Chilled out
TWO Otago ice cream companies have won gold medals in the annual New Zealand Ice Cream Awards.
Patagonia, Queenstown, and Pure New Zealand, Wanaka, are now in the running to be among 13 Champions and two Supreme Champions which will be announced at the NZ Ice Cream Awards gala dinner in Auckland tonight.
They were among 300 entries assessed by 17 judges as they sought the country’s best ce creams, gelatos, sorbets and dairyfree frozen products.
Chief Judge Jackie Matthews made special mention of the exceptional quality of this year’s gold medal winners.
‘‘One of the objectives of the awards is to raise the overall industry standard and New Zealandmade ice cream has been of worldclass quality for many years. This year the gelato and sorbet were excellent, and also truly worldclass.’’
One of the trends noticed was the increase in savoury flavours entered this year.
Patagonia received a gold medals in the sorbet section for its chocolate flavour and in the premium ice cream category for its dulce de leche. It got silver medals in the ice cream category for its dark chocolate, in the fruit category for its mango ice cream, in the premium vanilla section for its vanilla bean and in the sorbet category for its raspberry.
Pure New Zealand received a gold medal in the gelato category for its boysenberry gelato and in the premium ice cream category received silver medals for its salted caramel, roasted white and dark chocolate, hokey pokey and marscapone, date and orange.