Ice cream or gelato? Is there a difference?

[biondanonima]

@PhilD

Technically gelato is churned at a much slower rate so there is less air in the mix, it’s usually a milk base rather than cream (and eggs), and rarely is the base made into custard before churning. It also tends to be served slightly warmer because its denser (less air).

But what does that do to the taste. The texture of gelato is often chewy, in fact when its put in a cone/cup they use a scraping technique because its so sticky. It also tends to give a more intense flavour because you don’t get the fatty/luscious texture (which coats your taste buds) you get with ice cream - hence the myriad of flavours that are available in Italy.

PhilD’s explanation is spot on. For this reason, I don’t buy “gelato” from the grocery store, because it never has the proper texture - the holding temperature in grocery store freezers is too cold. Letting the container sit at room temperature doesn’t restore that almost chewy texture that perfect gelato has, and I don’t think grocery store brands churn their product to achieve that texture in any case. IMO, Talenti and all of the other “gelati” available in the supermarket are simply ice cream with good marketing.