Gelato
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| Type | Ice cream |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Italy |
| Serving temperature | Cold |
| Main ingredients | Milk, cream, sugar, flavoring ingredient (eg – fruit or nut puree) |
Gelato (Italian pronunciation: [dʒeˈlaːto]; plural: gelati) is an Italian ice cream. Italians use the word gelato to mean a sweet treat that is served frozen. Gelato is made with milk, cream, various sugars, and flavoring such as fresh fruit and nut purees.[1]
The ambiguity about the use of the word gelato happens with the spread of many gelaterie (stores where gelato is made). It is correct to say that most gelato is different from the traditional recipe of ice cream because it is lighter having a lower butterfat content than traditional, factory made ice cream. Homemade gelato typically contains 4–8% butterfat, versus 14% for ice cream in the United States. Depending on recipes and the person making it, dairy based gelato contains 16–24% sugar. Most ice cream in the United States contains 12 to 16% sugar. The sugar content in homemade gelato, as in traditional ice cream, is balanced with the water content to act as an anti-freeze to prevent it from freezing solid. Types of sugar used include sucrose, dextrose, and inverted sugar to control apparent sweetness. Typically, gelato—like any other ice cream—needs a stabilizing base. Egg yolks are used in yellow custard-based gelato flavors, including zabaione and creme caramel. Non-fat milk solids are also added to gelato to stabilize the base.
History
The history of gelato dates back to frozen desserts served in ancient Rome and Egypt made from snow and ice brought down from mountaintops and preserved below ground. Later, frozen desserts appeared during banquets at the Medici court in Florence. In fact, the Florentine cook Bernardo Buontalenti is said to have invented modern ice cream in 1565, as he presented his recipe and his innovative refrigerating techniques to Catherine de' Medici. She in turn brought the novelty to France, where in 1686 the Sicilian fisherman Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli perfected the first ice cream machine.[2] The popularity of gelato among larger shares of the population however only increased in the 1920s–1930s in the northern Italian city of Varese, where the first gelato cart was developed. Italy is the only country where the market share of handmade gelato versus industrial one is over 55%.[3][4] Nowadays over 5,000 Italian gelaterie all over the world occupy more than 15,000 gelatai.[5]
Production
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Making gelato is similar to making ice cream. The mixture for gelato is typically prepared using a hot process first, where the sugars need to dissolve. White base is heated to 85 °C (185 °F) completing a pasteurization program. The hot process to make chocolate gelato is essentially the same for conventional ice cream, and depending on recipes, it is meant to be traditionally flavored with cocoa powder and cocoa butter.
See also
- Stracciatella
- Frozen custard, a frozen dessert made with cream and eggs
- Italian ice, a frozen dessert made from either concentrated syrup flavoring or fruit purees.
- Ice cream
- Semifreddo, a class of semi-frozen desserts.
- Sorbet
- Spaghettieis, the German style of frozen dessert made to look like a dish of spaghetti, sometimes made with gelato
- Granita, a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavorings.
- Frozen yogurt, the cultured, frozen milk product, with a tart flavor
References
- ^ "What Is Gelato?". wiseGeek. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
- ^ Storia del gelato. Interfred.it. Retrieved on 2012-07-06.
- ^ See italiangelato.info
- ^ See gelatoartigianale.it
- ^ See guide.supereva.it, outside of Italy the bigger number of gelaterie is located in UK, France, Germany and north Europe in general.