Northumberland ice cream is the best in the country

Ciccarelli Ice Cream, based at South Beach, won a Gold Medal and Trophy at the National Ice Cream Championships 2022 run by the Ice Cream Alliance (ICA), the sector’s UK trade association.

Their delicious dairy vanilla ice cream beat all comers in the most prestigious ice cream competition in the country, which has been running for nearly 80 years.

Owner Domenico Gregorio said: “I’m over the moon. Can't believe it.

“I’m so proud of all the staff at Ciccarelli who worked so hard for this.

"We've been trying to win this for 30 years and it's such a massive achievement to win a Vanilla Dairy Ice Cream Class because it’s the one every ice cream maker enters.”

Speaking on the secret of his ice cream, he added: “Locally sourced organic milk, pure ingredients and quality vanilla pods. Simple, local and delicious.

"We Italians have a saying. ‘When visiting an ice cream parlour, try the vanilla and try the pistachio ice creams. If those are good everything else will be’.”

Domenico’s mother came to the UK in 1956 and started working for an ice cream business in Newcastle. In 1966 both his parents opened their own ice cream company in Newcastle’s West End.

He said: “Ciccarelli started in 1966 with my parents buying an ice cream van.

"They had five sons and we all worked in the business.

"We’ve grown from one ice cream van to thirty. We also run ice cream parlours and have a wholesale outlet with over 200 customers all over the northeast.

"Basically, we do everything to do with ice cream – vans, parlours and wholesale.”

For more information on Ciccarelli Ice Cream visit https://ciccarelligelato.co.uk

The National Ice Cream Competition is the ‘Oscars’ of the ice cream awards.

It is held every year by the Ice Cream Alliance (ICA), with hundreds of products submitted across 13 categories

Zelica Carr, ICA CEO, said: “Congratulations to Domenico and all his team at Ciccarelli Ice Cream.

“The ice cream sector has had a challenging time over the last two years.

"Domenico and his team show that the sector has overcome these challenges and has bounced back better than ever for 2022 and the future.”