Gelato resonates with just

about everyone of any

age, demographic and

background. It has an

emotional connection to

summer, fun, happy times

and sweet treats, is made around the world in dif-

ferent forms, such as sorbet, semifreddo and most

importantly, can be consumed all year round.

My fascination with gelato began at a young

age, especially being of Italian descent, but in 1998

I started working in a gelateria and café, Pepe’s. I

worked there for fi ve years learning the secrets to

freshly made artisan gelato, sometimes sneak-

ing into the kitchen to assist blending batches of

ingredients and mixtures, when I was meant to be

extracting espresso!

In July this year, I had the opportunity to visit

Carpigiani headquarters in Bologna, Italy and

participated in week one of the professional gelato

course. Apart from eating gelato every day for

fi ve days, the course covered the basic concepts,

recipes and production of Italian artisan gelato.

There were 20 of us in our group, some with a

background in hospitality and patisserie. We were

split into groups and supplied with different recipes

of the same fl avour to create. This helped us un-

derstand the difference of recipe combining, taste

profi les and overall appearance of gelato. We all

ate gelato straight from the churn; it was amazing

and delicious! We had to taste it the next and sub-

sequent mornings to recognise the difference in

freshness and fl avour. No-one refused tasting, and

everyone had to try all the 24 fl avours each day!

My favourite fl avour is “gianduia”. It’s a delicate

combination of hazelnut, chocolate and sometimes

vanilla or cream and is quite different to “bacio”.

The professional gelato course is a four week

program designed to train future or existing

entrepreneurs how to make Italian artisan gelato,

the principles of running a successful gelateria,

food and hygiene standards of the laboratory and

understanding the production cycles of a gelateria.

The course offers theory and practical components

and focuses on different types of gelato produc-

tion, including sorbetto, stick gelato, gelato soft,

gelato pastries and frozen gelato cakes. Partici-

pants from around the world enrol to complete

the professional training with aspirations and plans

to open a gelato business or add to their existing

patisserie or food business. The courses are held

at Carpigiani Gelato University (CGU) in Anzola

dell’Emilia, Bologna and conducted in Italian,

English and French, German, Dutch, Japanese and

Chinese.

CGU was founded in 2003 with a vision to

expand the culture of artisan gelato around the

world. Meeting with Kaori Ito, manager of Carpi-

giani University education programs, she explains

that artisan gelato production numbers have

shifted in the years, including the price of gelato

and that a gelateria now offers more products than

just traditional or classic gelato. In 1980, classic

gelato accounted for 85% of production, 15%

gelato cakes and gelato was sold for approximately

7€ per kilo. In 2003, other products were added

like small cakes and yoghurt, also adjusting pro-

duction fi gures. By 2012, 60% of production was

classic gelato, 15% small pastries and chocolates,

9% single portion gelato, 7% gelato cakes, 5%

yoghurt, 3% stick gelato, and 1% granita. The

price of classic gelato also increased to an average

of 14€ per kilo. These fi gures were based on Italian

market research and Carpigiani clients.

CGU are also organisers of the Gelato World

Tour. In October 2013, the tour was held in

Melbourne, Australia and invited all producers of

artisan gelato to enter the competition. This tour

travelled around the world visiting eight cities

searching for 16 fi nalists to compete at the world

fi nal in Rimini, which took place in September.The

overall winner of this competition was a gelateria

in Sydney Australia, Cow and the Moon. Inter-

estingly, they worked closely with Single Origin

Roasters to identify a specifi c Kenyan coffee to add

to their competition fl avour “Mandorla Affogato”

(Almond Affogato).

The history of gelato dates back to BC time,

with the consumption of snow mixed with sugar

syrup “shrb”, and in the 16th Century ice was

used as the base for a cold dessert or refreshment

and fl avoured with sugar, spice essences, herbs,

vegetable juices and even wine. It was and still

is today named sorbet or “sorbetto” and was

mainly enjoyed by royals, monasteries and the

rich. Thanks to a Sicilian chef, Francesco Procopio

Cuto, he transformed this basic formula, with the

addition of other ingredients to create a frozen

creamy product called gelato. Evolution also saw

the infl uence of technology and equipment that

combined the ingredients to be churned and

chilled by machines.

