I’ve pulled out the winter coats, but that’s not why I am anxious for summer. It’s because of all the fantastic ice cream combinations sampled at Worldwide Food Expo (WWFE). Inclusion suppliers outdid themselves, and here are some of their creations that I hope you commercialize for summer 2007.
Keep in mind I had to strategically pace myself over the show’s three full days in order to not overindulge. In no particular order, my sampling began at the Givaudan booth with Chocolate Blood Orange Swirl. As someone who seldom chooses chocolate, this was one scoop I would have again. Rich chocolate mousse ice cream is infused with blood orange variegate and chocolate ganache variegate. I could not leave the booth without a spoonful of two other flavors that caught my eye: Tropical Twist and Autumn Sunset Sorbet. Tropical Twist combines crème fraiche light ice cream with swirls of slightly tart mango passion fruit sorbet, while Autumn Sunset Sorbet twisted apricot, cranberry and lemon sorbets together.
Moving onto Pecan Deluxe, I was thrilled to find offerings that appeal to my sweet and salt craving. Double Feature blends malt-flavored ice cream with chocolate-covered salted pretzels and swirls of caramel popcorn. The theatre is all that was missing. Fried Cookie Dough was a unique combination that had me craving for more on my second day. This specialty uses cookie dough ice cream with a blend of fried cookie dough pieces, chocolate flakes, praline pecans, praline coconut and caramel swirls.
Day two . . . I returned for a bit more of Fried Cookie Dough, and was swayed into tasting Port Wine and Cheese. This cream cheese-flavored ice cream was topped with a slice of Cheddar cheese and drizzled with a port wine sauce garnished with port wine caviar, all served atop a soda cracker. (I considered this lunch, after all, it was 11:30 am.)
By the way, Pecan Deluxe now offers the Overload line. This new concept delivers on the creaminess of ice cream but at a reduced cost. The secret is in the overrun. This frozen dessert can be used with elevated or standard inclusion levels to deliver a cost-effective product, according to the company.
Sweet Ovations was right there when I started to slow down-had to keep the sugar buzz going! Lucky for me, Sweet Ovations was debuting its new inclusions and wanted me to taste them all. Now instead of being mostly a fruit variegate company, Sweet Ovations makes baked, extruded and analog inclusions. Here my favorite had to be Berried Melange ice cream. (It had my name on it!) The ice cream base included antioxidant-rich pomegranate and blueberry, and was loaded with blueberry sugar cookie dough inclusions.
I can never resist carrot cake (served it at my wedding), so I had to sample Leaf Me Alone ice cream (something I often say since being married for the past 10 years). The colors of fall reflect in this carrot cake-flavored ice cream laced with caramel marble and gingersnap cookie dough inclusion bites.
There was one more stop for me on day two: Virginia Dare. Together with Norse Dairy Systems, these companies provided me with the Choco Cherry Cone, which is a chocolate-coated sugar cone filled with cherry ice cream that had a fudge core and was topped with chocolate cherry crunchies.
I admit by the last day I thought I had enough . . . but than I saw Gertrude Hawk. The original supplier of molded chocolate shapes and mini filled cups has expanded its offerings to include nano size cups. These itty, bitty filled chocolate cups come 1,100 to a pound, as compared to the original mini cups that come 350 to a pound. For those mathematicians out there, you are right, they are about a third the size. And, you guessed it, they are perfect in frozen novelties. As I sampled many of the different cups, I learned about the company’s new panning, coating and variegating capabilities. I ended that booth visit with a sampling of Raspberry Cheesecake Supreme. This treat uses Denali cheesecake base and raspberry ripple with Gertrude Hawk’s raspberry cheesecake graham pieces. During my sampling I learned that the family-owned company was founded by the one and only: Gertrude Hawk, a pioneer in chocolate fundraising for churches.
There was one last stop before I could call it a day-Kerry. At the time, Halloween was a week away and I felt inclined to get into the holiday spirit. I started with Pumpkin Cheesecake, a pumpkin-flavored ice cream with real cheesecake pieces. I followed this with Reindeer Crunch. This vanilla frozen dessert included red and green peppermint pieces and chocolate flakes.
On that note, Merry Christmas, and I am looking forward to your summer lineup.
