Claudia Trotta and Giuseppe Cimino are entering the ice cream championship with “Phyalis avocado” and “edelweiss goat yoghurt”.
The delicate orange-yellow ice cream melts lemony on the lips, then docks creamy and fresh on the palate, tastes of mint and somehow mango-like and ends with a note of avocado in the finish. Mango? No, it is the Andean berry Physalis that gives the Physalis Avocado Sorbet its summer color and fruity taste. Guiseppe Cimino, ice cream maker from Rastatt in Baden-Württemberg, came up with an unusual creation a few years ago so that he could win the German championship in Berlin in 2018 and thereby qualify for the ice cream world championship in Bologna at the beginning of December.
The ice cream creation “Edelweiß goat yoghurt” by ice cream maker Claudia Trotta from Wernigerode in the Harz region also looks delicious. In 2019 she won the German championship with it: It is a creamy creation that is refined with sauces made from candied tangerine, blueberries from the region and cold-pressed chocolate, as the 50-year-old says.
Last year the competition was canceled – otherwise three ice cream makers from Germany could go to Bologna now. According to the organizers, a total of 33 ice cream makers are competing for the title at the World Cup.
The competition is fierce, both say in unison. “But I’ve done my homework and I’m well prepared,” says Cimino. He practices again shortly before the World Cup, carefully stirs an orange-colored physalis water pulp in a large metal bucket, adds “organic mint from Papa’s garden” and halved and previously salted avocados. The proportions are secret, and the exact seasoning – lime zest is also used – is also used. Trotta has already sent her elaborate sauces to Bologna, only the goat yoghurt and the Greek yoghurt she brings with her on arrival.
“Germans love ice cream,” says Annalisa Carnio from the Unities Association, the national association of Italian ice cream manufacturers. Especially ice cream based on the Italian tradition is very popular in Germany. According to their information, around 3,300 ice cream parlors have their own ice cream production in this country. A further 6,000 or so are branches of these ice cream companies or get their ice cream from a company that produces itself.
According to industry data from the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI), people in this country licked around eight liters of ice cream per capita last year – around one liter of which was ice cream parlor. There are no sales figures for ice cream.
Cimino does not disclose any sales figures either – but according to his statements, business is going well. He and his brothers have often been in the media: with dog ice cream, for example, or at the beginning of the pandemic, toilet paper ice cream cakes made up. Cimino tries to always adapt to the current zeitgeist and the prevailing trends. He develops up to nine new ice cream flavors per season, and Trotta is also constantly trying out new things.
Trotta and Cimino spent some time working on the perfect recipe. The two varieties with which they want to convince the jury in Bologna are very well received by their customers. He always wanted to do something with avocado, says Cimino. After all, the fruit is hyped everywhere as being healthy, rich in unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins. “When it comes to the word“ goat yoghurt ”, some are initially skeptical,” says Trotta. “But when they try the ice cream, they think it’s great.”
According to information from the Baden-Wuerttemberg Crafts Day, the apprenticeship as “ice cream specialist” no longer exists since 2019, but that does not matter for either Cimino or Trotta. Cimino, a trained industrial mechanic, nevertheless learned how to make ice cream from scratch, from his father, who in turn from his grandfather. To make good ice cream, you need “experience, experience, experience,” he says. “And good ingredients.”
Competitor Trotta has only been making ice cream on her own for six years – before that, she had learned all the know-how from her husband for 20 years.
An eight-member jury will soon assess your cool creations in Bologna: In addition to taste, color, consistency and smoothness will also be judged. It’s just a shame that Cimino’s typical summer ice cream is now being tasted in winter. “That’s a disadvantage for me,” he believes. Trotta thinks that you can eat “Edelweiß goat yoghurt” all year round and hopes that the jury will see it the same way.
The World Cup should actually take place much earlier, but was postponed due to Corona and finally moved from Florence to Bologna. Speaking of Corona – it is theoretically conceivable that everything will fall into the water again because of this. “Hopefully not,” says Cimino. (Anika von Greve-Dierfeld, dpa)
