FB Clabo Award for Best Digital Communication 2022

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop, News, Pastry
2 December 202112 January 2023

FB Clabo Award for Best Digital Communication 2022

In a complicated historical moment, presenting your company on the web and on social media can have a fundamental impact. For several years now, presence in the digital world has been an essential factor for every professional reality, and in a very competitive scenario, increasing one’s visibility, having a website accessible at all times and creating mobile friendly solutions has become an essential principle for any activity. Increasing your transparency, building your brand identity, implementing cutting-edge promotional and sales strategies, based on a system that allows easy identification of well-defined products or services, has become the first step in expanding your pool of users, communicate their corporate values and restart in the best possible way.
And so even the great pastry chefs have landed on the internet: even the most reluctant to come to terms with social networks have had to contend with them, just as the need to set up online sales and home delivery services has prompted many businesses to reorganize the own presence on the internet. For this reason, FB wanted to honor and reward two craft businesses that stood out over the year for their commitment to building a digital identity that respects that of their store. As sponsor of the Gambero Rosso Pastry and Pastry Guide, last November 30th FB met in Rome the two winners for Best Digital Communication, Michel Paquier of the Douce pastry shop in Genoa and Andrea Besuschio of the Besuschio pastry shop in Milan, on the occasion of the official presentation of the Guide, now in its eleventh edition.

The good communication of Michel Paquier

It’s difficult to talk about a restart for Douce Genova. Because she never really stopped. Also thanks to the use of social media and what Michel Paquier, maître pâtissier and Genoese by adoption, calls “good communication on the web”. That’s right, even a professional who has entered the establishment of the most refined Italian pastry, gaining notoriety and greater awareness, has begun to become passionate about the new phygital communication rules, discovering how to make up for forced closures in times of lockdown thanks to alternative sales tools. And it is no coincidence that Michel, on the occasion of the presentation of the Pastry Chefs & Pasticcerie d’Italia 2022 by Gambero Rosso, received the award for Best Digital Communication. A well-deserved and heartfelt award for those who are committed every day to creating careful and accurate communication, calibrated on photos of great emotional impact and pleasant and delicate stories like their specialties.

Sincere tales of a good and delicate product

A communication that plays with taste, harmony and balance, but which also knows how to speak to the heart without too many rounds of words or catchphrases. Stories that reach people with sincerity and that convey all the passion that Paquier puts into his work. Through simple but never banal contents, Michel focuses on what he has most precious: his product, made with love and respect, leading to know the essence of his pastry. Also known to the general public for his participation in various broadcasts for pastry enthusiasts, he has transformed his site into a real e-commerce, increasing revenue and awareness of the Douce brand.

“Digital communication is essential. The lockdown period has accelerated our communication through social media, on which we talk about our products without mincing words, with photos and descriptions. Certainly social networks represent an excellent training ground for developing communication, also for our home delivery, which if it was not once considered, now represents a valid ally.”

Listen to the interview

Besuschio Confectionery's digital innovation.

The lockdown first and then the restrictions have therefore demonstrated, even for pastry shops, the importance of digital communication, convincing everyone to update sites, organize online sales in the best possible way, develop delicious take-away and delivery boxes. After the most critical phase, we returned to the laboratories with the awareness that everything has changed and that it is necessary to give space to inventiveness, without ever abandoning tradition.
Even Andrea Besuschio knows something about it, a complete professional in the art of pastry, firmly rooted in his origins and in his territory, yet able to constantly renew himself through a daily work of study, research, experimentation. Faithful to the long family tradition, made up of classic recipes, travel desserts and large leavened products, Andrea has been able to innovate by creating recognizable web and social settings every day and in line with the lines of a historic and prestigious business, so much so that he too deserves the Best Digital Communication award. All the characteristic features of the Besuschio pastry shop, from the careful selection of raw materials to the care of techniques, from the passion and respect for the legacy of tradition to the careful study and research, are contained in the refined choice of images on the web page. Images that describe all the commitment to guaranteeing the ancient pastry art and that represent the mark of an Italian authenticity made up of wisdom and experience, but also of continuous study and the desire to experiment.

