It’s Professor Dave, let’s get some ice cream.
Americans are quite aware of gelato, and are under the impression that the word implies
a foreign gourmet delicacy.
There is no doubt that the best gelato is incredibly delicious, but in actuality, the
word gelato simply refers to ice cream, in general.
In Italy, the most delicious, finely crafted, artisinal ice cream is called gelato.
A fifty cent ice cream bar on a stick that you get from a corner store freezer is also gelato.
Gelato is just a past participle formed from the verb “gelare”, which means “to freeze”,
so it literally means “the frozen thing”, which fundamentally just means ice cream.
But it is certainly true that the best ice cream in Italy is probably the best in the
world, so let’s talk a little bit about the rich history of ice cream in Italy, how
it came about, and how to order ice cream when you’re in Italy.
There are people who believe that some sort of frozen treat is mentioned in the Bible,
when Isaac offers Abraham some snow with goat milk.
The Romans were definitely familiar with something like this, with their “nivatae potiones”,
which were drinks cooled with snow, as reported by Petronius, Pliny, and the poet Martial.
Snow was fetched by slaves in the high mountain and stored in special containers, and these
drinks were particularly sought after in the banquets of the richest Romans.
The Arabs also had their own sugar syrup, which we might consider the ancestor of the sherbet.
The first real recipes go back to the 11th century and they contain water, sugar, fruit,
and spices.
But still, this wasn’t quite gelato.
In order to change sherbet to gelato, one must have milk.
The date generally agreed upon for the first gelato is in the seventeenth century, when
a French man called Francois Procope de Couteaux started making this new treat at the court
of Louis the fourteenth.
But not many people know that the real name of Francois was actually Francesco Procopio
Cutò , and that he came from Sicily.
His last name was misunderstood by the French for their word, couteaux, which means knives,
and they referred to him this way, which is how this Italian man was able to pass for
a frenchman.
Being very familiar with frozen treats made with snow from Mt. Etna, he started developing
a machine for ice cream.
This is when he left Italy for France, and he founded what is believed to be the first
literary coffee house in 1686.
It is there that he started selling his frozen treats to the public.
Robespierre, Hugo, Balzac, Voltaire, and Diderot, were all seen at his Café Procope, and even
Napoleon, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Oscar Wilde visited this establishment
for intellectual conversation, coffee, and of course, gelato.
This favorite treat spread all over Europe and eventually came to America, brought in
the late eighteenth century by the Italian Filippo Lenzi.
But today, American ice cream differs quite a bit from gelato, because by using milk cream,
it adds up to fifty percent more calories and fat.
Gelato contains mainly milk.
Also, less air makes the product more intense in flavor.
So, you’ll have to head over to Italy to try the real thing.
We also frequently think of ice cream cones when we think of ice cream.
But the cone didn’t appear until 1903 when the Italian Marchioni made this treat more
convenient to eat in the street.
And at present, it has been reported that Italy boasts almost forty thousand artisanal
gelaterie, while America is reported to have only eight hundred fifty.
So let’s say you’re in Italy and you’ve found a delightful gelato parlor, called a
gelateria.
In these, you won’t find any gelato industriale, or confezionato, which is how we refer to
ice cream that can be purchased in a supermarket.
This is gelato artigianale, or artisinal ice cream, which is much better of course.
In terms of how you want it, the options are pretty much what you would expect.
You can have it in cono, or in coppetta.
This is the same cone/cup dilemma that Americans face at any ice cream shop.
Now for the flavors.
Italy doesn’t have all the insane American monstrosities with candy bars inside, but
a good gelateria will offer quite a nice variety of flavors, so let’s point out the most
common staples.
Those are the basics.
But perhaps you are in the mood for something a little more complicated?
So that’s what we need to know about gelato, the finest frozen treat money can buy.
Make sure to have some on your trip, just try to limit yourself to two per day if you can.