Orlando ice cream shop wins sweet award for best strawberry ice cream in North America

Charlie’s Bakery & Creamery recently competed in Conecon, the largest ice cream competition in the US

Charlie’s Bakery & Creamery (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.)

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando-based Charlie’s Bakery & Creamery packed its scoopers and “Super-Premium” ice cream to Las Vegas and recently competed in Conecon, the largest ice cream competition in the U.S.

The 50-year-old shop, located at 3213 Curry Ford Road, took home the award for best strawberry ice cream, according to a press release.

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This was the first time it ever entered, its owner Tricia Hage said in a release.

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Each competitor enters in the three categories: strawberry-, vanilla- and chocolate-flavored ice cream.

“Our super-premium ice cream was first tested by Cornell University’s Dairy Lab which was the first tier of judging,” Hage said in a release.

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The next step was different ice cream shop brands were awarded points that placed it in either a blue ribbon, red ribbon, white ribbon or no winner category.

Charlie’s Bakery & Creamery took home a blue ribbon in the vanilla category and a red ribbon for its chocolate ice cream.

“We were thrilled to bring home winners in all three categories,” Hage said in a release.

Hage took over the historic ice cream shop back in 2022, after purchasing it from Gary Hawks, the son of the founder Charlie Hawks.

After learning from the Hawks for about a month, she took it over with her husband. Hage was the one who introduced ice cream to the shop, according to the release.

The shop also serves cakes, cookies, pies and other flavors of ice cream such as cookie butter, cotton candy, Oreo and pistachio. To check out all its offerings, click here.


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