How important do you think digital communication is for your business today?
Digital communication is very important in every sector, especially in ours, directly addressed to the customer who is often curious and wants to know more about the products. Through digital communication, the customer base that can be reached and to which one can communicate one’s passion and tradition is certainly greater.

What services do you offer via digital channels and with what feedback? What other services would you possibly like to introduce in the future?
The website, the online shop and above all the Instagram page, where we offer product information services, photos and videos on our working method and on how our products are made. And then the online orders, both through direct messages on Instagram and through the online shop.
In the future we would like to expand shipments to more perishable and fragile products that require special storage such as pastries, cakes and single portions.

How has the situation we are facing changed your digital communication strategy, if it has?
When the pandemic broke out and the lockdown began in March 2020 we didn’t have an online shop yet, and it was thanks to the Instagram page and the requests of our customers that we organized home deliveries. The online shop started in November 2020 and we were able to satisfy every request more easily. We have always planned to create the online shop, but the advent of the pandemic made it particularly necessary, having given up table service for months and having to satisfy the requests of people who lived out of town or far enough away to not be able to come and buy products. Thanks to sponsorships and publications on Instagram we have achieved excellent results.

What elements did you want to include on the site and in digital communication in general to best reflect the image of your restaurant?
First of all we are a family, and one of the things we hold most dear is our history. This is particularly highlighted on the website, and we have also tried to do the same on the Instagram page, in which we have told our story in serial form, starting from the book that tells about our shop and our family.

Who follows digital communication within the pastry shop? Do you rely on an external agency in whole or in part?
Federica, my son Anselmo’s girlfriend, takes care of our communication. She mainly follows our Instagram page and the making of everything that is posted. She and my son, together with a programmer friend, have taken care of the creation of the online shop and still follow it, updating it with new products and following the shipments of parcels and the relationship with the customer. We have always liked doing things as a family.

New trends and great classics: ice cream flavors in 2021

by lorenzo in News
4 June 202112 January 2023

New trends and great classics: ice cream flavors in 2021

Under the sign of sustainability, the 2021 summer season starts, between tradition and new journeys in gluttony.

Summer 2021.The journey of gluttony starts again with the first warm weather, and the master artisans of the art of Italian Gelato unleash their inventiveness, creating and recreating.

Competitiveness, essential in such a vast world, is a further stimulus to research, and the observatory of HostMilano, the professional hospitality exhibition of the Fiera di Milano (which this year will be held from 22 to 26 October), in his annual report on ice cream and ice cream parlors, he demonstrated how healthy competition leads to innovative and… largely greedy results!

In fact, HostMilano has identified 5 new artisan gelato trends for 2021.

Summer ice cream trends.

First of all let’s talk about the Free Form, in which milk, which is a traditional ingredient of ice cream in general, is replaced by drinks based on coconut, oats and almonds . A more full-bodied taste, a gamble against tradition. Aren’t you curious to taste the result?

Ah la barrique is a decidedly avant-garde and bold trend, where the ice cream flavors are made with products related to the world of wine and cheese and which, in the Limited Edition line , will offer daring tastes and combinations. Definitely departing from the traditional way of understanding ice cream!

Love is in the air, they said. And, to paraphrase a well-known TV personality, Dr. House, “they say love is essential, but air is definitely more so”. So why not replace water with air when making ice cream? Decidedly ethereal ice creams will be the result of this innovative preparation, thanks to the air injected or whipped directly onto the product. Giving them a soft and delicate texture and offering an incredible sight to the eyes.

Green and supportive instead rides on the needs of our world, with a tendency towards healthy ecology and sustainability and ethical production, in raw materials and packaging. Because you can’t sacrifice our land in the name of gluttony, and you don’t even need to choose which of the two to give up.

