What is gelato anyway? Is it any different from ice cream? Being lactose intolerant, regular ice cream isn’t a treat that I can enjoy anymore, it’s just too rich. Because I love refreshing summer desserts, I have in my adult life traded ice cream for sorbet, which I quite like but let’s be honest: you can’t really call sorbet indulgent, can you?
Before going to Italy for the first time, I read and heard about the awesomeness of gelato. Everybody who had tasted it seemed possessed by the souvenir of its taste, telling me about its creaminess and intense flavor. Nobody seemed to know whether it was ice cream or sorbet or what, but for sure they knew it was heavenly good. I ended up trying almost all fruity flavors, which are my favorites. The taste of a fruit gelato is very intense and pure, the color is vivid and the texture is clean. I thought it tasted like a sorbet but without the egg white frothy texture. Because of the saturated colors, I was convinced it didn’t contain dairy.
This spring, I finally bought an ice cream machine after a friend told me how fun it is to make your own at home. For sure I wanted to make gelato, but after looking around for recipes, I was confused: all the gelato recipes I found contained either cream or milk, and egg yolks as well. So I thought I would elude the mystery: what is gelato?
Simply put, gelato is ice cream that contains less fat. Many varieties are made with milk and some don’t contain egg yolks. Also, I learned that gelato counters are kept a little warmer than their ice cream counterparts. It allows it to remain softer, so, as ice cream expert David Lebovitz puts it, “your mouth doesn’t get ‘frozen’ and you can taste the flavors better.”
In Italian, gelato simply means “frozen”. It’s very likely that the fruit varieties I tasted in Italy were in fact sorbet… I’ll have to go back to further investigate this matter!
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How to make gelato
The simplest gelato is made with an egg custard and {edit} light cream or milk. All the flavors combinations in the world can be added to this simple base but it’s also very good on its own (or simply infused with a fresh vanilla pod).
I have tried my hand at many flavors but this one, Cherry and Raspberry Ripple Gelato, was a hit. You can let inspiration come from what’s in season: you’ll get the most flavor out of your fruits, thus from your gelato.
You can make this recipe with lactose-free milk or cream, soy milk (choose one with the mildest aftertaste), almond or rice milk. Just make sure that the milk or cream you choose can withstand heat (some will become grainy if cooked). Test it if the package doesn’t tell you (by boiling a small quantity and tasting it afterwards). If the texture is spoiled, at least you won’t have to throw away your whole gelato recipe.
A little tip for service: because gelato contains less fat, it tends to freeze a lot harder. Take your gelato out of the freezer approximately 15 minutes before serving to soften it.
Gelato di Crema – The base
2 ½ cups 5% fat cooking cream or any kind of milk you like
5 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
Heat the cream (or milk) until it is beginning to bubble, then cool slightly. Watch it closely if you don’t want to make a big mess because cream and milk reach their boiling point very suddenly.
In a large heatproof bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and creamy (about 2 minutes at medium speed). Beat the cooling cream very slowly into the eggs to warm the mixture gradually (if you add it too quickly, you may end up with scrambled eggs!).
Put the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and stir with a wooden spoon until the custard just coats the back of the spoon.
Remove the bowl from the pan and let it cool. My trick is to place it in the sink filled with 2-3 inches of cold water and stirring it gently one in a while: this method cools the custard in about 10 minutes (you can also add ice to the water to make it even quicker). If you have time on your hands you can put it in the refrigerator. The important thing is that your custard is completely cooled when you put it in the ice cream maker.
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Prepare your fruits: Raspberry and Cherry Ripple Gelato
This gelato contains cherry and raspberry puree, as well as diced fruits for texture. You could substitute pretty much any berry and I’m sure it would be equally good.
Cherry puree
2 cups pitted cherries, chopped (see this page to learn how easy it is to pit cherries)
½ cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup lemon juice (from approximately 1 lemon)
Put everything in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Let cool. Puree using a blender or a food processor. Save 1/3 cup of the cherry puree for the ripple.
Raspberry puree
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/8 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Puree all the ingredients together in a blender or a food processor. Strain the puree with a fine mesh to remove the raspberry seeds. Set aside.
