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Charlies Gelato exceeded all expectations by scooping three medals at the New Zealand Ice Cream Awards.
The Matakana-based ice cream shop and café entered just five flavours in the competition and won one gold and two silvers.
Charlies’ liquorice gelato won the gold and its strawberry gelato and black doris plum sorbetto received a silver each.
Charlies’ owner Andrew Cole says it’s the first time Charlies has entered the awards.
“We thought it would be nice if we picked up a silver or two, but getting a gold went beyond our expectations,” he says.
Andrew says they were prompted to enter the liquorice because several customers are quite addicted to it and get a bit annoyed if it’s temporarily unavailable.
He adds that the strawberry gelato probably did well because Charlies grows its own strawberries and can pick them when they are in perfect condition.
Andrew says although he and partner Tania Nevill have only owned Charlies for about a year, the recipes for the winning ice creams had been in development by the previous owner for more than a decade.
“We have created a few new flavours since we came on board, but thought it better to enter our tried and true flavours at this stage,” he says.
