Asian flavours top the first leg of the Gelato World Tour

SINGAPORE — The much-anticipated Gelato World Tour kicked-off its two-year international search for the best gelato flavours with a successful Singapore leg at Marina Bay Sands on March 20 to 22. Judges deemed that Singaporean Sharon Tay of one-year-old Momolato Ice Cream Parlour (90 Stamford Road, #01-73, SMU School of Economics and Social Sciences) had the best of the top three flavours chosen to represent the Asia Pacific region at the world finals, which will be held in Rimini, Italy, in 2017.

Tay’s creation, an ode to traditional flavours, was also crafted to commemorate Singapore’s Golden Jubilee. Dubbed the Good ‘Ol Days, the gelato enfolds ribbons of homemade gula melaka caramel with sea salt, topped with crispy flakes of savoury-sweet caramelised tofu skin.

“Tofu skin is the thin layer of skin formed when soy milk is boiled (and) contains a dense concentration of flavour,” said Tay. “It is also a traditional ingredient used in Singapore cuisine but not as commonly found anymore. We wanted to modernise it so it can play a relevant and innovative role in an Italian dessert.”

The dried tofu skin, Tay explained, is caramelised with raw honey and roasted for added crispness and a smoky-savoury flavour. And what did she think won the judges over? “I would guess a well-balanced use of traditional ingredients in this creation is key. We put in a lot of effort to ensure that the individual traditional elements of this creation was fully expressed,” she said. “We wanted to bring out the character of gula melaka — aromatic but not overwhelming, sweet but not cloyingly so, by complementing it with the creaminess of fresh coconut milk and accented it with sea salt to achieve a sweet-savoury balance. The use of crunchy tofu lent texture to the gelato, and opened up a whole new dimension to this creation.”

The results are a combination votes from members of the public (65 per cent), the Technical Jury (30 per cent) and the Colleague Jury (5 per cent) where each gelato of the 16 contestants will vote for his or her fellow contestants, explained Valentina Righi, Public Relations & Communication Manager for the Gelato World Tour and Vice President of the Bruto and Poerio Carpigiani Foundation. The Technical Jury, he added, evaluated based on the following parameters: Flavour, structure and presentation.

He added that gelato is not about adhering to traditional flavours all the time because the dessert transcends continents, countries, cities, cultures and languages. “Although the process of making gelato is very much rooted in the Italian tradition in terms of the freshness of ingredients and the smoothness along with the texture which it must have, flavours reflect the artisans’ thinking and respect for how it appeals to the palate which it serves in a particular place.”

Coming in second was the Roasted Walnut & Honey Crunch by 48 Flavours’ David Lamprell, Michael and Brian O’Donnell from Australia. Third place went to Keewin and Seow Han Ong’s Vanilla Of The East. The Malaysian pair’s concoction was a pandan gelato accentuated with vanilla beans, folded with basil seeds and finished with a drizzle of salted gula melaka.