Gelato is an Italian frozen dessert made from water, milk and/or soy milk, combined with flavourings, sweeteners, and a stabilizing agent. The Gelato ingredients are first pasteurized then super-cooled while stirring to break up ice crystals as they form. Unlike ice cream, Gelato machinery whips almost no air into the gelato, resulting in a dense and extremely flavorful product. This allows even non-dairy gelato to match and sometimes exceed dairy-based gelato or ice cream for taste.
Gelato is typically made with fresh fruit or other ingredients such as chocolate (pure chocolate, flakes, chips, candies, truffles, etc.), nuts, small candies, sweets or cookies. Gelato made with water and without dairy ingredients is also known as sorbet.
Gelato typically contains 2–8% fat depending on the ingredients (nuts, milk, or cream would increase the fat content). North American style ice creams contain more fat than gelato, ranging from 16% to 30% since cream is used. High end ice creams use more cream, whereas high end gelato combines higher quality ingredients with milk, water or soy milk.
Gelato is typically made from a mixture of:
- 1/2 - 1 liter of water
- 200 - 600 grams of sugar
- 1/2 kilogram of fresh fruit or other ingredients
- 0 - 1/2 liter of milk
- 5-25 grams of stabilizer
The exact proportions vary with the goal of producing a product that is soft: neither frozen solid nor remaining a liquid when frozen.
Traditonal flavors
- Chocolate
- Gianduja
- Hazelnut
- Pistachio
- Stracciatella
- Vanilla
Notable gelaterias
- Bar Italia, Sydney, Australia.
- Ciao Bella, New York City, New York.
- Della Palma, Rome, Italy.
- La Gelateria, Honolulu, Hawaii.
- Gelato Dream, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Giolitti, Rome.
- Tango Gelato, San Francisco, California.
- La Casa Gelato, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Recipes
See also