Gelato: More please

I know my favorite food. Do you? 

My favorite food is Gelato. I think I can say it’s ice cream in general, but then I would prefer gelato over ordinary ice cream, so gelato. The main difference between ice cream and gelato is that while ice cream is heavier on cream, gelato uses more milk. This means gelato is less fat than your typical ice cream. So if you wanted to go for a less fatter version of ice cream, go for gelato. I see it everywhere now, even in the States, where ice cream is usually dominating the summer dessert scene. “Gelato” comes from the Latin word “gelātus,” which means “frozen.”

가장 좋아하는 음식을 물어보면 늘 곤란했는데 이제 드디어 알았다. 내가 제일 좋아하는 음식은 젤라또. 아이스크림이랑 젤라또의 가장 큰 차이는 아이스크림은 만드는 과정에서 크림을 사용하는 반면에 젤라또는 우유를 더 많이 사용한다는 것. 결과적으로 젤라또가 일반적으로 아이스크림보다 열량이 적다.

Every Italian city has its favorites, but Bologna has a gelato university. Winner.

My favorite flavors are pistachio, strawberry, stracciatella (similar to cookies and creme), Tiramisu, latte (literally milk) and Nutella. I would go for vanilla, but there are no vanillas in the Italian gelato world, at least from my experience. And the gelato stored in those shiny cylinders are much better than those that are openly displayed, fyi. Less exposure to air and light, the better.

There’s another one that G really likes: Zuppa Inglese. I’ve never heard this term anywhere else in the dessert world (English soup?) and it does have an interesting, custard-like flavor. So Wikipedia tells me that it’s an Italian dessert originating from the Emilia-Romagna region. It was created after some rulers of a town requested an English trifle. These rulers had frequent contact with the English and so they wanted to try out the English dessert in their own kitchens. It consists of a special type ladyfingers, an Italian herb liquor called Alchermes, egg custard and some other tasty things like lemon zest, cream, meringue or almonds. All this time I thought the word “Zuppa” only meant soup, but it also comes from the verb “inzuppare,” which means “to dunk.” They dunk the ladyfingers in the liquor.

이탈리아의 젤라또 맛 중에 가장 좋아하는 것을 꼽자면: 피스타치오 (이탈리아의 피스타치오는 고소하다못해 느끼한 정도), 딸기 (기본 딸기인데 보통 샤베트 형태), 스트라치아텔라 (쿠앤크), 티라미수 (가끔 티라미수 조각이 딸려 나올때도 있다), 라떼 (우유), 누텔라. 보통 느끼하고 강한 맛 하나 (초코렛, 피스타치오, 티라미수, 딸기 등)와 플레인 맛 (우유, 누텔라, 스트라치아텔라)를 선택한다. 가끔은 생크림을 올려주기도 하는데 이건 느끼함의 결정체. 구름을 먹는 느낌.

A local favorite called Quartino from Giovinazzo, G’s hometown. It’s made up with a spongy piece of bread soaked in rose-flavored liquor and then covered with different flavors of gelato. I have these every single day when I’m visiting. Sometimes even during winter.

Germans, like any European, love gelato too and you can find so many different shops that sell them. My personal favorite in Stuttgart is Kaiserbau which is at Marienplatz, Scholz which is close to Killesbergpark and finally Old Bridge, although they hiked up their prices this year I believe.

What’s your favorite food? Where’s your favorite gelato place?

All photos by rachelsanghee. Republished from 2013.