The new flavors of 2021

As for the new flavours, i.e. the gems with which the artisans will delight the palate, forecasts give the majority of those based on superfoods renewed from fermented and probiotics, with original touches such as drops of mint, vanilla, oats, honey and lavender and roasted banana, but also those derived from nature will have their place, and we can already taste the varieties with carrot, rhubarb and various types of honey, assisted by beeswax with instead of thickener and propolis for the purpose of natural antibiotic.

Not to be underestimated, then, the sweet-savory combinations.

We at FB Showcases, however, look forward to hosting these tastes in our showcases, where they will find the ideal environment and best technology to enhance the taste.

A look at Ice Cream Day 2021

by lorenzo in News
23 March 202112 January 2023

A look at Gelato Day 2021

Gelato Day 2021 is the event dedicated to Artisanal Gelato, an ancient art and food loved by all, to which the European Parliament has named, the only food to have received this honor, a day in its honor, March 24, will be held for the ninth consecutive year.

An opportunity for rebirth

The art of artisanal gelato, in all its facets, is one of the activities that has suffered the most losses during the pandemic. But, as is appropriate in an artisan category that has lived amidst a thousand difficulties over the centuries, hope and resilience are never lacking. The Gelato Day 2021 edition really wants to celebrate these rare qualities, showing everyone that the sector is not only not in crisis, but instead points to a future full of novelties and new delicacies.
In fact, if last year’s edition was in a minor key, relegated by current events to a secondary role in a Europe conditioned, more or less, by stringent lockdown policies, and which therefore had to settle for only virtual celebration, this year the perspective is to take all the innovations that have conditioned the sector and treasure them in the organization of the event.

Preparations for Gelato Day 2021

It will therefore be an edition that will be divided between digital events and purely physical events, obviously within the limits allowed by an emergency that currently sets various stakes. Therefore the ice cream shops that will participate in the event, in addition to the classic on-site orders, will offer the home delivery service of their products. This initiative will also be supported in the big cities by the well-known food delivery service Deliveroo, which this year will be the promoter of the European Artisanal Gelato Day.
There will be demonstrations, promotions and events, both virtual and physical, which throughout Europe will aim to promote and spread the culture of ice cream parlors and their artisanal ice cream. A golden opportunity, therefore, to arm yourself with an ice cream cone or cup and indulge in a delicious break from the diet!

Taste of the Year: Mantecado

This year the choice of flavor of the year fell to Spain, and the Iberian nation did not fail to promote its culinary delights with a variety of exceptional flavors and stories enclosed in the Mantecado flavour. An anthology of varieties and tastes, led by a tasty old vanilla cream variegated with orange sauce and dark chocolate decorations.
A set of flavors that want to represent, as mentioned, segments of history and food and wine typical of Spain and the immense Iberian empire which was a crossroads of culinary discoveries and innovations in every field. Here then dominates vanilla, a spice imported by the conquistadors from distant Mexico, with its unmistakable scent, passing through chocolate, which had enormous commercial importance thanks to the Spanish merchants who imported it from the new continent, and finally oranges, produced among the most characteristic of Spain which currently holds the production record at European level.
A combination of sweet and bitter, which wants to play on the union of differences, a characteristic trait of the Spanish people.
A characteristic flavour, a worthy substitute for the Flavor of the Year 2020, the yogurt ice cream with strawberry variegation proposed by the Netherlands.

Who participates and how to participate

The European Artisan Gelato Day was born from an idea of Longarone Fiere and Artglace.
The 2021 edition sees, among others, as partners the Italian Gelato Makers Association, CNA, Confartigianato, Conpait Gelato – Confederation of Italian Pastry Chefs, the Italian Gelato Makers Federation, Masters of Italian Gelato, Ilgelatoartigianale.info, SIGEP – International Gelato and Pastry Exhibition , Italian Exhibition Group Artisan Bakery and Coffee.
Naturally we at FB Showcases also support the event by inviting you to participate.
Gelato shops that want to take part in the event simply need to register on the site www.gelato-day.it< /a>, indicating the initiatives they want to comply with in order to celebrate the most delicious day of the year in the best possible way!

