Gelato or ice cream: a cool comparison

WHAT IS the difference between ice cream and gelato? This is a question that tormented me for many years and that many people ask me. The literal answer is that gelato is just the Italian word for ice cream… but here’s what most people will also explain:

Gelato is made with mostly milk and rarely contains egg yolks (ice cream is generally custard-based). Gelato is consequently lower in fat.

Gelato is churned more slowly than ice cream, which means it incorporates less air into the mix and is a denser, smoother product compared to ice cream. Less air means that the flavour of the gelato is more concentrated.

Gelato is served at a higher temperature than ice cream, so that it has a soft texture and can be scooped easily.

What you will never hear anyone (particularly gelato makers) explain is just how they create all of these wonderful attributes. It’s as though it happened by magic!

In most cases, gelato compensates for the lower fat and less air by adding commercially used ingredients less familiar to the home cook. Dry milk powder (milk solids) adds richness and body to the gelato, making the texture seem creamier and more dense. This is because although it is fat-free, it is high in milk proteins. Sugars like glucose, dextrose and trimoline allow the gelato to stay soft and scoopable, but because they don’t have the sweetness of saccharose (sugar), the gelato doesn’t taste as sweet. They also help prevent crystallisation, which keeps the gelato smooth.

I choose not to use either in my ice creams for a few reasons. Firstly, dry milk powder has a “cooked” taste that interrupts the sweet, pure flavour of fresh cream and milk. Likewise, glucose, dextrose and trimoline tend to coat your tongue. Sugar is much “cleaner” tasting and allows the other flavours to shine.

But there are other issues to consider apart from taste. Dry milk powder contains roughly 50 per cent lactose, compared with fresh whole milk which is 4.8 per cent. Skimmed milk powder is a prevalent ingredient in many processed foods and, as humans are consuming lactose in much higher quantities than we used to, it wouldn’t be surprising if this turned out to be one of the causes of lactose intolerance.

It’s as though the gelato happened by magic’

Extract and recipe from La Grotta Ices by Kitty Travers (Square Peg, £18.99)