Difference Between Gelato and Ice cream

There are several misconceptions which has created confusion between gelato and ice cream. Some people consider it as same while others consider it different. Even though both are dairy based frozen desserts, there are few things which differentiate them very well from each other. 

Summertime has already started and this is the time when we treat ourselves more often with frozen desserts to beat the heat. Everyone, even people who don’t prefer desserts must have eaten ice cream and gelato at least once. For all others, I am assured that such occasions would be more frequent. Gelato and ice cream both satisfies our sweet cravings. They both are dairy based frozen desserts; both have various varieties of flavors, even have the same physical appearance and excluding the creaminess factor they even taste the same. So from where does the difference between gelato and ice cream arise? 

Well to start with, they can be compared and categorized right from the moment they are in the process of being made. In Italy all Ice creams are called Gelato while compared to the US produced ice creams they are different. There are several factors which makes them different from each other. Based on several factors here is the list of comparison between gelato and Ice cream which will give you a clear picture between them.

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• According to US standards Ice creams are those products which are made up of minimum 10% of milk fat and has maximum 20% of milk solids by volume. While on the other hand Gelato has maximum 8% of milk fat in it. So it cannot be categorized as an ice cream. This has led to a huge difference in their textures. Ice cream is prepared from large amounts of cream (milk fat), while gelato is made out of whole or low fat milk which contains very less quantity of milk fat. While we know that it’s much easier to freeze cream than milk, in the same way it is hard to freeze gelato. They also melt much quickly when compared with traditional ice creams. That is why gelatos are always prepared in smaller batches and not massively produced. But on the positive note, with the use of milk the flavor gets mixed more homogenously.
• The process of how they are prepared is also different from each other. When ice cream is prepared it is bombarded with air so that the over all volume increases. While on the other hand gelato is prepared with a very little exposure to air. This helps in making gelato denser and with enough amount of air it makes it creamier too. This is achieved by churning the mixture very slowly.
• Coming to the consumption side, gelato has far fewer calories when compared to ice cream. On an equal amount of serving gelato has minimum one third amount of fewer calories. However the calories hugely vary depending upon the ingredients added to it.
• Ice cream has more preservatives compared to gelato because ice creams are made using syrups and artificial sweeteners, while gelato is mainly prepared using sugar. This is true for general category; there may be exceptions to it.
• At last gelato is kept at a much lower temperature than ice cream because milk freezes fast than cream. So even though the serving of gelato is firm it is not as hard as ice cream, it melts very easily when it comes in contact with room temperature, so it becomes much easier to eat.