You bought a pint or a quart from your favorite Gelateria or grocery store and you want to make sure you can enjoy that till the last drop..You get home, now what? You can eat it all right away which gets rid of the issue, or you'll have to store it!
The problem:
Have you ever wondered why more often then not the gelato or ice cream in your freezer becomes coated with ice crystals and looses it’s flavor? Also, why a hard frozen pint is not as creamy and flavorful as the scooped gelato?
The explaination:
All frozen desserts like gelato are made of super tiny ice crystals (around 60% of gelato is water after all), so tiny that your eyes can’t see them and your mouth can’t feel them. These ice crystals need to be kept at a proper, steady temperature all the time to assure optimal preservation. The colder your freezer is the more water will be frozen inside the gelato and the longer it will last. As an example, our pint freezer is set to -10F or -23C, but our case that we scoop from is only 8F or -13C because that is the ideal serving temperature. When you want to enjoy your gelato you normally take it out of the freezer, let it soften up for 10-20 minutes, scoop out what you need then place the rest back in the freezer. You’ll normally do this multiple times until the tub is finished. All this melting and slow re-freezing in your home freezer creates really large ice crystals that you can now feel and see, and your gelato is ruined.
The solution:
Keep your gelato or ice cream in your freezer at a steady temperature at all time, the colder the temperature the longer it will last. Also, goes without saying, that you must transport your gelato from the shop to your freezer in the coldest & fastest way possible! So bring your coolers or thermal bags with ice packs if possible. When is time to enjoy it, do not let it melt on your countertop (or don't wait too long), just scoop what you need right out of the freezer then place it right back in there (you'll need a strong, metal scooper for the job)! You can also soften it up in the fridge for 15-20minutes, which reduces the melting and overall replicates better the “just scooped” result. These methods assure a longer preservation of the product, even though for our artisanal gelato, which is made without preservatives or emulsifiers, you cannot expect the same shelf life of regular ice cream.
Serving temperature is also important: the warmer it gets the more flavorful and creamier it gets (to a point, don’t let it melt completely). It’s always hard to wait, but the closer you can bring your gelato to the ideal serving temperature of 8F or -13C the better your experience will be. Your patience will be rewarded!
Hopefully this was helpful & valuable!
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A presto amici!
Vincenzo