Ice cream shop furniture: good resolutions for 2020

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
30 December 201912 January 2023

Ice cream shop furniture: good resolutions for 2020

Between a cup of vegan ice cream and a unicorn-flavored cone, we have reached the end of 2019. How has the artisanal ice cream sector in Italy been in these twelve months?

In 2018 the sector had reached 2.7 billion euros. In a survey conducted among members of the CNA (National Confederation of Crafts and Small and Medium Enterprises) the sector in 2019 could invoice up to 3 billion in total.
The entire agro-food chain will benefit from this increase, from milk to sugar to fresh fruit thanks to the demand for increasingly refined and quality flavors such as Bronte pistachio and hazelnuts from Piedmont, Lazio and Campania, Sicilian almonds and lemons from the Sorrento and Amalfi coasts.

According to another survey of June 2019 by the Chamber of Commerce of Milan and Brianza, there are 19,000 ice cream parlors in Italy. The city with the most ice cream parlors is Rome, followed by Naples, Turin, Milan, Salerno, Bari, Palermo, Brescia, Venice. Comparing the data of the ice cream parlors with the number of residents, it can be seen that there is a greater consumption of ice cream by tourists rather than by local consumers (except for Turin and Brescia), with a demand for “emotional” consumption.
For ice cream, the trends of this 2019 have paid particular attention to health and well-being, with the origin of the raw materials and the search for taste as the main marketing levers.

For inspiration on tastes and processes, look forward to the first appointments of the new year with trade fairs and sector events, such as Sigep in Rimini from 18 to 22 January 2020.
What could be the good resolutions for the new year for the decor of your ice cream shop?

1) Give greater prominence to tastes

Ice cream is the absolute protagonist of your business.
Behind the display of taste in the window there is all the care in the choice of ingredients, the processing made of studies and experience, the creativity of proposing new and delicious combinations.
This is why the flavors of your gelato shop deserve the right prominence.

For 2020, you could give your tastes more attention by choosing windows that illuminate your products, enhance their importance, enliven their colour, enhance their flavour. The goal is to highlight them to convey to the customer with a single glance the desire to touch them, taste them and savor them intensely. Ice cream is your work of art, so it must be displayed in a showcase that integrates perfectly with the furniture of the ice cream parlor to offer customers an emotional journey that will lead them to order their cone or cup.

2) Find or improve your own

For some, 2020 will lead to the opening of their first artisanal gelato shop. For others who have already been working in the sector for years, it could be the year of renewal to relaunch their business. In both cases, a good intention is to find a style and a personality for your gelato shop, to become memorable and recognizable by customers and on the market.

The style is declined both in the offer of ice creams and products and in the furnishings. There are many styles to choose from: vintage, shabby, boho, modern, industrial. The important thing is to identify a style that represents the owner of the ice cream parlor and his business, and then personalize it with the choice of materials, furniture and details.
Finding your own style and making your own ice cream parlor unique allows you to create that experience for the customer which, from entering the shop to consuming the ice cream, will lead him to live
memorable moments. This satisfaction will lead him to come back and tell his experience to relatives and friends.

3) Be inspired by the masters

The Maestri ice cream makers and pastry chefs can inspire both for the creativity of their ice creams and desserts and for the approach to the furnishing style of their premises.
For the new year, therefore, one could peek into their ice cream parlors and pastry shops to get some insights.

Maestro Iginio Massari, for example, opened the second branch of his pastry shop in the spring of 2018, to be precise in Milan in the premises of Banca Intesa San Paolo.
A sophisticated and welcoming environment has been created in the pastry shop that expresses the flavors and colors of the Master’s great experience in a contemporary key.

