Hymn to ice cream ... artisan!
Thanks to the heat and rising temperatures, Italians eat more and more ice cream . This is a business that, as Repubblica explained a few months ago, exceeds two billion euros.
Yes, because the Italians, who have so many faults, when talking about artisanal gelato are completely acquitted: it is up to them in fact the primacy in the production of ice cream, both at home and, above all, abroad.
And it is the Italians who, for years and generations - especially Sicilians and Venetians - moving here and there in the world, transmit to posterity the precious and sweet art of ice cream, among irreplaceable ingredients and the right machinery .
On the other hand, you will rarely find a fan of ice cream, with the palate spoiled by superfine flavors and textures, which will settle for the ice cream found "around the corner". Indeed, rather than being satisfied, he would be left without it and would be better off .
Gelato, mon amour
But what are the factors that allow us to recognize a truly homemade ice cream and to opt for a counter rather than another?
Here are listed below:
> Visual aspect : the color must be natural and fresh, so to speak, a pistachio ice cream will have a characteristic natural pistachio green color, lighter or darker depending on whether the peel is also used, without tending too much to the brown, but also without finish in acid green.
> Refrigerated counter, cockpit or carapina : the ice cream in the classic trays must be in the right quantity, synthetic mountains of ice cream must not come out, horror for the enthusiasts and the serious workers, because it could mean that just so natural is not, being at the outside the refrigeration limit, perhaps rich in hydrogenated fats that hold it together.
> The consistency : s part of the assumption that every flavor of ice cream has its consistency. In fact a chocolate melts in a certain way and will be perceived as very soft, while a fruit ice cream is perceived as more watery and lighter.
It is not a matter of individual tastes or preferences: in general the important thing is that the ice cream stays together evenly, it must not become water just placed in the cup, but it must not even be hard and lumpy and come off and roll down from the cone like gravel from a mountain.
> Creaminess : for some people, too fatty ice cream is very annoying, perceived as cumbersome on the palate and heavy to be even difficult to finish, not just to digest. The ice cream-semifreddo can be the only one in the limit in which the presence of a greater quantity of cream or air is permissible .
While for other people certain creams are too "cold", or too thin, in which you have skimped with milk or cream. Even worse, finally, if you find parts of frozen water in the ice cream, crystals that creak under your teeth and are not bits of stracciatella! In these cases it may be ice cream that is not fresh or stored at a temperature that is not well regulated.
> Taste : the flavor of ice cream must naturally be close to the taste of what is reported, not too sweet because it risks being nauseating and annoying, but not even tasteless or with an inconsistent taste, as often happens with industrial ice creams. Be wary of off-season tastes, whose origin is often not clear.
> An ice cream that is not done well makes you thirsty, are the hydrogenated fats that do not dissolve as it should on the tongue, like silicones on the skin, and you must drink to "degrease" the whole.
