Thought I'd blog about something a bit different...
December 16, 2008
Ciao, all! I hope everyone made it home safely yesterday! For my second blog, I thought I'd write about our favorite Italian dessert--gelato, of course. Though we did not keep our promise to eat gelato everyday, each of us consumed a fair share of the frozen treat in a variety of flavors (my favorite was the nutella, but that's just me...).
On the trip, I had heard many people ask what the difference between American ice cream and gelato is. I was curious myself, so I searched on the web. Like ice cream, gelato's basic ingredients are milk, sugar, and flavoring, but it is much denser. Many had remarked that gelato is much smoother than ice cream, and the decreased amount of air and increased amount of milk could be the reason. The milk itself is also different--it contains less butterfat (3-4%) and is not homogenized. This makes the gelato's temperature decrease quicker, which is why ours melted even in the colder weather. Some of our favorite flavors-- Frutti di Bosco, Stracciatella--are traditional. Gelato made with water instead of milk is called sorbet. France and Argentina have desserts similar to gelato.
Since it has to be made daily, gelato really isn't available in the U.S.; however, I do know of one place that occasionally has real gelato. I will have to go there and give you guys a full review!
Here are some interesting websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelato for more information
http://www.caffegelato.net/html/gelato.html
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gelato/Detail.aspx for a recipe
Labels: food
Posted by Jessica K at 2:23 PM 0 comments