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2007 New Zealand
Ice Cream Awards
 The
eleventh New Zealand Ice Cream Awards were announced
at the annual NZICA Conference in ROTORUA on Thursday, 31st
of May
2007.
187 Ice Cream, Gelato,
Sorbet & Low Fat entries, and 29
Packaging entries were submitted for judging in ten categories by four ice cream
judges, Mr Garry Baker from Sydney, Ms Kay McMath, Ms Christine O’Sullivan
and Ms Joanna Boese from Auckland, and two packaging judges, Tom Robertson and
Michael Parker.
The Kids Choice category was judged by 8 children aged 7 and
8 years – from St Ignatious and Bayfield Schools.
The Supreme Award is given to the ice cream with the highest score across all
categories. This year the award went to the winner of the Export Category with
a score of 99.25 points for their ice cream destined for Asia.
The Supreme Award for 2007 went to Kapiti Fine Foods Ltd for their Lemon
Grass and Ginger Ice Cream.
JUDGING
International judging guidelines were followed with each ice cream being awarded
the maximum possible marks of 100, from which points were deducted for various
imperfections in each of 4 areas:
 Appearance
defects
Body
and texture
Flavour
defects
Melting
defects
Entries were in 9 categories with Category 5 (Open Creative) being split into
Ice Cream (Category 5a) and Gelato/Sorbets (Category 5b). This made the task
of the judges very much easier in comparing like samples with like.
CATEGORY RESULTS
The overall Award in the Open Creative Category went to Rush
Munro's for their Rose Petal ice cream (complete with
inclusions of chocolate covered petals), while Valentino's,
a small Auckland Gelati owner operator, was the highest scoring entry in the Gelato/Sorbet
class for their Blackberry Pie (authentic even down
to the pastry flavour !). Entries in this category were not eligible for the
Supreme Award as the products should not be available for sale in any retail
outlet, the aim being to encourage entries from hotels, restaurants, food institutes
and other catering establishments.
The Gelato/Sorbet Category attracted a record 40 entries. Old
favourites like Cookies and Cream competed with chocolate, nuts, meringue and
a full range of NZ traditional and more exotic fruits (tamarillos, Amaregna cherries,
etc). The category continues to grow with consumers enjoying the superior quality
of fruit flavours possible in these formulations.
The Kids Choice category was judged by 8 children aged 7 and
8 years - from St Ignatious and Bayfield Schools. They took the task very seriously
and while their initial reactions were all very favourable - their final judgment
after evaluating the 11 ice creams entered in the category was discriminatory.
Flavour was the chief determinant and while some ice creams found favour in appearance,
if the flavour didn't stack up - the overall appeal suffered.
The category for plain Vanilla ice cream continues to present
manufacturers with the challenge of producing the perfect texture and subtle
dairy flavour in an ice cream without the luxury of using other than vanilla
flavours to enhance the raw ingredients. Manufacturers can use this category
not only to bench mark their products against competitors, but to gauge their
process control. Again this year, for the fifth consecutive time, the Award for
the Best Vanilla Ice cream went to Deep South 2007 Ltd for
their French Vanilla Ice Cream.
After finding the task of judging packaging combined with export ice creams difficult
in previous years, the section was split to judge Export Packaging separately,
as well as creating a new category for Domestic Packaging. These categories were
judged by Tom Robertson, a Senior Lecturer in Packaging at Massey University,
assisted by Michael Parker, who both found the entries exciting and innovative.
The Gold Award for Export Packaging was awarded to Emerald
Foods Ltd for the presentation of their Japanese Private Label
Vanilla.
The Gold Award for Domestic Packaging was awarded to Kapiti
Fine Foods for their 5 Litre Black Doris Plum packaging.
The Export Category, sponsored by Allberry House Ltd, included
a range of vanilla ice creams destined for Japan and Asia. These products require
the manufacturers to understand the market requirements for dairy based ice creams
which differ markedly from local (NZ and Australia) ice creams.
COMMENTS
The ice cream judges were impressed by the berryfruit flavours that were incorporated
into many entries. A wonderful summer has provided a full fruit flavour that
carried the freshness and authenticity of the fruit through to the ice cream.
Every year the competition continues to attract new entries as the industry is
constantly challenged to produce new products and the number of entries from
small manufacturers increases. A record number of entries (187 ice creams plus
29 entries for packaging) were submitted this year by 24 manufacturers - from
the global manufacturer to smaller local owner operators. It was encouraging
to see the quality of ice creams, gelatos and sorbets of especially the small
operators who don't always have access to the technology or R & D resources of
larger companies.
The judging took place over two full days, hosted again by Massey University,
Food Technology Department, with the help of their administration and laboratory
staff. Students acted as stewards enabling the judges to focus on getting through
the large number of entries.
The ice cream judges were Ms Kay McMath, Ms Joanna Boese and Ms
Christine O'Sullivan all of Auckland, and Mr Garry Baker from
Sydney.
The New Zealand Ice Cream Manufacturers' Association celebrates it's 80th year
(the birthday cake is appropriately being made of ice cream!) and is testimony
to the strength of the industry to survive increasing competition from imported
products. Being a nation of dairy consumers - New Zealanders love their own unique
style of ice cream. Indulgence without the guilt is the challenge for the supplier
companies and manufacturers. The Ice Cream Awards will continue to promote creativity,
excellence and innovation in the industry.
 A
full list of the 2007 Awards is here.
Photos
of the 2007 Awards presentations and winners here.
 Back to
the Awards page |
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