I scream, you scream...

Ice cream’s a big deal in New Zealand. Kiwis are amongst the highest per capita consumers of ice cream in the world—lying either 2nd or 3rd (with Australia) behind the USA. In fact, Kiwis each eat on average around 18 litres of ice cream per annum.

One of the first things I do when I get back home is to get my tongue around either a blueberry or a hokey pokey ice cream cone—hokey pokey being our national icon ice cream. Or perhaps a rum and raisin…

So much so is it a big thing that this year's annual New Zealand Ice Cream Awards attracted a record 206 entries.

International judging guidelines are followed, with each ice cream being awarded a maximum 100 points, with points deducted for imperfections in appearance, body and texture, flavour and melting defects.

Interestingly, the mainstay of ice cream flavours—vanilla—won the top prize, beating the more unusual flavours of peanut butter, bacon and egg and Mexican. Entered by Invercargill business Deep South, the standard vanilla flavour impressed judges more than a raft of other more exotic choices. Deep South was also named as winner of the Best in Category prize for their standard chocolate and hokey pokey ice creams.

But what makes me feel good about eating ice cream, is that ice cream is about 50% air by volume—so shouldn’t that mean half the calories?