The ultimate goal was to create an art gallery of taste, in which the refined aesthetic taste would draw the attention and care of the raw materials in Massari’s kitchen: the choice therefore fell on precious materials and an innovative showcase and functional.

4) Give more importance to the details

When you make homemade ice cream, it’s often that extra bit of ingredient in the recipe that makes it delicious and irresistible. An extra gram of sugar, an addition of milk
at the end, a sprinkling of a spice. Magic comes from small gestures.

The same goes for furnishings: it’s the details that make the difference. When furnishing an ice cream shop, the choice of lighting of the windows, the finishes of the furniture, the
color combinations, accessories. It’s the little touches of style that make the furniture and therefore the ice cream parlor truly unique and memorable. For this reason, for 2020 we could strive to give more importance to details, with the same care and diligence with which we choose the best materials
raw materials and ingredients to create the flavors of your own ice creams.

5) Don’t make any more compromises between functionality and design

When choosing the furniture for your restaurant, do you think you are at a crossroads: functionality or design?
Aesthetics and comfort seem to be two opposite parameters to choose from when identifying furniture, display cases and furnishing accessories for your ice cream shop.

In reality, there is no need to compromise between functionality and design, and this should be one of the warnings for 2020.
The windows FB Showcases manage to combine an exclusive design
with cutting-edge technological solutions.
Class and elegance are expressed in the lines of the showcases of the eleven collections, which ensure high performance and efficiency for those who work in ice cream parlors without having to make compromises or sacrifices.

Have you chosen your good resolutions for 2020?
We wish you to realize them, for a happy new year.

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Ice cream at Christmas: Christmas desserts revisited

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
13 December 201912 January 2023

Ice cream at Christmas: Christmas desserts revisited

Christmas means gifts, love, family and food. Lots of food, especially sweets. December is that month of the year in which gluttony sins weigh a little less and we willingly give in to an extra slice of pandoro or an extra piece of nougat.

For sweet artisans such as pastry chefs and ice cream makers, December means creations that combine tradition and experimentation.

Maestro Iginio Massari, for example, makes changes to his panettone every year, especially in the aromatic parts, those that give it more palatability and greater enjoyment. In fact, the master claims that “The quality of the product is not static, because needs are always changing”.

An element that allows you to renew Christmas sweets by giving space to creativity is the ice cream , which candid as the ideal ingredient to enrich Christmas delicacies.

Ice cream in winter: good even at Christmas

Ice cream is no longer just a summer love. Thanks to the use of seasonal ingredients it is possible to enjoy a cone or cup even during the coldest months of the year.

Tastes therefore accord with climate and temperatures: here is the orange with walnuts, chestnut with bay leaf, ginger and cardamom, persimmon and pears, marron glacé.
In winter ice cream changes its consistency and becomes even more velvety on the palate while maintaining its nutritional properties unaltered.

Even in winter, the master ice cream makers show their creativity and professionalism. Last year, during the Christmas period, Master Paolo Brunelli offered ice cream bars in his temporary store in Ancona. A pocket-sized chocolate in the most requested flavors in his ice cream parlor in Senigallia, from Crema Brunelli to Dark to Portonovo and Cioccoriso.

And it is precisely at Christmas that winter ice cream has its most magical moment. Let’s find out how ice cream can give new life and flavor to classic Christmas desserts.

Panettone

Panettone is the Christmas cake par excellence. It is the warmth of Christmas, it evokes family, friends and conviviality. Its most traditional recipe calls for sultanas and candied fruit, but there is no shortage of reinterpretations and gourmet flavors elaborated by master pastry chefs in their laboratories.

How is panettone transformed when it meets ice cream?
There are different interpretations and recipes. First of all, the panettone stuffed with ice cream. In this preparation, the panettone is left whole, hollowed out inside so that it can accommodate the ice cream. You can enrich the presentation with a coating of chocolate icing.

