You can be with Steve in Bologna, Italy, as Robert Faccioli describes the gelato making process
and explains the mission of Carpigiani Gelato University. Visit www.PizzaTV. com to see the video!

In Italy it’s not uncommon for the neighborhood pizzeria to also offer gelato (Italian ice cream). It’s the perfect accompaniment to Italian cuisine and the competition among Italian eateries is fierce. In the U.S. however, pizzeria owners have been slow to catch onto the trend with only a small number offering the tasty treat on their menus.

While in Italy this past May, PMQ publisher Steve Green decided to learn a bit more about the Italian’s version of ice cream, so he stopped in for a tour at Bologna-based Carpigiani Gelato University, home of the world’s first automatic ice cream machine and the leader in the Italian ice cream market.

Steve’s tour guide for the day, Roberto Faccioli, explained how milk, cream and sugar go into the pasteurizer machine for mixing and freezing and then are transported by hand into the batch freezer for 6-7 minutes for a final freeze.

With its main campus in Bologna, Italy, courses are also offered worldwide and aim to increase the idea of gelato as a viable business, says Roberto. “You have to know how to produce a good product, but more importantly, you need to know how to sell and market your product in the right way,” he says. “There’s a lot of competition between gelato businesses in Italy, and a different kind of competition in the U.S.”

It’s difficult to say why more pizzerias in the U.S. haven’t jumped on the gelato bandwagon when it’s so easy to make and customize. Displayed in a glass case, the fun colors practically sell themselves!  Also, because you control the ingredients that go into it, the fat content of gelato can be almost nonexistent. Typically, ice cream contains around 12% fat while gelato can contain 4-6% (depending on how much you want to add). That’s one of the advantages of gelato—you make it on-site and you control the content and freshness. It typically contains fresh fruit, chocolate, nuts or confections and traditional flavors include chocolate, pistachio, coffee, strawberry, hazelnut, coconut, mint, peach, lemon, tiramisu and vanilla.

Gelato’s freshness is what separates it from other frozen desserts and influences its rich flavor. Also, because it’s less frozen than traditional American ice cream, it melts in the mouth faster and the full flavor is released quicker. Best when served within one week of production, it’s still made in the same fashion it was years ago with the only change being the equipment that’s available these days. The ingredients used in gelato are simple; dextrose, sugar, stabilizer, milk and any creative flavor you can imagine. It mixes in six to eight minutes and all you need is a pasteurizer, batch freezer and a refrigerated display case.

Roberto says that it’s impossible to predict what the distant future will hold for gelato, but in the next few years he foresees a tremendous growth because of an increase in single people and investors showing an interest in owning gelato businesses.

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