While searching for a sweet treat in Portland, Maine, one summer afternoon, I was thrilled to find not just one taste of Italy. In the center of the historic Old Port district, I stumbled upon Gorgeous Gelato and Gelato Fiasco. If you’ve never had the pleasure of tasting gelato, an Italian confectionery cousin of our ice cream, I highly suggest you make it a priority this summer. What’s the difference? Well, there are a few:
Per the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, traditional hard ice cream (not soft serve) must contain at least 10 percent milk fat by weight, though the average range you’ll find in your local grocery freezer is between 14 and 25 percent. Authentic Italian gelato, on the other hand, includes only about 4 to 9 percent fat—and while, in most instances,it’ss fat and salt that lends rich flavor to foods, gelato tends to impart more intense flavors than American ice cream asthere’ss less fat coating your palate. It’s also served at 10 to 20 degrees, while ice cream is served at 6 to 10 degrees, and food science has proved we’re better able to taste foods served at a warmer temperature. Finally, Italian gelato contains less air since it’s churned at a slower speed than American ice cream, which creates a denser texture and smaller ice crystals for a silkier mouthfeel.
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So, here’s the tl;dr: Gelato is denser, creamier in texture, lower in fat, and served at a warmer temperature; ice cream has both more cream and air, making it sweeter and fluffier in comparison. And now you’re a burgeoning esperto di gelato.
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Gorgeous Gelato on Fore Street was opened in 2010 by husband-and-wife team Mariagrazia Zanardi and Donato Giovine just a few months after they moved to Portland from Milan, Italy, and it’s a perfect place to have your first (or fiftieth) taste of the stuff. They churn locally sourced milk and never add artificial sweeteners or flavors, hydrogenated fats, or emulsifiers. They get their pistachios from Sicily and hazelnuts from Piedmont, and both flavors pair perfectly with my two favorites that they offer: Zabaione (an Italian dessert made with egg yolks, sugar, and a sweet wine) and Bacio (a brand of premium pizza cheese known for its “Kiss of Buffalo Milk”). Their chocolate, coffee, Tiramisu, and Stracciatella (strands of rich chocolate incorporated into a creamy base) are also crowd favorites.
To continue your gelato education stateside, continue just a few steps down Fore and you’ll find Gelato Fiasco, founded in 2007 by then-24-year-olds Joshua Davis and Bruno Tropeano. Their milk comes fresh from nearby family farms, and they use natural cane sugar, never high fructose corn syrup. Their pistachios also hail from Sicily like their neighbor’s, their vanilla beans from Madagascar, and their wild blueberries from local farmers as well. They offer a daily minimum of 30 flavors from their ever-expanding collection of more than 1,500 in-house recipes; my three must-tastes are the mascarpone pistachio caramel that’s reminiscent of rich cannoli filling, the espresso chocolate chip made with hand-pulled espresso and Ghirardelli chocolate, and their award-winning Sweet Resurgam—a nod to Portland’s motto, “Resurgam” that means “I Will Rise Again” in Latin—comprising roasted almonds, burnt sugar, chocolate chips, and caramel.
Are you planning a visit to Maine this summer? Know a gelato or ice-cream-lover who loves to hunt down new flavors? Save and share this article to be sure Gorgeous Gelato and Gelato Fiasco in Portland make the itinerary.
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