Team
Settapanni’s award-winning sugar showpiece. Photo courtesy of Carymax, LLC.
The
National Pastry Team Championship, the nation’s most prestigious pastry
competition, awarded the Best Sugar Showpiece prize to Team Settapanni, headed
by Biagio Settapanni, pastry chef at Bruno Bakery/Pasticceria Bruno, New York
City, NY. The two other team members were Anil Rohira, Chevy Chase Country
Club, Chevy Chase, MD, and Peter Rios, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago,
IL. Nielsen- Massey Vanillas was the teams’ gold sponsor for the second
year running.
The National Pastry Team
Championship, held in Beaver Creek, Colorado, offers the country’s best
pastry artists the opportunity to compete against each other in a timed event
that runs over two days.
Twelve
three-person teams create a chocolate showpiece, a sugar showpiece, a plated
dessert, a frozen dessert, bonbons and petits fours. Team captains are selected
on the basis of their U.S. citizenship, or having worked in the United States
as a pastry professional for the previous two years, and they must have earned
a medal in a nationally or internationally recognized competition. Team captains
select their team members, who also must comply with the citizenship or work
criteria. The teams are judged not only on their innovative creations for
visual appeal and flavor, but also on teamwork, creativity and cleanliness.
Team members win cash prizes
as well as international recognition for these efforts. Nielsen-Massey is
proud to once again sponsor the talents of Biagio Settapanni, along with team
members Anil Rohira and Peter Rios. Congratulations!
Since
the beginnings of this country, Americans have loved their ice cream. Neither
winter’s frost nor summer’s heat has slowed the demand for sweet cool
treats. And, while the variety of available flavors continues to increase
with premium, super-premium and gourmet offerings, still, it is vanilla that
tops the list as the nation’s favorite.
No wonder. The versatility
of vanilla makes it a leader in flavors, as either a stand-alone to complement
the creamy rich-
ness of ice cream or the eggy smoothness of frozen custard, or as a vital
enhancement to chocolate, fruit and nut flavored delights.
Ice cream novelties have
a long history in the frozen confection hall of fame.
Vanilla still tops the
list as America's favorite.
Early
treats were pressed into metal molds shaped like flowers, fruits, nuts, and other
shapes to depict the flavor of the ice cream. America is the birth place of
many frozen novelities. Ice cream cones were invented at the St. Louis World’s
Fair in 1904, closely followed by Eskimo Pies® (vanilla ice cream with
a chocolate coating), The Good Humor™ Bars (ice cream on a stick), and
Popsicles™ (frozen lemonade on a stick). More recent offerings in the
grocery aisles are bonbons and bars and pops made with famous candies such
as Snickers® and M&M’s ®. Lots of cartoon characters can
be seen sculpted in ice cream as well. Even Pokemon™ and SpongeBob Squarepants™
have turned up as icy treats!
New
entries into the ice cream market were seen at the Fancy Food shows this year
in San Francisco, Chicago and New York. Some of these featured Asian-inspired
ingredients such as lemongrass, ginger, almond, or green tea. While these
flavors may sound odd, they can be a very refreshing alternative to more traditional
flavors. But one thing remains consistent: even in these exotic combinations,
the mellowness of vanilla is an asset. Spicy Indonesian Vanilla rounds out
ginger and tea flavors, while fruity Tahitian Vanilla can be the right foil
for almond and lemongrass notes. Old or new, ice cream treats that include
vanilla will always have them screaming for more.
Ice cream novelties of all shapes and flavors are convenient and neat treats for ice cream lovers of all ages.
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Did You Know? Vanilla is still the most popular flavor in ice cream, claiming a whopping 29% of the industry’s $20 billion in annual sales. Chocolate grabbed only 8.9% of the market. Source:COOK’S ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE |
