Sublime Perfection

June 21, 2024 4:11 AM

The history of gelato is long. There's also a timeline over at a Gelato-Inspired Resource. Gelato can ostensibly be made at home. Yelp has you covered with 10 Best Gelato Near Philadelphia, but for finding the good stuff in Italy, ask over at National Geographic, Rick Steves, or chronacedigusto. Note that gelato is not ice cream. Hit up Gelato Festival for world rankings. You can eat your gelato like the Romans do it, or you can adorn it with seasonal fruit or other accompaniment.
posted by cupcakeninja (24 comments total)

While on a visit to Florence, I took a one-day gelato-making class (and yes, I know that makes me sound privileged, ah well). One of the chef teachers gave a tip for how to gauge the quality of a gelateria by sight alone - look at the colors. Banana or mint especially. If the colors were all bright - and if the banana was yellow and the mint was a green - stay away, because that was a sign they were definitely using artificial colors in their gelato. And if they were using artificial colors, they were probably also using artificial flavors, and God knows what else. On the other hand, if the banana gelato was kinda beige or even a little gray, and the mint was white or maybe even just PALE green, that was a good sign that they were using actual banana and mint in their work.

I followed that tip when I went to one place later on - I ordered a double scoop of two sorbettos in one place, one was apple and one was grape. Both were similar shades of brown and both were AMAZING.

...That day I had that gelato class was the same day as the Gelato Festival in Florence. They'd set up about three or four different hubs throughout the city center, each with a cluster of stalls selling different gelatos; all the gelaterias in the city were also taking part. I knew nothing about it until I stumbled upon one of the stalls and asked what was up. They explained things to me; you had to buy a passbook with 10 coupons in it for like eight Euros, and each coupon was good for one scoop at any one of those stalls. The passbook itself also ensured a 10% discount at any of the participating brick-and-mortar gelaterias in the city. And the group of stalls I'd just found was the one where all the really funky artisinal gelato makers were hanging out and trying out new flavors.

I got three right away right there - a single-origin coffee flavor (it wasn't just coffee gelato, it was coffee using beans exclusively from Honduras), a straciatella that also had bits of candied orange peel, and a pumpkin gelato with candied hazelnuts and blueberry sauce swirl. I have been meaning to recreate that only with walnuts and cranberry sauce instead. I hit up a couple more scoops at different places in the city, had a scoop from a gelateria, and then made chocolate gelato at that class....and by days' end I still had about three coupons left, but realized that I was set for gelato for the day, and I didn't know I even had an upper limit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:58 AM on June 21 [9 favorites]

It's not vegan?
posted by Rudy_Wiser at 5:05 AM on June 21 [3 favorites]

I learned that gelato made with any fruit is only available when the fruit is in season.
posted by DJZouke at 5:06 AM on June 21

The trick I learned (and it's pretty obvious if you think about it for a second): When choosing a gelato place in Italy (among several, usually), look for the banana flavor. If it's bright yellow, move on. Fresh bananas aren't yellow, and that means they are using flavored powder mix versus real fruit. Many places just use a packaged mix.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:27 AM on June 21 [5 favorites]

Note that gelato is not ice cream.

Yet, at the link,

Gelato is a frozen treat that hails from Italy; the word "gelato" actually means "ice cream" in Italian.

Gelato (sometimes) does not meet the USDA regulation definition of "ice cream," which just goes to show that USDA's notions of authenticity are not always spot-on.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:13 AM on June 21 [1 favorite]

Ed's, in a couple of locations in Toronto, is pretty good gelato. I work near the Mimico store a couple of days a week, and we almost always make a after-lunch stop there. They're serious: the manager's just back from Gelato University in Bologna.
posted by scruss at 7:19 AM on June 21

I went to Italy with my best friend about 10 years ago and she promised me gelato twice a day in exchange for agreeing to go with her to the only two cities in Italy that I had already been to because those were the ones she really wanted to see and she failed to deliver on that promise and well, we are still best friends because its not that serious, but also every time the subject of gelato comes up, I make it clear that I am still bitter about her absolute betrayal of my trust.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:29 AM on June 21 [9 favorites]

This is unaccountably missing the most important American gelato writing, noted science fiction author Ada Palmer's essay on choosing gelato. Her blog also contains other reflections on gelato and various postings about her truly enviable life - I mean, not a life of undeserved privilege but rather a life of varied and significant accomplishment in relatively non-horrible spheres where she has genuinely done more good than harm, and how many of us can say that about our work? Also a life of gelato.
posted by Frowner at 7:40 AM on June 21 [6 favorites]

Espresso and pistachio gelato are excellent breakfast substitutes.
Lemon and coconut gelato make the air conditioning work better.
Strawberry gelato is on my list because I have all of the above in my gelato bunker except for strawberry.
posted by winesong at 8:02 AM on June 21 [2 favorites]

If you really want to see some awesome gelato creations, look to Germany. Many italians operate eiscafes in Germany for the summer months, then close up and head home for the winter. As a local told me once: "only Americans are crazy enough to eat ice cream in the winter".

The concoctions are incredible, and this is also where you get spaghettieis (previously).

Personally I just like a small cup of stracciatella with the little wooden shovel/spoon. Simple pleasures.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:04 AM on June 21 [1 favorite]

not vegan?
not necessarily, possibly [vegnews]
also see: sorbetto [eg. talenti, likely not highlighted by vegnews bc w/1 flavor they add egg]
posted by HearHere at 8:57 AM on June 21

As a Philadelphian getting heat advisory warnings on my phone this week, I feel very targeted by this FPP - thank you!
posted by Leviathant at 9:23 AM on June 21 [2 favorites]

Lemon and coconut gelato make the air conditioning work better.

Instructions unclear, A/C unit now gunked up and non-working
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:51 AM on June 21 [6 favorites]

The history of gelato is long.

And yet, no gelato I have ever personally encountered has lasted more than a few moments! How do you explain that, Mr. Logicpants?
posted by The Bellman at 10:00 AM on June 21 [3 favorites]

RIP Capogiro, the true #1 best gelato in Philadelphia
posted by knile at 10:36 AM on June 21 [3 favorites]

How do you explain that, Mr. Logicpants?

There are actually two gelati: Platonic and Heraclitean.
posted by cupcakeninja at 10:50 AM on June 21 [1 favorite]

Can I get both with chocolate sprinkles?
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:14 AM on June 21 [1 favorite]

I think the fact that three of us have all reported being taught "check the color of a gelato in a gelateria to gauge the quality" means that's a VERY important point.

My ice cream maker is officially Out For The Summer and so I tend to make my own (I splurged on a fancy thing that has two different style churns, one of which is for gelato) and so I checked out the Gelato Festival link for its flavors for inspiration. I am SERIOUSLY considering trying to make the "Sicilian Sunrise" - orange, cardamom, and fresh mint as a sorbetto.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:46 PM on June 21

Oddono's are a pretty decent chain of gelato shops in London, and we often drop in when we're passing, especially as they tend to open late.

I've also had a coffee-and-gelato place open up about 1/4 mile away from home, but luckily their gelato isn't *that* good. It's still a temptation to drop in for an affogato on a hot afternoon, though.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 1:46 PM on June 21

This sudden surge of gelato-related comments and posts is bizarre! But nice...I'm taking it as confirmation that my recent purchase has been favored by the Cosmos. Can't wait for it to arrive so I can start having fun experimenting with all sorts of recipes...
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:53 PM on June 21

OH WAIT I JUST REMEMBERED!

There is a super-fancy-pants Italian restaurant a couple blocks from me, and last year they started having a pop-up gelato cart on the sidewalk outside in the summer. The flavors were a little....hipster last year(fig and olive oil, turmeric and amarena cherry), but it looks like they've toned things down a little and they have a basic cantaloupe flavor this year. I'm like one minutes' walk away, I should bear that in mind.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:54 PM on June 21

Recently had a gelato in Italy from a good but not famous shop. Did not notice anything special about the color but was slightly disturbed on first taste, not that it was not good but it was exactly the flavor of fresh strawberries. Not "like" or really really good but like popping a berry off the vine at the height of the season.

Gelato is a very technical discipline, I've seen professional recipes that use five (5) different kinds of sugar. Dextrose, Fructose, Glucose, Sucrose others I'd never heard of, all to balance the thickness and other attributes of the main ingredients.

Olive oil... I find the savory flavors oddly disturbing but I also don't care for pistacchio, fusty anachronism that I am.
posted by sammyo at 7:10 PM on June 21 [3 favorites]

When I was pregnant with my first born, I had hyperemesis gravidarum. I couldn't eat or drink anything, except milk, bananas and gelato. Every day I had a small serving of nocciola and raspberry, for nine months. Very good. I like to think of my now 30yo baby as made of delicious sweets.
posted by mumimor at 8:59 PM on June 21 [3 favorites]

"As a local told me once: "only Americans are crazy enough to eat ice cream in the winter".
The Russians line up for ice cream in the winter. I have never seen that in the USA.
posted by DJZouke at 12:08 PM on June 22