Marten Riedstra, the owner and head ice-cream maker at Ilskâld in Lemmer has won third in the European ice cream championships
Translated by Thomas Ansell
Even being seated around 1,000km away from the judging panel couldn’t stop Marten Riedstra of Ilskâld in Lemmer; with the ice cream maker impressing judges with his persimmon (‘kaki’, or ‘sharon fruit’) ice cream and winning third place in the European ice cream championships. As reported by the Omrop Fryslân.
According to Riedstra, the event was supposed to be held in Italy, but had to be moved online thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. “We put our entries into cold transport and sent it down to the judges, and then I showed them how the ice cream is made via video-link. I showed them, and they tasted, our Greek yoghurt with kaki sauce. It’s not a popular fruit in the Netherlands, but you can find it in supermarkets, and we called the flavour ‘Sweet & Happiness’.”
“It’s a bit sweet-sour, and the flavour is augmented by star anise, vanilla, and tonka bean. It’s a really great combination”, says Riedstra.
The ice-cream maker is only half-way through his award-winning journey, though. Having qualified for this competition (‘Gelato Festival Europe’), and now placed this, Riedstra will now be heading to the world championships. “I hope that that won’t be a digital competition”, says Riedstra.
Riedstra’s most popular creamy delight is available from his shop in Lemmer, since it’s seasonal it may not always be available, but, says the ice-cream maker, “within two days it will be back again!”
Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
