A little gelato history (Courtesy of whygelato.com)
3000 BC
Asian cultures discover they can consume crushed ice and flavorings
2500 BC
Egyptian pharaohs offer their guests a cup of ice sweetened with fruit juices
0
The Romans begin a custom of consuming the ice of Mt. Etna and Mt.Vesuvius with honey
1500-1550
Ruggeri participates in a competition in Florence and wins with a frozen sweet (a sorbet)
1550-1600
Buontalenti prepares a banquet for the King of Spain and gelato is served for the first time
1686
Francesco Procopio moves from Palermo to Paris and opens a café, making gelato famous all over Europe
1770
Giovanni Basiolo introduces gelato in New York
1846
Hand-crank freezer is perfected in America and changes the way the frozen dessert is made
So when in Rome....
Yes, I have become quite addicted to gelato when traveling about in hot climates. In fact, some of my fondest memories are of those luscious two-scoopers at the end of a simmering summer day.
First let me confess that I am not an ice cream fan. I can easily pass up a dish of the standard American ice cream, but when it comes to gelato or sorbet, well, that’s altogether different. Its primarily due to the intensity of the gelato and sorbet flavors, which is dictated by the method of production and ingredients as I understand it. According to Wikipedia, ingredients are similar in ice cream, gelato, and sorbet, but the proportions are very different. Ice cream has more butterfat–approximately double the amount or more. Ice cream is also whipped to the point where it is comprised of almost 50% air, as opposed to gelato at a denser 20-30%. So to create that delicious creamy gelato consistency, non-fat milk solids are added. Gelato also has more fruit/nut puree or egg yolk–depending on the flavor–and less sugar, making it a healthier option and much tastier. Remove the dairy products from gelato and you have sorbet.
I haven’t discovered a geographic crossover point where ice cream and gelato are featured together. Gelato is international, ice cream seems to rule in the USA.
A couple of “incidents” last summer come to mind as I write this, both of which occurred during our almost nightly gelato run. We got going with our evening gelatos as we moved toward Spain. I'm not sure why we didn't get going in Portugal other than our big meals which usually included some sort of dessert or the multitude of pastries and other treats. At any rate once in Spain we scouted out a great little gelato spot in the center of old Seville that we haunted every evening after our Tapas. I started with scoops of the berries and lemon. I adore the dark berry gelatos; raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, etc. (strawberry will do in a pinch, but its just not quite as satisfying). Also a nice dark chocolate with a berry is quite divine. Somewhere toward the end of our stay in Madrid I branched out to pistachio. Pistachio and lemon or pistachio and berry. I even tried a scoop of espresso once, which was lovely, but it kept me up half the night. Thereafter I opted to avoid the coffee flavors.
The first incident occurred during the Madrid gelatofest one evening that we smelled smoke and had to vacate the hotel–although I distinctly remember eating the last of the chocolate scoop in the bottom of my cone on the way down the stairs as we left. The second incident occurred a few days later in Barcelona my companion was accosted by a pick-pocket as we approached the gelato shop. Fortunately, the only thing in his pocket was a lens cap, which the thief considerately returned to him after he’d finished robbing him and found nothing of any use whatsoever (never keep more than you need for dinner in an easily accessible pocket–use one that has a button on it at least). The thief was fast, well dressed, and totally brazen. He walked right up and hooked his leg quickly around my friend’s leg–pinning him–while going for his pocket. We were both so startled that by the time we recovered our wits he was already moving away and the inside of my friend's pocket was hanging outside his pants. The good fellow then came back up and handed the lens cap back.
Although we were a little rattled by the whole thing, well...we were still right in front of the gelato shop. Perfect. Here you see us enjoying our little treat later that same evening. I'm not sure why my friend was holding my yummy pistachio and lemon cone, but believe me–it was very temporary.
From there things just got better and better in the gelato sector. We found a spot in Amsterdam that had perhaps some of the best of the best. This shop's gelato was hand made daily and was some of the most exquisitely flavored gelato I remember sampling in Europe. I was still on my pistachio kick and their's was delectable. Just as a side note...one evening we got our urge for gelato a bit on the late side and our new-found spot was already closed. So we went across the road to a Ben and Jerry’s. The consistency and flavor of Ben and Jerry’s gelato was disappointing to say the least. It was no where near that of the hand made concoction.
On a happier note, however, my best memory of a sorbet in Europe was in Genoa. We had a lovely fish dinner at a small restaurant near our hotel. After the main course they served a delightful lemon sorbet with small bits of basil in a champagne glass. Who would ever think of putting basil in lemon sorbet but the Italians? It was so very delicious and refreshing that I tried to recreate it at home with moderate success. I started with a small carton of lemon sorbet from the grocery store. I threw most of the carton into the blender and added the juice of two freshly squeezed lemons. I whirred that up and then added several leaves of basil and just barely chopped it (it's prettier if you leave the little basil bits than if you blend it to a uniform light green). Try it...its quite wonderful actually.
