Nowadays people pay more and more attention to their health and this concerns a lot the way they eat. Some of them check the ingredients, others keep themselves informed on the web before buying a food item. But what to do when the product is an ice cream? Very often people do not look at the list of ingredients and only stop at their first impression. How to recognize when it is a quality ice cream?
If you see bright colors, it might seem inviting and particularly tasty, but actually it is not. Most of the time if an ice cream has too bright colors means that it has nothing natural.
An artisanal ice cream can be defined as follows: "product obtained with genuine raw materials, better if with fresh and high-quality ingredients, mixed in the maker's laboratory according to their creativity. The mixture must be brought to the creamy state by rapid freezing and simultaneous stirring to incorporate an amount of air ranging from 25 to 30%". In addition, a homemade ice cream must be prepared and consumed within 24 hours.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish the artisanal ice cream from an industrial one, also because many ice-cream shops use the inscription ‘artisanal ice-cream’, even if they have nothing natural.
We want you to be aware of what are the differences between artisanal ice cream and industrial ice cream.
The true artisan
It is very rare to find ice-cream shops which prepare everything inside their laboratory. Working the raw material as the old way takes a lot of time and effort. You have to be aware of the natural ice cream shape and colours. As we said before bright colours mean they have nothing natural. True artisans take some time to serve your ice cream because the natural one has to be managed.
You must have the right knowledge if you want to give up thickeners and emulsifiers and get a natural ice cream. A negative aspect is represented by the fact that homemade ice cream has a weak structure and therefore it does not last for a long time. On the other hand, a positive aspect is that if you make ice cream in your own laboratory is easier for you to find and experiment with new ideas and tastes.
There is no doubt that artisan ice cream makers stay one step ahead of others: in terms of tastes and combinations, they are considered true chefs! A true artisan must choose his own ingredients well, make sure that the fruit is of top quality, assessing the degree of ripeness, the PDO, PGI or bio origin. Otherwise you can rely on frozen fruit or purees whose quality always depends on the price. Necessary is the use of "neutral" to mix the ingredients.
The fake artisan
Unfortunately, most artisans use a base provided by the semi-finished industries consisting of thickeners and emulsifiers. Then there are those who integrate with quality local products such as fresh fruit, hazelnut or pistachio paste, and those who decide to work using standard products: fruit purees and semi-finished products. Finally we find the "fake artisan", who use ready-made semi-finished products that greatly simplify the work and shorten the time in the laboratory.
The industrial artisan
Industrial artisans use semi-finished products called "base" that contain proteins, sugars, milk powder, fats and flavors, as well as thickeners and emulsifiers. They are mainly used by those ice cream makers who do not have so much time and who combine them with water or milk and get a new base. Then they just add other ready-made preparations based on hazelnuts, pistachio, chocolate and they pour everything into the batch freezer. Semi-finished products are divided into three categories: low, medium or high dosage. The low and medium dosages represent an intermediate solution, where the artisan adds a part of the ingredients. The result is guaranteed, the colors are lively and the time is optimized but the taste of the ice-cream at the end is standardized and poorly characterized. As you can see there are a lot of differences and the consumer does not have all the elements to understand the kind of ice cream.
If you are ice cream consumers, do not be fooled!
If you are an ice cream shop, be careful to choose your ingredients well because if at first sight the customer can not notice the product's industrial qualities, he will surely discover it when tasting!