Density & Temperature
One thing I’ve learned in my years of travel is you don’t want to spend your time touring Italy eating mediocre gelato. When choosing gelato you want to be able to feel the denseness on your tongue. Something else you will notice about the gelato is the temperature which is considerably lower than ice cream. These are all things that differ from ice cream when it comes to authentic gelato.
Color
Now if you are a “whole foods” connoisseur you may know a thing or two about bright-colored foods. 9 times out of 10 they lack the proper nutrients and include big no, no ingredients like red dye 40. When looking for the perfect gelato you don’t want it to remotely resemble the Northern Lights display. You want subtle colors for instance; when choosing a flavor like mint you want it to be white as opposed to green.
Height
Yes, you read it right. Height is a huge factor in delicious authentic gelato. You don’t want your gelato heaped on like the North Italian Alps, no you want gelato perfectly stored to the brim or a little over. If it’s a heaping mountain it was most likely whipped which is far from authentic. Traditionally gelato is slowly churned to create that dense and smooth texture you so desire.
Storage
Now this one may be a little tricky. The less non-traditional gelaterias in the past have stored their gelato in plastic containers. Nowadays you can find both authentic and non-authentic gelato in silver tins, which is tricky. If you see the gelato stored in shiny tins covered ding, ding, ding you have hit the gelato jackpot! Overall just know that shiny silver tins are key for storing gelato properly.
Last Tip
Flavors! Flavor combos are everything. One thing you don’t want to do is put together two distasteful flavors fruity and creamy. If the gelateria is giving free flavor advice take it! Being that they work there they may know a thing or two about flavor combos. Are you salivating for delicious gelato yet because we are?! We hope this helps you on your next venture for gelato in your Italy travels.
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