While many Italian gelaterias are closed for the winter, ice cream makers here are testing new flavors.
What’s hot? If you believe the news coming from Sigep, the gelato, chocolate and bread fair in seaside resort Rimini, sweet is out.
Salty is hot. Organizers of the fair are so convinced that people will want a cool lick of savory gelato they held a contest for the best new flavors. Seven international teams – Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the U.S. — participated in this piquant cook-out.
Each team paired an expert gelato maker with a haute cuisine chef, though the flavors sound more stomach churning than mouth watering:
Spain took top honors with dish of salmon and turnip accompanied by three gelatos: pink pepper, olive oil and tomato. A second dish: lamb paired with black pepper gelato.
Italy came in second with a dish of tuna and fish-egg (bottarga) gelato and a seafood risotto with cuttlefish ice cream.
Argentina took the bronze with a salmon dish accompanied by avocado gelato and a meat dish with a sorbet of tomato and zabaglione.
Let’s hope the wine flavors make a comeback.
Image courtesy Sigep.