For all other results for the 2009 National Ice Cream Competition are now ready to view;

CLICK HERE

See also our Media Section for our listed article on Philip Mancini the latest Ice Cream champion

Ice Cream Competitors Keep Their Cool!

Following feedback from our members last year, we made a significant change to the ice cream competition. There are now two Champion of Champions - one Vanilla and one Flavour - and two separate trophies. An additional incentive for entrants is that the winners of all classed will receive promotional support by Verrill Media, a PR company which has been engaged by the ICA. We have also negotiated special rates for any members wishing to engage Verrill Media to assist them with their own PR.

Ice Cream is one of life’s delights and is enjoyed by people of all ages and from all walks of life, but once a year it becomes a deadly serious topic for Britain’s artisan ice cream makers as they chill out and prepare to do battle in the National Ice Cream competition.

The competition takes place under the auspices of The Ice Cream Alliance during their annual conference and attracts entries from artisan ice cream makers from the length and breadth of the British Isles.

To take part, competitors submit samples of their ice cream into the various classes which includes Vanilla, Flavours, Sorbets and Artistic where competitors creatively interpret a theme in ice cream

The Vanilla and Flavours classes pit producer against producer to see who can master these favourites, but they can give full rein to their creative instincts and artisan talents to concoct delicious, original creations.

Entries are collated under the watchful eye of the Alliance’s independent staff including ice cream expert Philip Pearman  who makes sure that all the rules have been complied with before using a ‘double blind’coding system to ensure the samples’ total anonymity.

The hard work then begins as the samples are tested by panels of ice cream judges, in public, under strictly controlled conditions with the scores being entered into a computer to be de-coded and the winners identified. All the winning samples undergo further laboratory based analysis just to make sure there has not been any other underhand ‘jiggery pokery’. The judging can be really hard work as there can be over 100 entries for judges to taste in a single class! They’ve really got to love the stuff!

Philip Pearman says ‘we need to make sure that the rules are clear and meticulously followed as each individual ice cream maker expresses their emotions into ice cream. Some recipes are family heirlooms passed down through generations and some are newly developed with a more technical input. The standards are high but every entrant has a chance to win, so let the battle commence.

The winners in each class receive a trophy plus a coveted Gold Medal with Silver and Bronze for second and third, with the gold medallists in each class going on to compete for the Champion of Champions vanilla and flavour trophies; the ultimate accolades in the ice cream industry.

Many of the winners proudly display the trophies and medals to the public in their parlours and shops as proof of the high standard of their ice cream.