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2012 New Zealand
Ice Cream Awards
 (18 May 2012) The 16th New Zealand Ice Cream Awards were
announced in Napier on Thursday,
7th June 2012.
What a line-up of entries for this year's New Zealand Ice Cream Awards! 285 entries
- a record number that kept the 5 judges engaged for a full two days judging.
There was also a record number of 37 entrants compared to 31 last year.
The individual categories which attracted the largest number of entries were Premium
Ice Cream with 55 entries, Gelato with 56 entries and Sorbet with
50 entries.
Following on from its introduction last year, there are two Supreme Awards awarded
to the best ice creams over 9 different categories.
The Supreme Award for a Large Manufacturer this year went to Tip
Top French Vanilla Ice Cream made by Fonterra Brands (Tip Top Ltd)
This ice cream was Best in Category for Standard Vanilla Ice Cream and
judges described it as true to type with good colour and matching flavour.
Supreme Award for a Boutique Manufacturer this year was awarded
to an
entry in the Gelato category. The winning entry was Salted
Caramel Gelato made by Takapuna Beach
Café and Store.
The judges were impressed with the ability to
balance the sweet flavour of caramel with just
enough sea salt to enhance the overall combination
of flavours in this
gelato. Takapuna Beach Café and Store also won the Supreme Award last
year for their Coconut & Lime Curd Gelato.
As well as the Gelato Best in Category and Supreme Award
for a Boutique Manufacturer, Takapuna Beach Café and Store also
won Best in Categories in
· the Sorbet Category for their New
Zealand
Passionfruit Sorbet
· the Premium Vanilla Ice Cream Category
· and the Premium Ice Cream Category
with their Dark
Chocolate.
Fonterra Brands (Tip Top) Ltd, winner of the Supreme
Award for a Large Manufacturer, also won the Best in Categories for
· the Standard Ice Cream Category with
their Tip
Top Boysenberry Ripple Ice Cream - a repeat winner from 2010 and
2011
· the Low Fat Category with their Tip
Top
Creamy Yoghurt Ice Cream Strawberry.
 A
new "Best of" category was introduced this year, and the first flavour to feature
was New Zealand's
iconic ice cream flavour, Hokey Pokey. This new category attracted
19 entries and it was enlightening for the judges to be able to taste a wide
range of Hokey Pokey styles in gelatos, premium and standard ice creams, showing
how this flavour really is one that New Zealanders
identify with.
Much Moore Hokey Pokey made by Kiwi Ice Cream
Company Ltd was the winner of this iconic category.
A new Award introduced for the first time this year was for the "Best
New to Market" entry, where any entry new to retail in the last 12 months
was eligible. A staggering 85 entries (30% of the total entries) were eligible
for this Award, indicating how creative this industry is.
The winner of the Supreme Award, Salted Caramel Gelato made
by Takapuna Beach Café and Store also won this award.
Ten children from Owairoa School in Howick were presented with
19 ice creams to determine the winner of the Kids Choice Category.
Each of the children had to earn their place on the judging panel by completing
a job application for a position as an ice cream judge. The lucky applicants
had to wait an agonizing long holiday break to know if their application had
been successful so were very keen to impress with their ice cream tasting skills,
taking their role very seriously.
The "Yum" to "Yuk" scale was used, with the boys having their clear favourite
as well as the girls.
Tramontana made by Patagonia Chocolates of
Queenstown was the winner of the Kids Choice Category.
It was encouraging to have a few more entries in the Export Category this
year. The category was won by Talley's Group Ltd with their Green
Tea Ice Cream that is destined for Japan, which was described by
the judges as having a clean and refreshing flavour.
 To
challenge the judges, the Open Creative categories in ice cream
and gelato/sorbet included some clever and different flavours. In the ice cream
category these included avocado and goats cheese, plum and horopito, japonica
and prune and spices.
Equally as creative were the Open Creative Gelato/Sorbet entries
with Irish stout, black sesame, violet and saffron and nougat sorbet.
Too difficult to pick an overall winner across the two sections of the Open Creative
category - joint Best in Category winners were selected: Malt
Chocolate Ice Cream made by Ginelli's and Italian
Black Licorice Gelato made by Pacific
Flavours & Ingredients Ltd.
The main judging of the New Zealand Ice Cream Awards was undertaken during the
second week of May at the Massey University campus, Food Technology Department
in Albany, Auckland. The Chief Judge, Kay McMath and her team
of four judges took two full days to judge the large number of entries split
over the 11 categories.
Judging involved awarding points for a number of key attributes in different
properties. Appearance was worth 10 points, Body and Texture - 30 points, Flavour
- 50 points and Melting properties - 10 points. Gold Awards were given to entries
with more than 95 points, Silver Awards to those between 90 and 95 points.
 A
full list of the 2012 Awards is here.
Photos
of the 2012 Awards presentations and winners here.
 Back to
the Awards page |
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