Cheese & ice cream: a perfect match?

12th January 2021 | Eativity editors

A limited edition cheese-inspired gelati range by South Australian artisan gelateria 48 Flavours and Adelaide Central Market’s The Smelly Cheese Shop is pushing creative boundaries to deliver new and rather surprisingly delectable taste experiences.

48 Flavours founder Brian O’Donnell is always looking for new ways to create the kind of flavour combinations that dance across your tongue and leave you wanting just a little bit more. Since opening in 2014, the family-owned 48 Flavours has won a remarkable 41 international, national and state awards for their gelato.

Melon and Roasted Almond with Onkaparinga Creamery Triple Cream Cheese.

Using cheese from Adelaide culinary icon The Smelly Cheese Shop as inspiration, 48 Flavours has built on its international award-winning Gorgonzola and Pear Variegated with Fig and Walnuts gelato to present a special quartet of cheese-flavoured gelati.

O’Donnell says it was important to source the right cheese to deliver a perfect balance of flavours in the ice cream. That’s where the advice of The Smelly Cheese Shop’s cheese expert Valerie Henbest, has been invaluable to bring this unusual partnership to life.

“We are really proud of this new range of flavours, all underpinned by cheese as the foundation,” O’Donnell says. “Valerie and I spent hours at The Smelly Cheese Shop tasting and sampling cheese and exploring flavour pairings until the match was perfect.

Monte Rosso Section 28 with Orange and Hazelnut.

The four new cheese flavours created are:

• Vanilla and Sage with Woodside Cheese Wrights Goat Curd

• Melon and Roasted Almond with Onkaparinga Creamery Triple Cream Cheese

• Monte Rosso Section 28 with Orange and Hazelnut

• La Casearia Carpenedo Gorgonzola and Pear variegated with Fig and Walnuts

48 Flavours’ gorgonzola and pear gelato won the popular vote at the 2017 Gelato World Tour.

48 Flavours’ award-winning gorgonzola and pear gelato was also created from Adelaide Central Market produce, and is the perfect blend of classic Italian flavours.

“Gorgonzola dolce is a sweeter gorgonzola made from pasteurised milk and aged for three months to produce a creamy, sharp flavour,” O’Donnell says. “It’s mixed with pear as this is a mild fruit that blends beautifully, especially when finished with walnuts and figs.”

Vanilla and Sage with Woodside Cheese Wrights Goat Curd.

Cheese expert Henbest, founder of The Smelly Cheese Shop who was born in Normandy, France, says growing up eating the cheese has shaped her destiny. This collaboration is another successful chapter in her cheese story.

“Cheese is my love and my life,” she says. (We hear you, sister!) “The opportunity to work with Brian and his team at 48 Flavours to develop cheese-inspired gelati was too good an opportunity to refuse. It has been so important to balance all the flavours so one element is not overpowering another.

“We are businesses within the same precinct, so working together creates such great synergy. And anything that can highlight cheese and showcase our products in a new and unique way is worth exploring. But most importantly, all four flavours are simply delicious!”

This new product has been developed during COVID-19 to appeal to the foodie market and cheese lover, as well as the ice cream connoisseur. A limited edition 1.5 litre take-home tub has been created as premium offering and will retail for $49.50 to include all four flavours.

The take-home tubs can be purchased through the three 48 Flavours stores at Gouger Street, Trinity Gardens and Paralowie, as well as at The Smelly Cheese Shop. To find out more about 48 Flavours, head to 48flavours.com.au. For more on The Smelly Cheese Shop, head to smellycheese.com.au