity as Devon’s most stunning holiday destination. New to our Summer menu, let’s find out a little bit more about them!
Where are you based?
We operate from Devon’s southern most town, set in an area of outstanding natural beauty on the Kingsbridge estuary. Salcombe is world renowned for its glorious beaches, stunning sailing and of course, ice cream! We’ve been making scrumptious ice cream in this beautiful place since 1979, using local cream combined with the best recipe ingredients we can source locally and around the world – to create one of the Great Taste top fifty foods in Britain.
How did it all begin?
Our founder Peter Howard, retired from the Merchant Navy and in 1979 established an ice cream company – Salcombe Dairy – in the small, stone built shed at the bottom of Coronation Road in Salcombe.
Why?
Whilst on the beach in North Devon with his wife, enjoying the sun, sea and sand, he proudly announced “I think I shall start an ice cream company.” The thought became reality and the base ice cream recipe Peter devised before opening the company is the exact recipe used today.
How is it so damn good?
The quality of the ingredients and the passion and exacting standards of the people who make it!
What’s the process?
The milk has always come straight from the farm first thing each morning, the double cream comes in fresh from the creamery. The sugar and butter come from farther afield because they can’t be sourced Devon, but it is the best we can find.
What’s the Salcombe Dairy’s philosophy?
Create a sumptuous recipe and use only the finest natural ingredients to make the highest quality dairy ice creams, premium sorbets and luxury frozen yoghurts. Quality without compromise.
Any fun facts?
- All our ice cream contains Devonshire Milk, Double Cream, Unsalted Butter, Raw Cane Sugar, Skimmed Milk Powder and Dextrose.
- We don’t homogenise our ingredients, we use a seaweed compound (Alginate) as an additive to emulsify the dairy fats. This compound is broken down into four elements which as additives attract e-numbers which we include on our labelling. All these elements are completely natural.
- We’re proud to serve delicious, natural, egg-free, nut-free ice cream.
- We have won over 60 awards – including 2 Great Taste top 50 food awards!
- It took us over a year to perfect the recipe for our new Salcombe gin sorbet, and a new product is never launched until the entire production and tasting team are 100% happy with it!
Sounds like a trip to Salcombe is needed!
Find out more here