HYDERABAD: The fun got doubled on Sunday afternoon as Hyderabadis tried their luck at the ‘ice cream tasting challenge’, offering awards ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh for those with the most delicate taste buds! The event where more than 20 brands presented their products, was hosted by Hybiz TV in partnership with major ice cream and dairy stalwarts such as Mercely’s Ice Cream, Cream Stone, Telangana Vijaya, Milky Mist and others.
The ice cream tasting challenge was a major attraction at the event with more than 200 participants from different age groups. “We had a 68-year-old customer coming from Khammam saying ‘I just love ice creams so much, I didn’t want to miss this!’” said Rajgopal Madishetty, MD of Hybiz TV. Sahasra, a three-year-old girl beat most of the contestants in the competition as she correctly guessed the flavours of the ice cream one after the other. When asked what was her favourite ice cream flavour, she first said, “All!” and then settled on a lemon ice pop.
“The challenge is that you have to taste and tell correctly the flavour of the ice cream while being blindfolded. The maximum number of correct guesses would get the first prize. The trick is that after four samples, your taste buds would no longer be able to identify the taste unless you drink some water or try something salty to break the continuous sweet taste,” said Madishetty. “In our last year’s challenge, the winner identified 60 samples correctly. This year, the highest number is nine till now,” he added.
The first prize of Rs 1 lakh and a domestic holiday package worth Rs 40,000 went to Bhavani K, a resident of LB Nagar. The second prize of Rs 50,000 and a holiday worth Rs 25,000 was won by Salma Mohammad from Kondapur and the third prize was bagged by Durga Prasad Reddy from Uppal, winning Rs 25,000 and a holiday package worth Rs 10,000.
One could see popular brands such as Mercely’s, Cream Stone and Baskin Robbins and then some less popular ones such as Skipp, whose ice pops could be seen in many hands, all of their six different flavours being tried and tested, some people even coming back for more. Among Mercely’s fruit flavours, you would find pineapple, chickoo, jackfruit, sitaphal, coconut and blueberry. Cream Stone presented some unique flavours such as Karamel Sutra, Willy Wonka, Biscoff and Kala Jamun.
Ashwin and Triveni who had come with their toddler said they were thoroughly enjoying the event. “It is our first time coming to an ice cream festival. I think it is a great idea to host an event like this,” said Ashwin. Having tried Mercely’s sitaphal, vanilla and strawberry flavours, they said they would like to try more.
“From the point of view of social responsibility and also for people’s entertainment, we have organised this event for the second time in Hyderabad. There are a lot of food festivals but not anything specific for ice creams,” said Madishetty.
“A lot of companies mislead customers by claiming to be healthy while using synthetic colours for their products. We, on the other hand, present frozen fruits and probiotic yogurts in our range of products,” said Pramod Francis, CEO of Mercely’s.
Garnering a footfall of more than 16,000 last year, this event had around 5,000 people till afternoon with more people turning up in the evening.