Other ingredients for the ripple
¼ cup pitted and finely diced cherries
¼ cup lightly crushed raspberries
1/3 cup cherry puree (reserved from the recipe above)
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Freeze the gelato:
Blend your cooled custard base with the cherry and raspberry purees (except 1/3 cup cherry puree reserved for the ripple). At this point, you can add 2 tablespoons of any alcohol you think would taste good with your flavors (I added Absolut Raspberry Vodka). It’ll help keep your gelato more scoopable.
Pour your fruit custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Stop the machine when the gelato is almost firm.
To get a rippled gelato:
Pour 1/4 of the gelato custard in a airtight container big enough to store the whole gelato recipe. On the gelato, pour 1/3 of the chopped fruits and 1/3 of the reserved cherry puree. Repeat twice and end with a layer of gelato custard. Layering fruits and custard this way will create the beautiful rippled look when you scoop your gelato in serving cups.
Put your assembled gelato in the freezer for an additional 30 minutes or until required. It will keep for a month.
Yum!
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Inspired by the basic recipe and tips from the book 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets and Gelatos: The Only Ice Cream Compendium You’ll Ever Need.
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[...] take approximately 40 minutes until ready. For a good step by step instructional, you can visit herewhich includes some great images, but you’ll still need an ice cream maker. If deciding which [...]
Bought a Ti Gelataio maker at a garage sale this morning for $20 (I know, a steal!). My husband found this recipe and asked me to make it. It is almost done and looks amazing! He keeps coming by and looking at it! Thank you for the great recipe. It’s a keeper!
Wow, you got a great deal! Happy you tried it out with this beautiful gelato, I’m sure you’ll make it again and again!
[...] If you would like to attempt how to make Gelato, here is a great step by step recipe: http://foodnouveau.com/2010/07/21/italy/how-to-make-gelato-a-detailed-step-by-step-recipe/ [...]
I just went to italy, and the gelato was delicious, and when we talked to the people on the shops, they said that the true fruit gelatoes are what we would consider sorbet, because using any milk dilutes the pure fruit flavor, just to let you know. so yours is a more american version, and not something you would find their, although the base would be delicious and authentic with nutella, pistacio, chocoalte, coffee, or my favorite, tiramisu! im really excited to try this base, would you suggest adding ingredients before, while concocting the liqiud, or while freezing it into the machine?
Hi Sarah! Thanks for the info, I didn’t think of asking last time I went to Italy, but my stomach told me they didn’t contain cream as it was easy to digest! How else could they get such vivid colors and sharp fruity tastes??
As for additions, like chocolate chips, cookie bites, etc.: you should add them 5 to 10 minutes before the end of churning time, when the custard is frozen but still very soft. It’ll distribute evenly into the gelato. Also, it’ll prevent your ingredients to be broken up too much by the churning motion.
Cheers and a happy, delicious summer to you!
Hey!
The gelato looks absolutely delicious. However, I do have one question. What was the capacity of the ice cream maker you used, and how much gelato did you make? I currently do not have an ice cream maker, and am looking for an inexpensive model but don’t want one that would be too large or too small for my purposes.
Thank you!
Louie Lin
Hello Louie! I personally use a Cuisinart 2 quart capacity ice cream maker such as this one. To be honest, I find it a bit bulky and an ice cream recipe that yields between 1 and 1.5 quarts will give you 8 to 12 portions, which I find plenty as I love to try new flavors often! I do recommend Cuisinart machines as they are very reliable, and their entry-level white model, which has a 1.5-qt capacity and sells around $50, would be a great buy.
Hi there,
It seems that the claim of gelato containing less fat due to the use of regular milk would be somewhat negated due to the fat and cholesterol content of the egg yolks required.
Is the resulting gelato going to actually contain more fat than regular ice cream?
Regards,
Naseem.
You’re right, the use of egg yolks probably brings the fat content close to ice cream. However, not all gelato recipes include egg yolks – for example, Sicilian gelato uses cornstarch instead of egg yolks to thicken the iced treat – so if you’re looking for a lighter gelato, you could try and look for those recipes.
i love ice cream so much… but i found the best now, gelato! like ice cream but the textures really smooth no frothy. I would like borrow your recipe for make my own banana gelato and mango. But i have to find my mom ice cream maker first:) thank you for sharing, it have to be done before christmas
This looks devine! The color is spectacular! Thanks so much for sharing. Look forward to seeing more.
