InterSICOP 2024, the setting for the revamped Spanish Ice Cream Championship

The Spanish Ice Cream Making Championship will be held again on 17 and 18 February 2024 at InterSICOP - the International Bakery, Confectionery, Ice Cream, Coffee and Equipment Show organised by IFEMA MADRID at Feria de Madrid - but with a different name (MMAHE) and a different participation mechanism.

There will be no single winner

The new MMAHE, organised by the National Association of Artisan Ice Cream Makers (Anhcea), will not proclaim a single winner, but will award the title of Best Artisan Master Ice Cream Maker of Spain to those who achieve the required overall score, at least 80% or more of the total points at stake.

Only 8 aspirants will have access to this competition, which consists of six tests: a decorated ice-cream tub, a take-away ice-cream, an ice-cream cake and three mystery boxes. Each test has specific evaluation criteria, including aesthetics, taste, texture and organisation of the work.

Yon Gallardo, a member of the competition committee, says that the tests that are arousing the most doubts are the mystery box ice cream. "Here, we wanted to highlight the art of the ice-cream maker. In previous championships, the focus was more on the aesthetic side, more artistic, and now we want to highlight the day-to-day work of an ice cream maker, which is to face the challenges of launching new ice creams with local products or with ingredients that customers ask for", he says. Two of them are going to be in the form of glycol tubes (pozzetti), so there is no need to decorate them, and a third one in the form of a popsicle. "They are complicated, but any ice cream maker who knows how to formulate them can do them. They are also the most fun and spontaneous", he adds.