Attendees of annual Ice Cream Technology Conference come up with innovative flavors in Clearwater
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Visitors to Clearwater Beach crave sunshine and when it's hot they scream for ice cream.
At the Ice & Cream Creamery they advertise 48 flavors.
"How about the Butterscotch Bomb?" asked Katie Klimes, who has worked for this local ice cream chain for seven years.
She said they like to have some new flavors all the time.
Who comes up with all the new flavors? Many of them come from attendees at the annual Ice Cream Technology Conference sponsored by the International Dairy Foods Association. This year it's being held at a Clearwater Beach resort hotel.
250 ice cream and ingredient makers are attending the conference from Tuesday through Wednesday. They're doing some important work for their industry.
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"We will be having an ice cream taste contest which is kind of the cornerstone of this conference," said Roberta Wagner, an IDFA spokesperson.
They give an annual award for the best new innovative flavor. How about Wasabi?
"Wasabi ice cream, I think, is kind of good. You got a hot and cold. There's also a Mexican Hot Chocolate ice cream," said Rich Draper of The Ice Cream Club Inc., based on Florida's East Coast.
The Sunshine State has become a hotbed of cold treats made by small companies like Drapers. Among their offerings is what they call Artisan Ice Cream.
"Artisan would mean trying new flavors, small batches, customizing, not just the mainstream flavors" said Draper.
"Here's the Carrot Cake," smiled Klimes. "I would not think Carrot Cake ice cream is good, but it literally tastes just like Carrot Cake, and I think it tastes better than Carrott Cake," she laughed.
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It never occurs to most where new ice cream flavors come from that people are more than ready to taste.
"They want variety, they want us to include things in ice cream that you would never even have thought about," said Wagner.
It could be Cornbread Barbecue Ice Cream, or Mac n' Cheese ice cream, or an ice cream sundae with a pickle in it.
"But, at the end of the day, if you don't have your normal flavors, you're going to hear about it," said Draper.
Ice cream, like people, comes in different flavors, and sometimes we all scream for ice cream that's a little different.
"You got to keep with the times," laughed Klimes, as she served another delicious spoon full of Carrot Cake ice cream.
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