Manchester was the second of three British stages of the 2024 Gelato Festival World Masters worldwide tour. On 12 November, Carpigiani UK hosted the Carpigiani Challenge at the Food Sorcery Development Kitchen, where elite gelato chefs from across England presented their signature flavours in the hunt for a place in the European finals.

How the challenge worked

Each chef prepared their gelato in a specially equipped laboratory, and a panel of industry experts, local chefs and food journalists tasted and judged each flavour. The best flavour would advance to the European Finals of the Gelato Festival World Masters, set for 2025.

The championship behind it

The 2022-2025 Gelato Festival World Masters is organised by Gelato Festival with Carpigiani Gelato University and Sigep – Italian Exhibition Group, the world’s leading B2B show for artisan gelato, pastry, bakery and coffee. Now in its fifteenth year, it began in Florence in 2010 as a local competition inspired by the first recorded gelato recipe, crafted by the architect Bernardo Buontalenti in 1559. It spread across Italy, then Europe, then reached the United States in 2017 before becoming a global championship. The 2017-2021 edition alone drew more than 3,500 gelato artisans from around the world.

What this means for gelato makers in New Zealand

Competitions like this show how far a well-balanced recipe, good technique and a confident story can take a gelato maker. If you are building your own flavour range, the right artisan gelato machines and a solid grounding from Carpigiani Gelato University are the place to start, and Majors Group can help with both in New Zealand. Our team can also talk you through Rubicone ingredients for your next signature flavour.

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