the sweet scrapbook

A month and a half ago I did not even know they existed. And then, one bright day (I'm serious about that, it really was a superb summer day) I accidentally saw some of their ice-cream boxes... and did not buy any. It was the 15th of August and the day of the first (and so far only) Iron Maiden concert I ever went to. I got at the gates at 9am (because I wanted to secure a good spot right in front of the stage), a friend of mine got there at 11am and that gave me a little break to go into the mall (the concert took place in the parking space of a mall in Cluj). That's when I saw the boxes... Of course, I could not buy them, because I was going to spend almost ten more hours in the sun before the start of the concert... and things were obviously not going to get any cooler after that either (on the contrary, I was going to be soaked in sweat at the end).

Then I got back to Bucharest and thought I might look around for those ice-cream boxes. I got lucky. It took me four minutes to get to the nearest supermarket. And they had them. So I started testing the flavours. I haven't finished trying everything that I want to try from their range, so I can only put pictures of what I have tried so far... and that's quite a few! Affogato all'amarena, Bacio, Vaniglia del Madagascar, Fragola, Limone di Sicilia, Cioccolatissimo, Panna Cotta. (I've put the presentation photos so you can compare with the pictures that I took.)

They all look beautiful - especially the most decorated ones like Choccolatissimo, Panna Cotta, Affogato all'amarena or Bacio. They melt in a really nice and smooth way - I like that. Another thing I really liked was how the chocolate curls on the Cioccolatissimo and on the Panna Cotta (yes, those were also chocolate curls - caramel-flavoured chocolate curls) and the syrup on the same two ice-creams, on the Affogato all'amarena and on the Bacio all melted at the same pace as the icecream. A lot of times I see the ice-cream melts faster. That leaves me with a melting ice-cream, still rock solid, frozen chocolate curls and/ or syrup with icy pieces. This was not really not the case here. Tastewise... My favourites were Limone di Sicilia and Cioccolatissimo. My least favourite one was Fragola. This has to do more with personal preferences - unless we're talking about citrus or cherry, I'm not a fan of fruit ice-creams. I only tried the Fragola because it looked beautiful. Probably people who usually like strawberry ice-cream will enjoy this a lot more - the texture was really fine, just like that of all their other ice-creams.

Ingredients:
Affogato all'amarena: reconstituted skimmed milk powder, sugar, sour cherry syrup (16%) (sour cherry juice (14%), thickeners: pectin and propane-1,2 diol alginate, acidity regulator: citric acid, natural colours: carminic acid and anthocyanins, flavourings), glucose syrup, coconut oil, candied cherries (5%), butter, milk proteins, emulsifiers: mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, thickeners: sodium alginate and carob bean gum, flavourings.
Bacio: reconstituted skimmed milk powder, sugar, gianduia syrup (9%) (water, sugar, hazelnut paste (14%), glucose syrup, cocoa powder, flavourings), coconut oil, glucose syrup, hazelnut paste (2,5%), cocoa powder, entire roasted hazelnuts (2%), butter, milk proteins, emulsifiers: mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, thickeners: sodium alginate and carob bean gum, flavourings.
Vaniglia del Madagascar: reconstituted skimmed milk powder, sugar, coconut oil, glucose syrup, butter (3%), milk proteins, emulsifiers: mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, thickeners: sodium alginate and carob bean gum, colour: beta carotene, vanilla flavouring, vanilla seeds.
Fragola: water, sugar, glucose syrup, strawberry juice (9,5%), coconut oil, semicandied wild strawberries (4%), reconstituted skimmed milk powder, milk proteins, emulsifiers: mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, sucrose esters, thickeners: propane 1-2 diol alginate and guar gum, acidity regulator: citric acid, natural colours: beetroot and turmeric extract, strawberry flavouring.
Limone di Sicilia: water, glucose syrup, sugar, lemon juice (4%), coconut oil, reconstituted skimmed milk powder, milk proteins, emulsifiers: mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, sucrose esters, thickeners: propane 1-2 diol alginate, carrob bean gum and guar gum, acidity regulator: citric acid, flavourings.
Cioccolatissimo: reconstituted skimmed milk powder, chocolate syrup (12%) (glucose syrup, water, sugar, cocoa powder (11%), thickener: pectin, flavourings), chocolate (11%) (chocolate paste, cocoa butter, emulsifier: soya lecithin, natural flavour: vanilla), cream (10%), sugar, glucose syrup, dark, white and milk chocolate curls (3,5%) (sugar, cocoa paste, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, emulsifier: soya lecithin, natural flavor: vanilla), butter, cocoa powder, milk proteins, emulsifiers: mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, thickeners: sodium alginate and carob bean gum.
Panna Cotta: reconstituted skimmed milk powder, sugar, caramel syrup (12%) (glucose syrup, water, colour: caramel (3%), thickeners: pectin and xanthan gum, flavouring), glucose syrup, coconut oil, butter, caramel flavoured chocolate curls (2,5%) (cocoa butter, full cream milk powder, cocoa paste, vanillin, paprika, emulsifier: ammonium phosphatides), milk proteins, emulsifiers: mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, thickeners, sodium alginate and carob bean gum, colour: caramel, cream flavouring.

Storage: -18°C; after defrosting, ice-cream may not be frozen again and consumed; shelf-life: 24 months.

Nutritional info per 100g of product:
Affogato all'amarena: energy 212kcal, protein 3g, fat 8g, carbohydrates 33g.
Bacio: energy 205,9kcal, protein 3.3g, fat 10.7g, carbohydrates 24.1g.
Vaniglia del Madagascar: energy 201kcal, protein 3.6g, fat 9.6g, carbohydrates 25g.
Fragola: energy 153kcal, protein 0.7g, fat 4g, carbohydrates 28.6g.
Limone di Sicilia: energy 153kcal, protein 0.7g, fat 4g, carbohydrates 28.6g.
Cioccolatissimo: energy 226kcal, protein 3g, fat 10.8g, carbohydrates 32.5g.
Panna Cotta: energy 231kcal, protein 3.2g, fat 8.6g, carbohydrates 30.9g.