Gelato

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For other uses, see Gelato (disambiguation).
Italian Gelato, with two tower-shaped biscuits.

Gelato, or the plural Gelati, is the Italian regional variants of ice cream. As such, gelato is made with similar ingredients as most ice-creams around the world, with milk (and cream), sugar (and other sweeteners), flavorings (fruits, nuts, essences, etc.) and air as the main ingredients. Other ingredients that stabilize or emulsify may be used to improve the shelf-life or "ice-cream-case-life" of the product. Gelato can be made using the hot process, which includes pasteurization or as a cold process which doesn't require pasteurization. Both processes require a gelato batch freezer, which makes the end product by mixing the ingredients and incorporating air. Like high-end ice cream, gelato generally has less than 55% air, resulting in a denser product.

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[edit] History

The History of Gelato dates back to the 16th century. There is some confusion in the origin as to where or who really invented gelato. As most stories go, it is credited to Bernardo Buontalenti, a native of Florence, who delighted the court of Caterina dei Medici with his creation. Italians are certainly credited with introducing gelato to the rest of Europe; with Sicilian born Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli who undoubtedly was one of the most influential individuals in the history of gelato, as one of the first to sell it to the public. Summoned to Paris in 1686, he opened a café named after himself called “Café Procope”, which quickly became one of the most celebrated haunts of the literary establishment in France. In Italy meanwhile, the art of traditional gelato making was passed on from father to son, improved and perfected right up to the 20th century, when many gelato makers began to emigrate, taking their know-how to the rest of Europe.

[edit] Overview

Italian Gelato, with a fresh waffle biscuit.

Gelato is typically made with fresh fruit or other ingredients such as chocolate (pure chocolate, flakes, chips, etc.), nuts, small confections or cookies, or biscuits. Gelato made with water and without dairy ingredients is known as sorbetto (also known as sorbet). Traditionally, milk-based gelato originated in northern Italy, while the fruit and water based sorbetto came from the warmer parts of southern Italy.

Dairy gelato is made with cow's milk (whole or skim) and contains less butterfat depending on the ingredients (nuts, milk, or cream increase the fat content). North American style ice creams contain more butterfat than gelato, ranging from 10% to 18% since cream is used[citation needed]. Good quality gelato combines high quality ingredients with milk and cream, soy milk, or water. Gelato is usually made with whole milk which is 3 to 4% butterfat[citation needed]. Unlike other ice cream, gelato ingredients are not homogenized, which results in a product that melts faster.

Some gelato recipes call for eggs, although with the homogenization of the Italian gelato culture and mixes and stabilisers readily available and in use, eggs are being phased out as emulsifiers.

Durian Flavoured Gelato for sale in Singapore .

Some people have the misconception that the word "gelato" is related to "gelatin" and that the latter is an ingredient, chasing away vegetarians and other people wishing to avoid gelatin. Traditional gelato recipes do not call for it and most gelato is not made with gelatin. Gelato in Italian literally means "frozen", but it is basically used to indicate the Italian type of ice cream.

In the UK, gelato is served from a different freezer from American style ice cream—a forced air freezer—which is usually held at about -15°C (5°F). This allows the gelato to be served immediately after being extruded from the gelato machine— the "forced air" blowing around holds the product at a consistent temperature. In Italy gelato is typically served with a spoon out of a special freezing tray, ensuring a thicker, more flavourous consistency. Much of the gelato experience lies in its semi-frozen consistency; therefore, you may serve ice cream from a gelato freezer but you may not serve gelato from an ice cream freezer—the gelato would become too frozen.

Other countries make ice creams similar to gelato. In Argentina, helado is made much the same way. In France (though usually slightly higher in fat) glace is a very similar product and, in fact, was introduced to France by Catherine de' Medici (of Florence).

Some Italian food products use gelato as a main ingredient. These include ice cream cake, semifreddos (gelato cake), spumoni, cassate, Tartufo, and fruit filled gelato candies, and mignon. Gelati are often eaten in cones, or in bowls with a wafer type biscuit.

A popular Indian legend holds that an Italian trader visited India during the time of Buddha and presented the Buddha with a bowl (or cup) of Gelato. The Buddha is said to have been pleased with the gift and to have shown his gratitude by passing on a corpus of Buddhist teaching to the Italian trader, with the intent that the Italian would bring the Buddha's wisdom back to his homeland. The legend holds that the trader died during a storm at sea on his return voyage, thus preventing Buddhism from reaching Italy for several centuries. The historicity of this story, however, is extremely dubious, and it must be viewed as folklore.[1]. In tribute to this legend, a popular gelateria in the Pali Hills section of Mumbai serves a tasty coconut gelato called "Buddha's Delight."

[edit] Traditional flavours

Gelato flavours at Fennochio's in Nice
Fruit sorbetto flavors at Gelateria Naia in San Francisco

[edit] Production

It is common for a producer to use different ingredients for several reasons:

[edit] See also

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gelato

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelato"
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