But for vegetarians, choosing ice cream isn't always a smooth process. Denise Rooke becomes glace conscious. And despite a number of mass-market producers, there are literally thousands of small farm producers who supply local shops, markets and hotels. Overall production is governed by the imaginatively named 1967 Ice Cream Regulations. These dictate that any product described as ice cream must contain a minimum of five per cent fat and seven per cent non-fat milk solids.
Fats vary according to the quality of the ice cream.
Other typical ingredients of dairy ice creams are fruit, sugar, whipped egg whites, flavourings and added ingredients such as chocolate or nuts. Fats used in standard varieties vary according to which are cheapest on the world market at a given time. The most commonly used fats are saturated ones such as hydrogenated palm and coconut oils. E122 Carmoisine , a synthetic dye which gives a red colour. E407 Carrageenan , both seaweed extracts which act as stabilisers.