Unusual flavour Australia’s top ice cream

A fig ripple flavoured ice cream with “large swirls of fruit and jammy syrup” has been crowned Australia’s best creamy treat, while a Tasmanian cheese with a “crumbly open texture” has been singled out for glory in an awards rundown that gives foodies their next must-try tastes.

Judges at the Melbourne Royal Dairy Awards, which elevates the best of Australian dairy, crowned Elato Artisanal Ice Cream’s fig ripple the winner in the ice-cream category for its “multifaceted” burnt spicy caramel flavours and “great balance and depth of flavours”.

“Great balance and depth of flavours … rich creamy ice cream … delicious!” the judges stated.

Coal River Farm’s blue cheese from Tasmania has been crowned best cheese for its “nice salty developed rind, with a little white mould. Rich fatty, intense. Crumbly open texture. Slight sweetness balanced with umami and earthiness.”

The nine judges, all respected industry experts, judged 207 entries for the 2023 awards, ranking them on flavour and aroma, body and texture, presentation, condition and melting.

Dairy producer Gelato Gelato took out the coveted champion dairy producer title.

The Victorian business, owned by foodies Jo Stevens and Stephanie Lewis, was founded in 2016 and has stores in Lorne, Anglesea and Geelong.

“Having trained with the gelato masters in Italy, we came back to Australia determined to make all our gelato from scratch using the finest local ingredients, which means we’re always busy roasting, making sauces, pralines and cookies to include in our delicious flavours,” Ms Stevens said.

Judges crowned the company’s Gelato Gelato choc mint the best gelato for 2023.

“Exceptional. Well done, texture is great, balance of flavour is great, great chocolate inclusions,” they stated.

“Props for that exceptional mint flavour! Possibly the best mint chocolate chip ice cream I’ve ever had, and I order this flavour all the time, so high praise.”

LardAss Butter from Ocean Grove in Victoria took out Best Butter for its black garlic cultured butter.

“Subtle black garlic sweetness and nicely salted butter … Very nice balance, good balance of flavour, great creaminess … Outstanding product, delicate flavour … smooth in texture and body. Lovely!” the judges stated.

Bulla Dairy Foods’ Australian style natural yoghurt won best unflavoured yoghurt, while The Yoghurt Co Victoria’s Eoss vanilla bean won best flavoured yoghurt.

“An excellent yoghurt … A smooth and rich mouthfeel. Fluffy and creamy texture … slight tartness, the judges declared.

“Lovely to see the vanilla seeds throughout. Structure and texture excellent. Sweetness was well balanced too.”

Tasmania’s Ashgrove Cheese won best unflavoured fresh nilk for its non-homogenised milk, while Western Australia’s Brownes Foods Operates won best flavoured fresh milk for its Aldi Champ iced coffee flavoured milk.

“A very nice coffee flavoured milk with good mouthfeel and balance between flavour and sweetness,” the judges stated.

“Good colour, nice mouthfeel, slight creaminess, good bitterness front coffee flavour.”