For Steven Moffat there is a deep connection between Scotland and ice cream. It goes back to a time when almost every small town had an ice cream shop, a tradition brought to Scotland by Italian families after the war.
It was this nostalgia, evoking childhood memories of sunny summers, that sparked the idea for Thistle & Churn, a small batch ice cream business serving up artisanal scoops from a Victorian bike on the streets of Edinburgh.
Working from the back of a bike might be a pain logistically, but Steven says it delights customers.
‘The idea started as a mix of inspiration and naivety. I wanted something flexible and fun – artisanal ice cream felt like the next wave after the boom in small-batch bakeries and coffee shops,’ Steven said.
‘A mobile bike seemed simpler than a shop – turns out, I was wrong.
‘The bike is a pain logistically, but it delights customers and I want to bring back the serendipity of the “stop me and buy one” trading to the streets of Edinburgh.
‘There is a connection between Scotland and ice cream – the history and tradition brought to Scotland by the Italian families after the war is a fabulous one, and every small town had its own Italian ice cream shop.
‘I think we all harbour some childhood memories of these places and the first time we ate ice cream.
Credit: Lewis Cannon Photography,
‘I used to think vanilla was the only flavour worth eating, until Scicilly, where I had an experience with a chocolate gelato from a small shop in Siracusa.
‘It wasn’t my palate that was simple; it was the synthetic flavours in mass-produced ice creams that I objected to. That’s when I realised how transformative real ingredients could be.
Steven currently has 14 flavours all made by hand, including the cones and toppings.
Every scoop is freshly churned each day, using local Scottish ingredients. The cream comes from dairies in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Ayrshire, while the fruits normally come from Fife.
Steven is currently in conversation with an Aberdeen grower about the possibility of working with some of the first crop of Scottish grown vanilla, while also trying to develop a vegan ice cream made with avocado.
‘We keep it very local. Our cream and milk are from Edinburgh, usually Bonalys. We also use a Glasgow Dairy and an Ayrshire dairy, fruits tend to be Fife, but we go further afield, as far as Turkey for our figs,’ he said.
‘I am really very excited about our talks with an Aberdeen Grower – Vanilla Farms, and at the possibility of working with some of the first crop of Scottish grown vanilla.
Credit: Lewis Cannon Photography,
‘I won’t release our vanilla ice cream until it’s 100% Scottish grown vanilla in Scottish whole milk.
‘We are working on new flavours anytime we can, it’s a bit punishing just now, I’m either making, prepping or selling, so it’s hard to get the time to devote to flavour development.
‘When I started experimenting with whisky in our ice creams I absently used a bottle from my shelf, one that was a gift from years ago and I hadn’t touched or thought about. A few months in and I was running low, so I googled the bottle, a fairly rare 12 year old speyside. Turns out it was a fortune now, so I had basically been selling £4 ice creams with £7 worth of whisky in them.
‘Thankfully the team up at Glengarioch have stepped in and now supply us with their wonderful Founders Reserve.
‘We are working very hard on a vegan ice cream but it keeps coming out a sorbet and I’m struggling to find a plant based fat substitute, we’re fiddling with avocado at the moment for this.
‘We have made a stab at Artichoke and Lemon, Prosecco and Peaches, as well as a crunchy chilli ice cream.
‘Very few of our experiments make it through enough cycles to become one of our flavours. It has to tick a lot of boxes before we will sell it.’
Steven is keen to promote traditional values, simplifying the churning and ingredients down so his ice creams are more akin to what Victorians would have tasted and known ice cream to be.
‘What could be more traditional than a Victorian ice cream bike?’ Steven said.
Credit: Lewis Cannon Photography,
‘We took a long hard look at the history of ice cream, going back further than common knowledge.
We promote traditional values in our product, simplifying the churning and ingredients down to meet these traditional core values.
‘Our ice creams are more akin to what Victorians would have tasted and known ice cream to be; more so than modern ice creams.
‘I’m currently actively recruiting to keep up with demand, but finding people who share our obsession with quality and joy for service is turning out tougher than selling avocado ice cream.
‘Most days we sell out, we can only store a small volume in the bikes freezer and our production is so labour intensive we will never really be a volume producer.
‘Serving ice cream is bringing joy to people, serving something you have made with your own hands, that reflects the foods of your home, it feels incredible.
‘It is easy in the sunshine, there was a grim rainy Saturday a few weeks back, and I almost didn’t get out of bed. That was until I imagined a regular showing up to an empty stall, so I ended up selling ice cream in the pouring rain under an umbrella with soggy feet.
‘I ended up with a queue of people for ice cream in the rain. It was just great fun.
‘It ended up being one of my happiest, most memorable days trading so far. However I do hope for more sunny days than cloudy ones next year.’
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