Benedict Cumberbatch tries out 'crazy' Woodbridge ice cream

In the words of top actor Benedict Cumberbatch, he appears to be a maverick and perhaps a little crazy. But then Ugur Vata has always strived to be different and daring, especially when it comes to ice cream.

And when Cumberbatch - known for his blockbuster roles in Spiderman, the Marvel movies and Sherlock - popped into Ugur’s shop on the Market Hill in Woodbridge in Suffolk recently, it was the Black Garlic and Charcoal ice-cream which caught his eye.

Benedict tried the black garlic and charcoal flavour. He called Ugur 'a maverick' (Image: The Galley Woodbridge/Instagram)

“He is a really lovely chap and he admired what I am trying to do in the town”, said Ugur. “He is a real ice-cream lover and has lots of knowledge and when he tried what I call our Curiosity ice cream, with Black Garlic and Charcoal, he said you’re a maverick!”

Ugur's 'Curiosity' ice cream aka black garlic and charcoal (Image: Burchmedia)

“After that I offered him some peach and jalapeño and he said, “You’re crazy .. absolutely crazy, how do you find these ideas?”

“I said every ingredient has a story and told him, it’s not over yet and he had some liquorice and lavender and tasted quite a lot of other flavours, but he loved, absolutely loved uncoloured mint and chocolate.

"I use Belcolade chocolate and he described it as absolutely stunning”.

It was a touching celebrity endorsement of the lengths to which Ugur goes to find the right ingredients and develop intriguing flavours.

Ugur has run a restaurant in Woodbridge, called The Galley, for 19 years and opened The Galley Creamery and Deli nearby on the Market Hill three years ago.

Ugur outside his Woodbridge creamery and deli (Image: Burchmedia)

He could see the economy was in the doldrums and thought producing traditional ice cream would hopefully help generate fresh business.

It’s required significant investment. The churner alone cost more than £27,000. And while Ugur has resisted increasing his prices, it’s a tight squeeze.

Pistachios from Turkey, for instance, are up from £35 a kilo to £42. The cost of sugar too has jumped. Add to that a three-fold increase in utility bills. And that’s why the reliance on local suppliers and local produce, wherever possible, is key. Red-currants, greengages, elderberries, much of it foraged in the countryside.

Said Ugur, “This is real ingredients, real people making ice-cream in the traditional way. It’s a boutique business. There is of course an easy way, but we’re doing it the hard way. Yes, you can buy ice cream anywhere. You can go to the supermarket, but are they really ice cream? There’s palm oil, additives, colours. We look more at the natural ingredients and it must be working because people keep coming back for more”.

Benedict Cumberbatch with Svitlana (Image: The Galley Woodbridge/Instagram)

One of the team working in the shop is Svitlana Howse who’s from Ukraine originally. Asked if she had any previous experience of making ice-cream, she replied. “No, not at all. I was working in casinos for 18 years, but I absolutely love it, especially when it’s the children coming in to buy it. Ice-cream takes you back to your childhood. It’s always about happiness”.

There are sixteen flavours on display in the shop, from Black Forest to Baklava, from Sicilian Blood Orange to Saffron and from Liquorice to Lavender. They even produce an ice-cream especially for dogs, made from coconut milk and vegetable extract, with a doggie treat on top to round it off.

Ugur with the doggie ice cream (Image: Burchmedia)

The one key ingredient is milk, ideally with a high fat content, and that’s where Lindsay Burroughs comes in, supplying Ugur with forty litres of milk each week from the 1100-acre family farm at Wheatacre near Beccles.

Lindsay Burroughs with her cows (Image: Burchmedia)

Cows have been in the family for three generations and there’s now a pedigree herd of more than 400, mainly British Friesians, producing more than three million litres of milk every year.

The bulk goes to the global dairy firm Arla, but around ten per cent goes to local customers like Ugur and for Lindsay, that’s vital.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re ordering two litres or a hundred litres, the fact they’re coming to us direct to the farm and missing that middle man out and understanding the product is more important than the volume we’re selling. It’s about the connection with the customer”.

“What we pride ourselves on is being able to produce the milk from the highest welfare standards and pass that through to our end product, so freshness, the goodness of the milk and hopefully customers appreciate what we’re trying to offer”.

And nothing delights her more than seeing artisan products getting recognition and believes we should shout more loudly about the quality of what we have to offer.

In cornets .. chocolate sorbet, mango sorbet and Scicilian blood orange (Image: Burchmedia)

“I think we’ve been very underestimated. Suffolk and Norfolk has a huge amount of food producers and the fact that people are understanding local food a bit more is really helping local businesses and it’s what keeps us going”.

“You only have to look at the farm shop we have on the farm. We support local producers predominantly and without the support of each other you just wouldn’t have the continuation in business”.

Lindsay believes too that trading locally ensures a very close, reliable relationship, adding, “My customers place orders the day before. We process milk that day to go out the next morning, so within 24 hours of placing the order, fresh milk is delivered to them”.

Lindsay says local customers are really important (Image: Burchmedia)

As for the future, Lindsay’s outlook is definitely more glass half-full.

“Yes absolutely. We stick with it in the tough times. We have the good times, occasionally, but for us, it’s passion and enjoyment and, without that, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing”.

She admits that she hasn’t yet tried Ugur’s ice-cream, but feels a trip to Woodbridge is needed, not least to see what’s being done with their raw product and perhaps to savour the Black Garlic and Charcoal.

“It’s amazing what people are doing and that flavour combination is one to try .. I think!”

Back in Woodbridge, there’s undoubtedly more to come from Ugur and the team.

“I’m up at 5am most mornings, he says, “and always start by jotting down a list of ideas for fresh combinations”.

So who knows what might emerge next from the Galley Creamery and Deli, but it’s a fair bet that if he gets time away from the big films to sample more big flavours, Benedict Cumberbatch will be only too happy to oblige!