Gelato - Best Enjoyed Anywhere!!!

By:  Paula Dupont

It’s hot, sticky, and humid in the Midwest – after a long rainy June – so it’s the perfect time to enjoy an ice cream cone or two.  There’s no denying the pleasure of the cool and creamy melt on your tongue – no matter how you prefer your frozen treat:  cone, cup, shake, malt.  Aah …. The list is endless.

                So as I sat on the beach basking in the sun and enjoying a scoop of Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby (on any other day it might have been Edy’s snickers, Starbucks java chip, Sherman’s Marion County Blackberry, etc.)-- working quickly before the steamy rays reduced the delicious stuff to a puddle in my lap – I thought about whether the setting made the ice cream … or vice versa.  Could really average ice cream be made spectacular in a great setting?  And, would an awful setting reduce fantastic ice cream to barely passable?  And really, is it possible for any setting that involves ice cream to be bad?  See … the sun finally comes out, and the brain melts along with the ice cream.

                Of course we began reminiscing about gelato-ing our way through Europe, especially Italy, but France, Austria, and Germany weren’t derelict in this department either.  The rules don’t apply while travelling, and I’ve always believed in the nutritional (hey, it’s dairy) and curative powers of ice cream anyway.  Who hasn’t felt the magic offered by a few spoonfuls after a long day on the train or witnessed the resolution of tears after a toddler’s crash on the cobblestoned street with the proffering of an ice cream cone?

                I did a little research to try to figure out why our gelato breaks were always so special – aside from the spectacular settings.  I learned that gelato is actually “better” for you than ice cream – as in lower fat;  it’s lighter due to the churning process; and of course, it’s not frozen solid – which makes it delectably easy to eat.  None of that really matters because it’s just so darned good anyway.

        Not unlike a case of Murano glass beads, the Italian gelateria features every color under the rainbow.  From the deepest browns of the cioccolato fondente – for dark chocolate lovers only-- to the delicate lemon shade of limone, gelato offers a flavor-infused artist’s palette of pleasure.  They do make the standards:  vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and chocolate chip.  But they’re so much better than ours!  And the truly Italian flavors – done well only by them – are amazing:  bacio, gianduia, pistacchio, and zabaglione.  Maybe it’s the way the Italian names roll off the tongue, or maybe it’s the creamy delicacy, or perhaps even the fact that unlike here, servers are happy to give you a cone with several flavors gently positioned side-by-side.  Whatever the case, there’s no pleasure quite like enjoying a gelato by the sea in Capri, on the steps of the fountain in Rome, under an awning in the rain in Murano, on a gondola in Venice, on a bridge in Florence, for breakfast, after lunch, or with espresso.  So … setting or gelato?  In Italy, you don’t have to choose – so we’ll never really know.

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