The vanilla ice cream of the Mangalore-based Ideal Ice Cream has won three awards in the ‘Great Indian Ice Cream Contest 2013’.

Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, S. Mukund Kamath, proprietor of Ideal Ice Cream, said Ideal won two gold medals -- the ‘Best Vanilla in the Frozen Dessert’ category and the ‘Standard Vanilla’ category. It also secured the ‘Best in Class’ award in the ‘Standard Vanilla’ category.

Kamath said Ideal won the silver medal for its ‘Belgian Chocolate’ in the category of ‘Best Chocolate Ice Cream’. The company won a silver medal in the ‘Innovation’ category for its product ‘Jackfruit Payasam Ice Cream’.

He said the ‘Great Indian Ice Cream Contest 2013’ was held under the aegis of the Indian Dairy Association at Gurgaon recently. DuPont Nutrition and Health, a supplier of food ingredient solutions to the dairy industry, had organised the event.

The ice cream varieties were primarily judged on their flavour and aroma, texture and body, and in presentation. There was an initial round to identify the gold winners who qualified for the finals. In the finals, the gold winners competed amongst themselves for the ‘Best in Class’ awards, he said.

A panel comprising representatives from the ice cream industry, members of the Indian Dairy Association, and technical and innovation experts from DuPont, judged the event.

Kamath said more than 70 ice cream companies across India had participated in the event. They competed in six different categories. The contestants had presented nearly 500 samples for the contest, he added.

>vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in