David Michael & Co. in May celebrated its 10th Innovation Roadshow at the Hyatt Regency at Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia. The goal of the event, stated President and Chief Operating Officer Skip Rosskam is to “feed” attendees new ideas and provide inspiration and information that will help them develop winning concepts. .

This summer, David Michael & Co. takes the Roadshow on tour. The Great Escape features a 34-foot tour bus that will visit  farmers' markets, specialty shops, chef's kitchens and R&D centers.  .

Following are three concepts exhibited at the Hyatt Regency.  

Fusion-Style Flavored Mezcal Toritos

By Fernando Garcia, Jorge A. Piedad-Zavala, Maria R. Anaya (David Michael de Mexico, SA de CV)
Inspired by our new-found love for mezcal, a Mexican liquor, and our long-standing love affair with global flavors, we’re putting a new, innovative spin on a beloved Mexican drink, the torito.

In Mexico, toritos are traditionally made with rum, milk and a flavor component of choice (usually fruit) and served over ice. We’ve replaced the rum in our global toritos with mezcal, a newly trending liquor made from the Mexican maguey plant – which is a form of agave.

Don’t confuse mezcal with tequila as tequila may only be made from the blue agave plant and must come from a government-specified area of Jalisco, Mexico. Another distinction of mezcal from tequila is that many factors influence the end taste of the liquor, including the species of agave or maguey used, the ingredients added during fermentation and the distillation process. Often, during today’s bottling process, a worm is added to the bottle, which is the larva that can infest maguey plants. In Mexico, locals usually pride themselves on enjoying mezcal’s strong smokey flavor served straight, but today we’ve incorporated it into our fusion style toritos.

We created four 30-proof dairy-based Mezcal drinks, regionally flavored and sweetened with agave:

1. North America: Peanut & Chocolate Fudge Flavored Torito
2. Latin America: Spiced Horchata Flavored Torito
3. Europe: Lavender & Honey Flavored Torito
4. Asia: Bitter Herbal Tea Flavored Torito

Sherbato Trio: a hybrid sherbet and gelato

By Peggy Pellichero, Audrey Luczak
Creating any kind of citrus flavored ice cream is nearly impossible; trust us, we’ve spent a lot of time trying and finally – we’ve succeeded. Sherbato is our brand-new innovation that is a hybrid of sherbet and gelato. Due to the neutral ph of ice cream base, reaching the necessary acid levels to make a citrus flavor pop is not feasible as adding acid to ice cream denatures the protein, resulting in a thick, curdled unappealing mess.

Sherbet, on the other hand, is readily available in a multitude of citrus flavors, like lemon, lime and orange. This is because the low fat and low protein content of sherbet base mix easily welcomes the addition of acid, resulting in a coarse, icy frozen dessert.
When it comes to gelato, although there is no standard of identity, the fat content can vary within a range of zero to 18% fat, while the protein level is similar to that of ice cream. Gelato is usually intensely flavored and conducive to a neutral base. Common flavors include chocolate, coffee, nut varietals, mocha and caramel.

Fruit-flavored gelatos include berries, stone fruit and some tropical flavors like mango and pineapple. The base mix has been formulated with a proprietary blend of stabilizers that allow for the addition of acid without denaturing the protein. Sherbato has half the fat of ice cream, but has a similar protein content. This results in a creamy and tart, unique frozen dessert that welcomes the addition of acidic fruits and stands in a category all its own. 

You can savor three delicious, citrus flavors of David Michael’s signature Sherbato: lemon, tangerine and pink grapefruit. To bring this new creation to retail, the mix would be processed by the manufacturer like any other ice cream mix. Added to that mix would be a flavor base that contains fruit, acid, sweetness, color and flavor, similar to the preparations found in many yogurts. The finished product delivers a tart citrus fruit flavor famously found in sherbets, but retains the creamy texture and mouthfeel of gelato.

The Kulfi-Politan is inspired by Neapolitan ice cream 

By Kathy McNamara, Tara Levin 

Often served as a street food in India, kulfi is a category of frozen dessert that is far more dense and creamy than customary American or European ice cream, in large part due to not being whipped. If you encounter authentic kulfi as a street food, expect it to be served on a stick and potentially in layers of traditional Indian flavors. Therein lies the inspiration for the innovation behind this showcase – David Michael’s very own kulfi-politan!

Stirred by the layered flavors of kulfi, we’ve put a western spin on it by combining the familiar flavor combination of American Neapolitan (strawberry, vanilla and chocolate), with the time-honored eastern techniques and flavors of kulfi to create an original frozen novelty. 

Just as the three flavor combinations of our kulfi-politan work seamlessly together, so do the multiple trends that have inspired this product. Our innovative frozen dessert capitalizes on the active trends of premium and artisan ice creams, adding an ethnic twist to the familiar, the growing love of street foods and the booming popularity of Indian cuisine. Indulge in our kulfi-politan creation by savoring the luscious layers one by one: strawberry rose, vanilla cardamom and chocolate curry.

The David Michael flavor library features authentic Indian flavors such as pistachio, mango, gooseberry, ginger, basil, star anise, curry, turmeric, cumin, coriander, tamarind, saffron and more.