Ice cream is the undisputed king of the hot Italian summer months, the sea in the city or in the mountains is often visible in its walking or table version. Whim or substitute for a light meal when the heat grips the Belpaese, refreshes and satiates.
Its known history probably begins in the ninth century in Sicily under Arab rule, where the snow of Etna provided the raw material for a sweet invigorating and fresh. It was not until 1565 that an architect at the court of Catherine de’ Medici proposed a recipe very similar to the present one.
Today, artisan ice cream is one of the most famous Made in Italy excellence in the world. Over the centuries many recipes and tastes have been created. Its unique appearance and flavor feel are certainly among the hallmarks of Italian ice cream. This traditional food is perfect for the summer and has many curious aspects to discover.
RomaToday
How to prepare Italian ice cream
Italian ice cream is nothing more than a food preparation that is obtained by mixing different ingredients. Thanks to the freezing the product gets to a pasty and solid state. Fresh raw materials are used to obtain a quality product.
The preparation of ice cream is particularly complex and involves several stages. These must be followed very carefully so as not to compromise the entire production process.
The first thing to do is to choose the ingredients or the raw materials you want to use, will be their degree of quality to determine the goodness of the finished product. It starts from sugar, milk and seasonal fruit and thickening matter.
The production process has two groups of raw materials. These are the liquids and sugars that are in contrast with each other. A very important aspect to highlight is that the different phases can be performed hot or cold. In the latter case, the ingredients are simply mixed and after a short rest is passed to the freezing in which the mixture is cooled. In the hot processing, however, all the ingredients used are pasteurised.
This process helps to reduce the bacterial load. To do this it is necessary to heat the liquid to a temperature between 65 ºC and 85 ºC. Then it must remain at this temperature to cool it quickly until it reaches a storage temperature of 4 or 5 ºC.
After that, the wine matures for between 4 and 6 hours. This process is used to ensure that the different ingredients are blended to perfection, finally there is the freezing phase that provides for the freezing. This can be divided into two phases. The first is freezing while the second is hardening.
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The history of Italian ice cream
The history of ice cream is ancient even if it is not easy to identify a real origin. No doubt in the past ice cream was another thing compared to how you consider it nowadays. The first ice cream legends are in the Bible. Isaac used to give his father Abraham an ice drink with snow and goat’s milk.
In ancient Rome Nero during the banquets gustava macedonie and fruit cakes with honey and fruit. In China around the year 2000 A. C. there was a habit of freezing and refrigerating fruit. A base of cooked rice and milk was prepared together with various spices. In the Middle Ages they began to prepare cold desserts based on milk and frozen juices. The first appearances of products similar to ice cream in Italy are from the ninth century D. C. in Sicily.
In 1565 the architect Bernardo Buontalenti at the court of Caterina de Medici in Florence invented the most beloved and famous Italian dessert in the world. Another fundamental moment in the history of Italian ice cream occurred in 1686 when the Sicilian chef Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli created the first perfect blend for the production and packaging of ice cream.
Italian ice cream: curiosities
There are many curiosities about Italian ice cream. One of these concerns its export to the United States that took place by the Genoese Giovanni Bosio in 1770.
But not only in fact there were other fundamental passages that saw the Italians as protagonists such as the invention of the cone. The cone was invented by the Italian Italo Marchioni in 1868.
The first ice cream shop in history was born in 1880 in Rome and was called Palazzo del freddo Fassi. To have the first automatic ice cream machine you have to wait until 1927 when Otello Cattabriga invented this ingenious machine.
Finally, in 1939 it was invented by the cavalier Feletti the first ice cream stick with vanilla taste and covered with chocolate. Italian ice cream is unique as its tradition and is a symbol of history, culture and local flavors. With fruit or cream, in cone or cup will accompany your evenings in the Italian summer.
Copertina: turismoroma