This is my entry for this weeks Market Friday challenge organized by Hive account@dswigle
This market was situated at the recent Festival of Sails at Suttons Beach on the Redcliffe Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. You can see by the crowd that this was a very popular venue.
There were long line ups at every stall and I was quite amazed at the variety of different flavours and types of ice cream available.
Frozen dessert Gelato is very popular in Italy. It is more often than not, made with a base of 3.25% milk and sugar and is usually lower in fat than other styles of frozen desserts.
It typically contains 70% less air and is more flavoursome than a lot of other frozen desserts. Its texture is more dense and rich than other brands ice cream and perhaps this is why I am partial to a scoop of gelato during the summer months. Italian law states that gelato has to have a minimum of 3.5% butterfat in its mixture.
The Italian word "Gelato" means frozen and the very first Gelateria in Paris was opened by a Sicilian Fisherman.
Historically, the flavors of gelato included vanilla, chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio, cream (also known as custard), and stracciatella fior-di-latte which is gelato containing chocolate chunks.
Contemporary gelato lovers now enjoy flavors which are fruit based and these include raspberry, strawberry, apple, lemon and pineapple.
The process of making gelato require heating the ingredients to 85°C (185 °F) for pasteurization. The temperature is then lowered to 5°C (41°F) and mixed to the required texture.
Did I see Lavender on the sign in tnhis image? Yes, I did! Now that sounds like an interesting flavour!
The cold process of making gelato requires the mixed ingredients to be placed in the freezer and during the "sprint" process, milk or water is added to a group of ingredients which is then mixed and batched.
The vegan lovers had soft serves to suit their lifestyle. How cool is that? Pardon the pun!
Just like other ice creams, the sugar in gelato prevents it from freezing solid by binding to the water which forms ice crystals. Smaller ice crystals are then produced, which results in the smooth texture which we know as gelato.
Commercial gelato are generally sweetened with sucrose, dextrose, or inverted sugar, and guar gum is also added which helps to stabalize the product.
Below is wikipedias information on other frozen desserts.
Custard, a dessert made with cream, eggs and vanilla
Frozen custard, a frozen dessert made with cream and eggs
Frozen yogurt, a frozen dessert made with a base of yogurt rather than milk
Granita, a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavorings
Italian ice, also known as water ice, a frozen dessert made from either concentrated syrup flavoring or fruit purees
Semifreddo, a class of semi-frozen dessert
Sorbet, called sorbetto in Italian
