The annual Melbourne Royal Dairy Awards has recently announced its winners, crowning a range of nation's best creamy products including Australia's favourite ice cream.
Taking home the major awards of Champion Dairy Producer and Champion Victorian Dairy Producer was Victorian Surf Coast-based Gelato Gelato, which was founded in 2016 and has stores in Lorne, Anglesea and Geelong.
Over in the Best ice Cream category, the winner was Southbank, Victoria's Elato Artisanal Ice Cream with its Fig Ripple offering. The judges commented on the ice cream, saying: "Large swirls of fruit and jammy syrup, looks enticing. Burnt spicy caramel flavours very multifaceted, with textures that sing, and crunchy seeds make it interesting. Great balance and depth of flavours…Rich creamy ice cream…Delicious!"
Other categories in the Melbourne Royal Dairy Awards include Best Cheese and Best Non-Cow Cheese, Best Cream, Best Butter, Best Gelato and more.
The Melbourne Royal Dairy Awards are a newly relaunched category of the Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards that celebrate excellence in Australian food production.
"The Melbourne Royal Dairy Awards are steeped in history, dating back to the 1870s, and continue today to provide producers across the country with an opportunity to benchmark their goods against the very best and have been a launching pad for some of Australia's most successful food products and brands," said Brad Jenkins, Melbourne Royal CEO.
A list of all the award winners can be found here.