ST GEORGE’S Day is fast approaching and if the weather holds it will be another great day to grab an ice cream and head to the beach.

The day is being celebrated in style on Monday at Brighton’s Boho Gelato. Founder and master gelato maker Seb Cole is always on the look out for new local ingredients and has come up with a sourdough gelato using bread made with heritage wheat from Sussex Farm, Trenchmore.

St George, a Roman soldier of Greek and Palestinian origin, may well have tasted gelato which is thought to have originated in Roman times with snow and ice carried down from mountains and stored below ground then used to create the frozen dessert.

“Brown bread ice-cream is a great flavour but we wanted a twist for our St George’s Day special”, Seb said.

“As the bread eaten by George would have been traditionally made sourdough it seemed perfect, especially as the wheat Trenchmore is growing is a heritage variety”.

“Gelato is based on whole milk, as opposed to ice cream which is usually cream and egg heavy. The lower fat content of gelato means that you don’t need as much sugar in your recipe and the result is a much denser, fresher and softer product which works brilliantly as a canvas to showcase the flavour of the nutty sourdough.”

Alongside breeding a Sussex-Wagyu cattle cross, Trenchmore Farm in Cowfold has been growing heritage wheat for two years.

It’s different from modern wheat in that it’s not been ‘improved’ to increase protein content which is necessary for commercially mass-produced factory fast bread.

“We wanted to grow a low input crop with great flavour to supply locally grown flour and wheat berries in Sussex”, says farmer Joanne Knowles. “We harvested our first crop last summer and have been small batch stone milling and enjoying the wheat berries. These have been a revelation – a great local replacement for pasta, rice and couscous. They are nutrient and fibre dense and completely unprocessed with a great nutty flavour and bite”.

The sourdough gelato is available to buy from Boho Gelato, 6 Pool Valley, Brighton from Monday.

Trenchmore’s heritage wheat flour is available to buy from Hisbe, 20-21 York Place, Brighton.