‘An ice cream course changed my life’

Annie Hanbury travelled to Italy to learn how to make the best-quality gelato.

Ifell in love with ice cream when my family was living in Singapore. There was a shop where local children would do their homework and taste the delicious ice creams and sorbets it served.

It had a lovely community feel and we developed a family tradition of stopping by with the children on the way home from the park to try black sesame ice cream or soursop sorbet.

We lived in Asia for 15 years, where I designed clothes for babies, and all of our children were born there; Ivan, now 19, Nikolai, 14, Tintin, 13, and Katya,

10. Then, in 2012, my husband,

Sam, changed careers and we moved back to England.

We settled in Dorset by the sea but, despite having an abundance of ice-cream outlets, there weren’t any artisan makers that captured the spirit I remembered from Singapore. As I love cooking, I looked into learning how to make ice cream myself.

Italian gelato is the gold standard, so I enrolled on a course at Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna. Sam stayed at home with the children, while I spent a month learning the intricacies of gelato making.

There were students from all over the world, brought together by the desire to learn a skill. Making ice cream is a delicate process. The ratio of sugar, fat and protein has to be changed to get the perfect texture. In the UK, we’re used to quite

heavy ice cream, whereas gelato is light and allows more flavour to cut through.

We studied how to create all kinds of different ice cream recipes, and putting them into practice required precision. I was full of enthusiasm and loved calculating the combination of ingredients and blending them carefully together. Tasting my creations was exciting.

After class, I’d head out with my course mates and into Bologna to taste the gelatos in all the best gelaterias. We would exchange flavour ideas from home and still keep in touch to give encouragement and advice.

When I returned to the UK, I set up an ice-cream business. It was a big investment, but I was ready. Baboo Gelato launched in 2016 and my husband has since come on board. Now we have up to 35 employees, depending on the season, and the whole family gets involved. The kids help out with selling at festivals and picking fruit.

I’ve been back to the university to learn how to convert sweet treats, such as hot cross buns, into ice cream. My favourite flavour at the moment is dark chocolate with candied orange peel; I’ve even made a maple and bacon one for a local B&B.

I’m determined to keep innovating and honing my new-found skill. We’ve already won local taste awards and been awarded several stars by the Guild of Fine Food. Taking that course changed my life; you never know what could come from learning something new.

 baboogelato.com

I’ve even made a maple and bacon flavour for a local bed and breakfast