Thank you! They were as delicious as they looked. Italian egg yolks have a very deep yellow color, on the brink of turning orange, which makes pasta and gnocchi rather colorful.
Thank you! I can’t wait for summer to make more gelato… the only one I can bring myself to enjoy in the heart of winter if a dark chocolate variety that’s so indulgent, you forget it’s cold
I’ll for sure post the recipe sometime this year.
beautiful, what a gorgeous colour! I am learning to love fruit flavours of ice cream and gelato as I've always been more of a chocolate-y or peanut buttery fan myself. I could definitely down this though, it looks so good!
Thank you! This gelato is definitely mouth-watering. As for your chocolate preference, I make a dark-chocolate gelato that is to die for. Think the creamy frozen version of a 70% cocoa chocolate bar. Yum! I'll post it to the blog very soon.
oh wow i love that picture of layering the fruits. the red color is so gorgeous!
My god, this looks so fantastic!! I recently purchased an ice cream maker and this is so going on the must make list. I love the combination of raspberry and cherries and the swirl. It all looks so delicious.
Ledelicieux: Believe me, it's as good as it looks! It take a bit of prep time but I think it's worth it. I bought my ice cream machine this spring and I'm really enjoying it! I'm lactose intolerant so the machine allows me to be very flexible in my choice of ingredients. I've made ice creams, gelato, frozen yogurt and sorbets – very happy with all of the yummy results! I hope you like it as much as I do.
That gelato looks nice and creamy and what and amazing shade of red!
Yum! Thank you for the step-by-step. This is fantastic. I wonder how it would be with blueberries? I have a ton of blueberries so I may try it out!
Katie: Blueberry gelato is wonderful. I would recommend adding blueberry puree to your gelato: simmer 2 cups blueberries, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup sugar together for about 10 minutes, then puree and let cool. Then add to your custard base before churning. Another tip: I've seen recipes that use blueberry jam instead of the sugar in the ratio I just gave you. It gives a flavor boost that may be necessary if you're off season – but it's not the case right now, your blueberries are probably ripe and bursting with flavor. I wouldn't recommend adding whole blueberries to the gelato because the fruit contains a lot of water, so they would turn out very hard once frozen. But adding, say, white chocolate chips to your ice cream maker 5 minutes before the end of your churning time would probably be lusicous. Good luck!
"The simplest gelato is made with an egg custard and cream."
Actually, true gelato has a milk base.
Silviu: I did find as much authentic references giving gelati recipes made with light cream as I did with milk. It may be a matter of regional preferences; I know the North tend to prefer richer gelato whereas the South go for fruity and lighter flavors. But the fact that I did write "cream" can indeed seem confusing so I will edit my recipe to make it clearer. Thank you for pointing it out!
Hi,
I love Gelato – Florence had the best!!
Do you recommend a certain ice cream maker?
Thanks!
You're right Edie, I did have my best gelato in Florence. Then again, it was the first place in Italy where I tasted them, so maybe there's a bit of romance mixed in with my souvenir
As for the ice cream maker, I think Cuisinart has the best (automatic) ice cream makers. I scored a deal on the stainless 2-quart model (http://amzn.to/bEepRY) and I love it. You put your custard in, turn it on and switch it off when you reach the desired consistency. Can't be easier! They also make a white plastic model (http://amzn.to/d9dULR) which I'm sure works just as well (but has a 1.5-quart capacity).
I hope you'll indulge and try to make your own gelati, it's really worth it!
How are you managing to eat all this gelato if you're lactose intolerant?! Or is it so good, you just forget about all that?
Glutton for Life: Good point! Well, I make mine with lactose-free milk (or soy, rice or almond milk). When I was in Italy, I always chose fruit flavors which seemed to contain less (if no) dairy. But you're totally right, gelato is so good that I will sometimes endure a little stomachache just to enjoy the goodness! That's how gourmande I am
Hum! Ça l'air délicieux!
So you finally tried it! Look yummmmmmmy
Indeed I did! And many other flavors too… I'll spread them over the next few months so that people don't think I just eat gelato all day