Ice-cream flavour competition in the US

Berries with brandy, chocolate mudslide, breakfast cereal, cinnamon bun and bananas were some of the ice-cream flavours revealed at this year’s annual Ice Cream Technology Conference presented by the US International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA).

Each year, the IDFA competition brings together new and soon-to-be-released flavours from small and large US ice-cream makers and flavourings suppliers. The 2019 contest attracted 35 flavour entries over the two-day event, including two dairy-free frozen desserts.

“This year’s contest really wowed us with a mix of sweet and savoury, combining liqueurs with candy crumbles and spices, and bakery flavours like cobbler, French toast, cookies and pie crust,” said Cary Frye, IDFA senior vice president of regulatory affairs.

The awards had three categories: most innovative ice-cream flavour, most innovative ice-cream novelty and most innovative ice-cream prototype.

The winner of the most innovative ice-cream flavour category was Kemps Scotcheroo, which features swirls of peanut butter, oatmeal cookie chunks and chocolate fudge chunks in a butterscotch ice-cream.

In the most innovative ice-cream novelty category, the winner was Tillamook County Creamery Association for its Chocolate Mudslide Waffle Cone Sandwich. Rich chocolate ice-cream made with dark chocolate fudge chips and a thick fudge ripple is placed between two crisp chocolate waffle cone cookies.

In the most popular category, first place was awarded to Kerry for its Bramble Brandy Crumble — a hybrid frozen dessert made with half dairy and half oat-based dairy alternative, flavoured with dairy-free pie crumble dough, Madagascar vanilla and a blackberry variegate infused with brandies.

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