Making Gelato

Today, we went on a school activity to see how gelato is made in one of the numerous gelaterias in Florence. It was really neat, and included a free cup of gelato! I got biscotti (cookies), cheesecake di fragola (strawberry), and Ambrosia (yogurt, honey, and cinnamon) yuuumm.

Antica Gelateria Fiorentina where we got to watch chocolate gelato being made

You can tell it's not industrial because they don't overflow the containers in huge mounds. This artigianale is much more dense, with less air incorporated in it. Also notice the stormtroppers in the cones.

Collecting some sort of cream/milk/water/maybe sugar mixture.

Mixing that with milk and dark chocolate powder, regular and powdered sugar, and hot water.

Putting that into the machine to do it's magic!

Here it comes...

He said "I love gelato" 2-3 times. I think we got that :)

The final product! It was so creamy and tasty

He (I'm really bad with names) works in the back making gelato all day, so it is really fresh. He also explained his philosophy regarding gelato: if it tastes good to you, then it is good. He would rather you go somewhere else if you like that gelato better than throw his work away. Clearly, he is passionate about his work and is not just doing this for the money. He also said he eats about 4 small cups of gelato a day and told us to come for free samples :D

Making Gelato