Then there is what is called panettone ice cream: a classic panettone that becomes a Sicilian brioche to be filled with stracciatella or extra dark chocolate ice cream.
Creative proposals come from Italian master ice cream makers, who suggest a version of panettone with candied ginger and chestnuts, filled with marron glacé ice cream and 70% dark chocolate, or what is called the “Panettone with landscape”, with pieces of milk or dark chocolate, glazed with chocolate, crowned with a Christmas landscape.

Pandoro

The pandoro is considered the antagonist of the panettone in the Christmas challenge of the best dessert, creating real sides at the table and in the family.
In its classic version, pandoro is a particularly soft dessert made with flour, eggs, butter, vanilla and covered as desired with a light layer of icing sugar.

The encounter between ice cream and pandoro allows the versatility of the Veronese dessert to emerge.
In the pandoro cake, the dessert is broken down into horizontal layers that create a tall star-shaped cake. Ice cream is used to fill this cake, choosing from the creamiest flavors such as chocolate, stracciatella and vanilla.
Pandoro and ice cream can also create a Christmas version of zuccotto. The pandoro is decomposed and becomes the “shell” of the zuccotto, which is then filled with a semifreddo and then left to cool in the freezer for a few hours.
Finally, we have the flavor of Pandoro.
An ice cream with a simple flavor made with cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, acacia honey, lemon peel for an unmistakable aroma. The touch of tradition given by the Veronese leavened product recalls that unique sensation of a slice of cake, inebriated by the scent of icing sugar.

Nougat

The almond nougat is one of the typical desserts of the Christmas period. Its traditional recipe calls for egg whites, honey and sugar and is stuffed with toasted almonds, walnuts, peanuts or hazelnuts. Often covered with two layers of wafer, it can be hard, soft, with chocolate, almonds, hazelnuts or candied fruit.

The nougat flavor is born from the union between this specialty and ice cream. An original and mouth-watering creamy dessert spoon, perfect for the Christmas table.
Alternatively, the nougat can lend itself to other interpretations, becoming a delicious semifreddo.

The Yule log

The Christmas log or buche de Noël is a traditional French dessert.
In its classic version, it is made up of a stuffed and rolled Savoyard biscuit base that recalls a tree stump thanks to its shape and decoration.
The making of this dessert refers to the ancient tradition of the European countries of the Yule log, that is the custom of burning a log of wood, starting from Christmas night until the new year, as a sign of good luck.

The ice cream lends itself to being a delicious filling for the Christmas log.
There are many variations and choices.
From fillings with dark chocolate to fruit ice cream, from versions with a softer texture to frozen desserts, from classic Christmas decorations with marzipan hollies and meringue mushrooms to more modern and structured versions decorated with macarons.
Noteworthy are the Christmas logs of the French master Pierre Hermé. Real masterpieces of taste, with an elegant shape and essential decorations.
The French master offers different flavors and combinations, from the one with rose, raspberry and lychee to the one with milk chocolate, passion fruit and toasted pineapple up to the one with lemon and hazelnut pralines.

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The evolution of ice cream: from a walking cone to a work of art

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
3 December 201912 January 2023

The evolution of ice cream: from a walking cone to a work of art

In its long history, ice cream has evolved in shapes and flavours. From a simple cone with two flavors to a starred dessert as a small gourmet art sculpture.

Consumers have remained faithful to ice cream beyond eras, fashions and tastes. And it was precisely this sweet passion that pushed the master ice cream makers and pastry chefs with their talent to experiment new combinations of flavours.

Homemade ice cream from a simple dessert to be consumed in
trusted ice cream parlor in moments of conviviality has become a gastronomic specialty in all respects, earning a leading role in the Italian food scene among
trade fairs and specialized guides.

How we got from the cone or cup with chocolate and fiordilatte to masterpieces such as Gelato con Meringa of the master Iginio Massari?
Let’s retrace the main stages of this delicious evolution together.

