Texas hosted the third North American stop of the 2024 Gelato Festival World Masters season on 11 April, as the travelling competition kept up its search for the world’s best gelato flavours.

How the Texas round worked

The challenge was held in Houston, TX, at the premises of the local Carpigiani distributor, with 12 gelato makers competing for a spot in the 2024 North American Semifinals. Carpigiani North America organised it with Gelato Festival and Sigep – Italian Exhibition Group, the premier artisan gelato trade show. The tour’s mission is to spread the culture of artisan gelato around the world.

Chefs prepared their gelato in a kitchen supplied by the organisers, then industry experts, local chefs and food journalists tasted and judged. The three top flavours went through to the North American Semifinals in 2024.

About Gelato Festival

Gelato Festival debuted in Florence in 2010, inspired by the first gelato recipe, created by the architect Bernardo Buontalenti in 1559. It expanded across Italy, Europe and, from 2017, the United States, with 80 festivals held. The 2021 Gelato Festival World Masters took it global, ending in December 2021 with a win for Adam Fazekas of Budapest and a record 3,500 gelato artisans judged by international juries.

What this means for gelato makers in New Zealand

Great flavours come from good equipment and training. Majors Group can supply Carpigiani gelato machines, and you can build your skills through Carpigiani Gelato University in New Zealand.

Source: Carpigiani news. Rewritten for New Zealand by Majors Group.