Gelato is gelato to the Italians, and the word

does not translate to ice cream; they are two

different products. The main differences between

artisan gelato and ice cream are:

Gelato is made fresh daily with raw ingredients

like milk, cream, chocolate, cocoa, fresh fruit,

eggs, and nuts;

Gelato contains less fat and air than ice cream;

It is served at a slightly warmer temperature

(-14 Celsius) which heightens fl avour and taste

perception;

Gelato is only shelf stable for 2-3 days and not

intended to be packaged for 6 months;

And the best gelato is free from artifi cial colour-

ings and additives.

The key composition of artisan gelato is liquid,

solids and air and the balance of these to achieve

the best tasting, textured and fl avoured product.

This is not an easy process, and too often gelato

is too sweet, melts too quickly, lacks fl avour and

taste, and has ice crystals in the fi nished product.

These are all recipe and process imbalances. It

takes a professional gelatiere to formulate the

recipe and produce artisan gelato.

A great gelato is composed of a taste that is

specifi c and real. For example, hazelnut gelato is

made with real hazelnuts and pastes, a texture that

is smooth, creamy and uniform and a structure

that is spreadable and can be scooped. Tempera-

ture also plays an important role in artisan gelato.

Most display freezer cabinets are set at -12 to -14

Celsius; this assists with the spreadable texture and

scooping ability, whereas a bulk freezer can store

frozen goods at -18 Celsius, which is a little too

cold for artisan gelato.

A gelato base mixture takes time to prepare

and it must be pasteurised and aged slightly for

up to 12 - 48 hours. The base mixtures are stored

in refrigerated units until churning and production

time. Pasteurisation is important for killing any bac-

teria, and it blends and dissolves all the ingredients

to enhance the performance of fl avour combining.

It assists texture of the gelato by breaking down

proteins and fats and melting the sugars.

There are ways of recognising good qual-

ity gelato. When purchasing gelato, look for

products that are fresh, not too airy and don’t

look artifi cially coloured. Pistachio gelato is one

of the more expensive fl avours to produce, as the

nuts themselves are very expensive. It’s common

to get a variation of fl avour, taste and appear-

ance. Pistachio gelato should have a browny-green

colour and not be bright green like Kermit the

frog. A bright or artifi cial green may indicate an

inferior product was used in the process with lots

of food colouring. It also means that less authentic

pistachio paste was used and more a composite

of artifi cial pistachio fl avouring. Also, pistachios

are sourced from various growing regions and

can taste a little different. This is also common in

hazelnut or “nocciola” gelato.

Just one week of the course covered enough

information and practical experience to begin

working in a gelato laboratory. It was very diffi cult

to leave the gelato university - fi lled with smiling

faces, staff, students and associates always happy

because they eat gelato every day and their work-

ing lives revolve around gelato. Next year Angela

Tsimiklis, head of Patisserie at William Angliss In-

stitute (WAI) will be travelling to CGU to complete

the four week training program, with plans to

incorporate gelato education and training in exist-

ing Patisserie and Commercial Cookery programs.

In the future, WAI and CGU plan to establish pro-

fessional artisan gelato training in Australia. I look

forward to returning to Italy next year to complete

the remaining weeks of the course and to walk

around the “piazza” eating gelato.

And fi nally, always remember gelato is gelato,

not ice cream, and “gelati” just means more than

one gelato!

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Bologna,

CGU has a “Gelato Museum” that showcases the

history of gelato and equipment. It is the only one

of its kind in the world and is open to the public.

Tours are available all year round for a small fee

of 5€ and conclude with samples and tastings of

freshly made gelato.

DETAILS

Carpigiani Gelato Museum

www.gelatomuseum.com/en

Credits: William Angliss Institute

www.angliss.edu.au

Carpigiani Gelato University and Gelato Museum

www.gelatouniversity.com/en

Majors Group - Images.

MENTION GELATO, AND I JUST ABOUT MELT! I IMMEDIATELY BEGIN REMINISCING ABOUT THE BEST GELATO I TASTED IN SICILY, SAN GIMIGNANO, URBINO, AND BOLOGNA ... THE

LIST GOES ON.

G E L A T OA N D M O R E

G E L A T OA N D M O R E

BY MELISSA CAIA

THERE ARE WAYS OF RECOGNISING GOOD QUALITY GELATO. WHEN PURCHASING GELATO, LOOK FOR PRODUCTS THAT ARE FRESH, NOT TOO AIRY AND DON’T LOOK ARTIFICIALLY COLOURED.

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