Stone grinding our Oregon hazelnut in house for our nut butters.
There are many ways to make gelato, especially because there are no rules or regulations that define how true artisanal gelato should be made, only guidelines. I know what you are thinking, in Italy we just cannot agree on anything..and that’s partially true.
Italian gelato chefs and associations, instead of rallying together to promote and protect this incredible product around the world, are more interested in their own personal gains and in fighting each others to make sure nobody will ever know their gelato is made with pre-made powders and ready to use mixes. A pretty sad picture overall, especially when Italy is already known for all it’s protected regional foods (wine, parmigiano, prosciutto, balsamic, even neapolitan pizza, mozzarella and so on).
This situation makes the life of true artisans even more complicated, both in Italy and abroad. On top of that you add the fact that almost nobody really knows what kind of ingredients or processes are used to make gelato and now you understand why for the customers is so hard to really differentiate real artisan gelato from what is made with powder mixes and flavorings.
These are the 3 most common processes to make gelato, all of which can be done from scratch or with powder mixes & pre-made flavorings:
The traditional hot process: This is what I use and it is the traditional way. It is more time consuming, requires a bigger investment upfront in equipment and, to do it from scratch, requires skills that you have to learn and train for. In this process you need a pasteurizer and a batch freezer. Your gelato base is pasteurized and aged at least 6-8 hours, and then utilized as building block for most of your flavors. All vegan flavors like sorbetti are then normally done separately. This process is what allows the best quality gelato, period (given a correct recipe formulation obviously). It allows all the proteins to be hydrated correctly, the most amount of water will be trapped in the mix and will not be free to ruin the final product, all your sugars and milk powder will be perfectly melted and incorporated.
Thermal shock process: done with specific machines where you pasteurize your mix in the top cylinder and then freeze the mix right after it reached a cold temperature in the other cylinder underneath. Thermal shock allows you to buy only one machine that acts as pasteurizer and batch freezer. There is no aging of your base here, therefore the gelato cannot match the quality of a traditional hot process, but it comes pretty close. A lot of chefs swear by this process and, with technology and a really well balanced recipe, the difference with the traditional hot process is getting less noticeable to the general public.
Cold process (most of gelato in US): cheaper, faster, easier. There is no pasteurization here. All the ingredients are blended together cold and then just frozen in the batch freezer. This gelato will be extremely delicate, colder to the palate and not as stable in the display case. This process is really fast, but the gelato quality just cannot match a hot process. Also the industry has created powder mixes where you just add some water or 1-2 ingredients and you make gelato! Obviously there are no real ingredients in here, but mostly aromas and artificial flavorings. This is the fastest process, no skills required, my grandma can make it! Sadly this is the most common gelato you can find in the US.
All these processes can be done completely from scratch, knowing and scaling every single ingredient that you use or by just mixing pre-made gelato base powder mixes, emulsifiers, flavorings, colorants and other questionable ingredients. Think about a brownie, you can make it from scratch or from a bag where you just add an egg and some oil or butter. This unfortunately happens in gelato too.
So don’t be fooled by marketing: everyone will tell you their product is home made, made from scratch, made in house, artisanal and bla bla bla.. all these fancy words don’t really mean anything these days, it’s up to the consumer to really investigate and ask questions!
In Italy a recent study found out that 95% of so called artisans use some sort of pre-made powders and/or flavorings. In US the number goes up to almost 99%. I am happy to be in the other 1% with few other amazing colleagues.
Also in Italy you must disclose your ingredient list in your shop so that all your customers can read it if interested. In US this would be crazy, business owners would freak out (wonder why, right??) but when you come to Gemelli you can ask us all these questions and we will be happy to answer, all of them. Asking questions is always the best way to understand if whoever makes the gelato knows what he or she is doing! Also looking at the type of flavors offered, the colors of the gelato in the display case and how high the gelato is piled up are all good tips to get a better idea on the quality of what you are about to eat.
Time to get serious about what we eat people!
Vincenzo