In the beginning there was the cone

We are at the end of the 19th century. On the streets of towns and cities, men dressed in white push strange carts to the sound of a bell, while shouting: “Ice cream! Who wants some ice cream?”. It is the beginning of ice cream as food for walking.

With a selection of flavors to choose from from the pozzetti present on the cart, young and old alike enjoy this dessert which comes with one or two scoops of ice cream placed on a cone or cup of waffle.

Over the years the first ice cream parlors begin to appear in Italy and the techniques for serving ice cream are increasingly refined. A spatula is used for cones and baskets while the scoops of ice cream become the protagonists of delicious cups with decorations such as banana split or exotic compositions with fruit.

From dessert to main course

In its evolution, ice cream begins to meet other flavours. Initially, it approaches its own kind, giving new nuances of taste to sweets. They range from the classic croissants and brioches filled with ice cream to the famous ice cream cakes up to the revisited cupcake with the addition of creamy ice cream that surmounts or fills it.

Later the ice cream also joins the salty flavors making its appeared on restaurant plates. The watchwords are contamination and innovation: different textures intertwine to create unusual combinations of flavors designed to amaze the palate. And here we have, for example, fried pasta with Parmesan ice cream, donkey burger with cheese, anchovy mayonnaise and mustard sorbet, cous cous fish and tomato and basil sorbet.

In Italy ice cream has seen its triumph over other courses, going from co-protagonist to absolute protagonist on the table. In fact, the restaurant in Rome is located where all the dishes on the menu are based on ice cream, from appetizers to desserts. Among vegetable dishes, meat dishes and fish dishes, ice cream goes from decorative element to main ingredient, dictating the rules for combinations and compositions.

Ice cream as a work of art: the work of pastry chefs

Ice cream lives its highest expression thanks to the precious work of master pastry chefs and ice cream makers. Sweets that look like paintings, compositions that recall sculptures. The creations of the pastry chefs give life to real sweet works of art.

Over time, ice cream has become an increasingly pre-eminent element in confectionery both to take advantage of its versatility and to seasonally adjust a product that many still consume only in the summer. Pastry masters have jumped at this opportunity to express their talent in a creative way, focusing not only on flavors but also on design and structure of the cake.

There are numerous examples, for the joy of sight and palate. First of all, the master Iginio Massari. Many of his creations such as the pistachio millefeuille or the meringue ice cream are a perfect balance between shapes and textures for a true and own taste experience. For Alberto Marchetti the winning key was the combination of raw material quality and innovation. Starbucks, the famous international chain of coffee shops has chosen him to create the nitrogen ice cream to be served in the Milan store. Nitrogen makes it possible to serve freshly prepared ice cream, which Marchetti has declined in three flavours: a fiordilatte, a coffee sorbet prepared with a cold brew and a coffee ice cream obtained from a classic cream with eggs and milk in which infused coffee.

Paolo Brunelli he is an ice cream maker, a chocolatier, but most of all an artist of the dessert. His creations represent the avant-garde of ice cream and the creative contamination between cooking, pastry, enology and ice cream. In addition to in-depth research on flavors and raw materials, the creations of master Brunelli are small masterpieces of sweetness. An example? The “Panino Dolce”, a naturally leavened barley sandwich that can be filled with flavors of your choice.

What will be the next evolution of ice cream?

In its history, ice cream has undergone continuous evolution. From walking food it has come to conquer even high-level cuisines and dishes.

What will be its next evolutions?

The challenge for pastry chefs and master ice cream makers is to continue to innovate by proposing new combinations or revisiting traditional recipes to amaze customers more and more.

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Between confirmations and novelties, ice cream trends for winter 2019

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
15 November 201912 January 2023

Between confirmations and novelties, ice cream trends for winter 2019

Ice cream is increasingly a dessert for all seasons.

The classic pairing ice cream – summer gives way to seasonal adjustment and even with the cold you love to enjoy a good homemade ice cream.

Eating an ice cream during the winter months is not just a cuddle for our taste buds but it is also good for the health of body and mind.

