From Evosmos, where Elena Giannakidou has her workshop, she creates flavors that evoke something from the past, without additives and preservatives.
Where high confectionery turns into ice cream, hides the name of a woman who grew up among vanilla and cocoa and dreamed of a cool sweet treat that stands out. Elena Giannakidou created Ellen’s Deluxe Milk Ice Cream in Thessaloniki six years ago, aiming to honor her grandfather’s ice cream tradition with flavors reminiscent of the past and a product without additives, chemicals, and preservatives, pure and genuine, just like what she tasted as a child. Today, her handmade ice creams travel to London and are preparing to make their presence felt in Paris, while they are on the threshold of the German market. In the Greek market, they are appreciated by well-known chefs and constantly gaining new friends.
With 31 flavors and three series, including the classic series featuring sweet rose, Chios mastic, and fig with pasteli, the super deluxe series with salted caramel, chocolate with brownies, lemon cake, and black forest, as well as the gold series with vanilla ice cream and caramelized almonds, beige with cherry, and banana sorbet with butter cookies, Ellen’s Deluxe Milk Ice Cream is inspired by the high art of confectionery. It aims to create sweets with a balanced cool sensation and a velvety flavor, sweets that are transformed into ice creams. For the past year, in addition to its bulk ice creams, its packaged ice creams have also been circulating in the market in luxurious packaging, already finding their place in delicatessens, hotels, and restaurants. As for its future plans, these include new flavors and even higher quality ice creams.
“My goal has always been to offer as healthy a sweet option as possible. A pure, handmade sweet that is not heavy and consists of natural raw materials. It is the only milk ice cream with a milk content of over 45%,” says Elena Giannakidou to Voria.gr.
From gelato to ice cream
Elena Giannakidou traveled back and forth for over a decade in Italy to learn the art of gelato. Carrying within her the memories of her grandfather’s ice cream laboratory and accompanied by the sweet images and scents of vanilla from her childhood, she decided to delve into the world of ice cream. Although she studied to become a kindergarten teacher, ice cream won her over. Thus, she apprenticed alongside renowned chefs and Italian gelaterias, attended seminars at the University of Gelato, learned everything about raw materials, equipment, and techniques, but ultimately realized that industrialized ice cream was not what she wanted to create. Returning to Greece, she began studying American standards and decided to transition from gelato to ice cream. She even wanted to create something special that, as a mother, she could fearlessly give to her child, with a homely character, without dyes, artificial flavors, and preservatives, where milk and natural ingredients would dominate. Ellen’s Deluxe Milk Ice Cream was built upon this dream. For the past few years, her workshop has been located in Evosmos, while she briefly had a shop in the city center to introduce her ice creams to the public. Since then, her creations have begun to win over the world and be loved for their flavors that evoke a different, purer era.
“The memories and the history of my family in ice cream drew me to the subject. The image of the ice cream maker and the scent of vanilla that wafted throughout followed me as I grew up,” explains Elena Giannakidou.
