By Kim Choe
New Zealanders are one of the world's top ice cream eaters, consuming over 22 litres per head of population a year.
So inventing new flavours for a demanding and discerning market is taken very seriously.
The Tip Top production line is an ice cream lover’s paradise; where the frozen confectionery is mixed, dipped, and packed with astounding speed.
But the real hard work is done well before this by food technologists in the research and development laboratory.
When it comes to ice cream, the possibilities are as numerous as the taste buds on your tongue – and budding inventors are welcomed.
“A lot of our ideas come from the public, come from Kiwis,” says Tip Top marketing manager Trish Whitwell.
“We probably get about a thousand ideas emailed or people phoning in every year giving us great new ideas.”
To witness the innovation process first hand, 3 News challenged the scientists to invent a new flavour just for us – inspired by campfire favourite: the marshmalllow s'more.
“Well, first and foremost we had to find out what a s'more actually was,” says food technologist Steven Flynn. “So we did a quick search on the internet and found out.
“What we actually came up with in the end was a toasted vanilla ice cream, which we then blended with our own marshmallow.
“And then the last bit of a s'more is about the chocolate coated biscuits. So what we decided to do was get some crushed up biscuits, start coating them with chocolate, then basically blend them all together.
“So once we've done this, it'll be frozen down and hardened to around about minus 20, and then consumed at around about minus 18 to minus 14,” he says.
The process is deceptively simple.
It can take up to two years to see a product through from conception to completion which includes the arduous task of taste testing.
But the technologists never get sick of it.
“We do it every day. At nine o'clock every morning we're tasting the previous day's production, and that's essentially breakfast.”
Luckily, the discerning tasting panel didn't have to wait very long to try the s’more ice cream.
And the verdict?
“I’d buy it,” said one tester.
3 News