How is Gelato Made? Like a Work of Art

Gelato is the Italian word for frozen and is, in Italian, as generic as ice cream is in English. Yet, to all those consumers of gelato outside of Italy, gelato implies much more than frozen ice cream in a card board box or frozen yogurt in a cup. Gelato is an artisan ice cream type of product that while similar to ice cream is also as unique in its preparation and production as an oil painting is to a coloring book.

Fresh food products are requisite to gelato because unlike other types of ice cream products, gelato relies on fresh food products for its flavor. Gelato is made by adding fresh food products such as fruits, nuts, chocolate, and other ingredients to a base of milk, cream, and sugar. Also, because of the differences in the preparation process between gelato and other ice cream type of products, gelato can be vastly customized at will.

The result is a diversity in flavors and tastes that can be customized to complement any meal or season. Gelato uses less butterfat than ice cream because it relies on whole milk for most of its butter fat content rather than milk solids and its dairy products are not collectively homogenized which increases its creamy texture. When water is substituted for the milk or dairy products, gelato becomes sorbetto and is equally delicious although less creamy and rich.

Gelato is also very unique in how it is processed after the ingredients are mixed together. Unlike ice cream gelato is served very cold but not completely frozen and it is best when it is made fresh daily since it cannot properly be frozen as ice cream can.

A gelato machine processes the ingredients by lowering the mixture to a partially frozen state and stirring the mixture to prevent larger ice crystals from forming that are typically found in ice cream. Gelato is normally served as soon as it is processed in the gelato machine and this lends it an air of vitality, healthiness, and freshness that cannot be found in the ice cream experience.

Gelato is a work of art that is accessible to all and its production process is as faithful to its early origins today as it was hundreds of years ago.