The Czech Republic was back in the spotlight for the new Gelato Festival World Masters season, the travelling competition searching for the world’s best gelato flavours. The Prague challenge took place on 6 December 2023.

How the Prague round worked

Fifteen gelato artisans competed for a place in the 2024 European finals. Gelato Festival organised the challenge in collaboration with Carpigiani and Sigep – Italian Exhibition Group, the premier artisan gelato trade show. The tour aims to spread the culture of artisan gelato worldwide.

Chefs made 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 on to the European Finals of Gelato Festival World Masters 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, before going global with the 2021 Gelato Festival World Masters. That edition finished 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

If you’d like to make gelato worthy of a contest bench, begin with the right machine. Majors Group supplies Carpigiani gelato machines and training through Carpigiani Gelato University in New Zealand.

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