Gelato Festival America 2019: Blueberry Basil Wins in Miami

Gelato Festival America, now in its third year, held its first Miami festival at Brickell City Centre in 2019. It doubled as the first American final, and Gelato Festival America crowned Mike Guerriero’s Blueberry Basil the best flavour.

The podium

• 1st: Blueberry Basil by Mike Guerriero of Gelotti Essex, Caldwell, New Jersey. He described it as made with sweet Jersey blueberries, garden-grown Genovese basil and fresh-squeezed lemon juice. It won over both the public jury of ticket-holders and a technical jury of fourteen professionals, and earned him a cup by Florentine goldsmith Paolo Penko. He is one of three to represent America at the Gelato Festival World Masters 2021 in Italy.
• 2nd: Texas Pecan Sea Salt Caramel by Diego Comparin of Paciugo in Dallas, Texas, a dulce de leche caramel gelato with Mediterranean sea salt and toasted Texas pecans. He is the second of the three American places.
• 3rd: Trinacrium by Maria Liliana Biondo of uGOgelato in Miami, Florida. Inspired by the triangular shape of Sicily’s ancient name, Trinacria, it used a pistachio, almond and orange variegato from D.O.C. ingredients, finished with a citrus oil spray.

Special awards

• Gela-to-go Award: Mike Guerriero, for selling the most gelato, an impressive 18 pints.
• Kids Jury: Blueberry Basil again, chosen by young jurors who tasted every entry.
• Speed Cup Race by ISA: Maria Liliana Biondo. In this contest each chef had 30 seconds to fill as many perfect cups as possible using the spatula in the traditional Italian way.
• Stack It High: Mike Guerriero, who stacked 24 scoops in 30 seconds, beating his earlier 22 and the world record of 23 set the year before.
• Technical Jury Award: Bagigi Peanut by Nazario Melchionda of Frost, a Gelato Shoppe in Tucson, Arizona.
• Popular Jury Award: Sicily Orange Sunrise by Maurizio Melani of Veneta Gelato Italiano in Valencia, Spain.

The finalists

• Giacomo d’Alessandro, Polosud Gelato Coffee Pastries, New York: Dark Chocolate Surprise
• Bella Gelateria, Vancouver, Canada: Salted B.C. Cherry Cheesecake
• Maria Liliana Biondo, uGOgelato, Miami: Trinacrium
• Mike Guerriero, Gelotti Essex, Caldwell, New Jersey: Blueberry Basil
• Diego Comparin, Paciugo Gelato, Texas: Texas Pecan Sea Salt Caramel
• Daniela Zomparelli, Lola’s Gelato, Toronto: Sassy Sea Turtle
• Nazario Melchionda, Frost, a Gelato Shoppe, Tucson, Arizona: Bagigi Peanut
• Gianluigi Dellaccio, Dolci Gelati, Washington, D.C.: Honey, Mascarpone and Fig Gelato
• Maurizio Melani, Veneta Gelato Italiano, Valencia, Spain: Sicily Orange Sunrise
• Walter Bergamaschi, Gelato Dolce Vita, Phoenix, Arizona: Stupefy
• Eugenia Sardelli, Gelateria Sardelli, Tuscany, Italy: Fior d’Arancia

The four first-place winners from Gelato Festival America 2017 and the seven from 2018 competed, and the top two qualified for the World Masters 2021, where 36 chefs from around the world will compete for the title. Thousands of people tasted gelato and voted, and enjoyed demonstrations, contests and games. Festival president Gabriele Poli thanked La Centrale and Brickell City Centre as Miami presenters and pledged to return in 2020.

The event was held with strategic partners Carpigiani Gelato University, Carpigiani Frozen Dessert University and Sigep, global partner Air Italy and official technical sponsor ISA. Gelato Festival debuted in Florence in 2010, inspired by Bernardo Buontalenti’s first gelato recipe of 1559, and had by then run 64 festivals, spreading from Italy to Europe and the United States in 2017.

What this means for gelato makers in Australia

ISA was the technical sponsor of this final, and ISA display cabinets are available through Majors Group. See the ISA gelato cabinets for presenting your flavours and Carpigiani gelato machines for making them.

Source: Carpigiani news. Rewritten for Australia by Majors Group.