How Does Gelato Measure up to U.S. Ice Cream?

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By Erica Marcus

RISMEDIA, August 30, 2008-(MCT)-When it comes to frozen dairy treats, I favor American ice cream over Italian gelato. It’s not that I dislike gelato. Made well, it is an elegant and delicious confection. But ice cream. Ice Cream. First of all, there’s almost no such thing as bad ice cream. Good ice cream can wipe the floor with most other desserts, and great ice cream can wipe the floor with most other foods, works of art and ideas.

With its colder temperature and less-ponderous flavorings, ice cream is more refreshing, allowing you to eat great quantities of it. Ice cream is the basis of three world-class desserts: the ice-cream soda (the only dessert that reminds you of itself an hour later), the malted-milk shake (among my favorite one-course dinners) and the hot-fudge sundae.

The Differences

Ice cream and gelato are both made by combining a dairy liquid with sugar and flavorings, and then freezing the mixture while it is being churned. But there are three major differences between the two.

1. Butterfat

Ice cream is made with milk and cream, and the amount of butterfat it contains ranges from 10 to 18%, depending on the brand. (Superpremium ice creams such as Hagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s are at the top of that range; most ice-cream parlors make ice cream with 14 to 16%. Below 10% and you can’t legally call it ice cream.) Gelato, which is traditionally made with whole milk and no cream, contains 5 to 8% butterfat.

2. Overrun

This term refers to the amount of air churned into ice cream as it freezes. Traditional American ice cream can have up to 100% overrun-that is, the air increases the volume of the ice cream by 100%. It’s the overrun that gives ice cream a lighter texture. Gelato has an overrun of about 20%, as do some of the superpremium ice-cream brands.

3. Freshness

After it is made, ice cream is usually held at 30 degrees below 0 for at least 24 hours to “shock-freeze” it. Thus frozen, it is a stable product and will hold up for a few days. Ice-cream parlors bring it up to about 5 degrees for serving. Gelato, however, requires no shock-freezing. It is at its best as soon as it is made, and it is served at about 20 degrees. Gelato is usually made in small batches precisely because it does not store well.

© 2008, Newsday.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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