In fact, ice cream makes us happy because it stimulates the production of serotonin, the “happiness hormone”, and is also a source of energy with many useful nutrients especially during the winter , a period in which the immune system is put to the test.

For an artisan ice cream shop, vary the assortment of flavors based on seasonality is essential not only to offer customers new tastes but above all to testify to the freshness and quality of the ingredients.

Proposing customers in your display window an offer of tastes that varies between summer and winter is a sign of creativity and authenticity.

For those looking for inspiration to update the flavors to offer in their ice cream shop, let’s discover some of the ice cream trends among news and confirmations for this winter.

The trends that are confirmed: ice creams “without”, seasonal products

Let’s start with the trends that are also confirmed for this winter.

Some are closely linked to seasonality while others have been establishing themselves for a few years and seem to know no arrest.

In winter, homemade ice cream reinterprets some of the typical flavors of this season , to offer an always genuine product.

This is how combinations are born that match the climate and temperatures: orange with walnuts, chestnut with bay leaf, ginger and cardamom, pear and cinnamon, marron glacé.

With the arrival of winter, moreover creamy flavors are preferred with a “return” to the great classics such as chocolate, perhaps in an extra dark version or combined with orange peel, dried fruit, chestnuts, spices, persimmons and pears.

The trend relating to km 0 is also confirmed, therefore the origin of the raw materials used for artisan ice cream. In fact, the awareness continues to spread among many consumers that the use of local raw materials equals higher quality.

Some examples in Italy are the Prosecco or fregolotta flavor in Veneto, the myrtle flavor in Sardinia, Vin Santo ice cream in Tuscany and those with walnuts and figs from the Cilento in Campania.

Another increasingly growing trend is that of “without” ice cream: gluten free, vegan and lactose free.

Flavors that no longer represent a niche in Italy but a consolidated reality to satisfy customers who request ice creams made with vegetable ingredients or with alternative preparations due to intolerances or ethical issues.

L'arte di impiattare i dessert con la cheffa Maria Vittoria Griffoni

Fruit and vegetables, together for a healthy ice cream

An ice cream that combines fruit and vegetables. This is one of the new trends, halfway between innovation and well-being.

Unpublished flavors rich in character, which respect health and physical shape, two fundamental elements that meet the needs of a consumer who is increasingly attentive to what he chooses to eat.

The main ingredients are fruit such as mango, papaya, pineapple, which meet vegetables such as carrots, celery, lemon. Local spices also play an important role in creating a healthy mix but at the same time really tasty.

Together with vegetables, flowers are proposed in combination with classic fruit flavors to create new and tasty mixes.

This is how lemon and carrot ice creams (and sorbets), chamomile flowers, violet, lavender, tomato, basil and strawberry, pumpkin are born.

Aromatic herbs and essential oils: ice cream becomes aromatic

Another strong trend this year are flavors made with herbs – fresh or in infusions – spices and essential oils to fill a food that for its temperature rarely gives intense smells.

The goal is to experiment to amaze customers more and more. So a simple coffee taste is transformed with the addition of lemon essential oil, a mix of tropical fruit is enriched with new nuances with vanilla, ginger juice and Timut pepper and the dark chocolate becomes more persuasive through the meeting with truffle honey and lemon zest. Whatever taste, the great constant is the care in the search for raw materials and the desire to prefer local products.

Mixology meets ice cream

The desire for contamination emerges from the trends of this 2019 between the world of ice cream and that of food & beverage elements, among which we also find alcohol and cocktails.

The mixology, which is experiencing its moment of glory, expands its influence and also enters the universe of ice cream.

Very interesting, especially at the end of a meal, a distillate-based sorbet such as gin and tonic or the inclusion of gin in a raspberry and rosemary flavour. Another growing trend is ice cream pairing, i.e. ordering gourmet ice creams to be enjoyed during happy hour and paired with your favorite drink such as a sour beer-based spritzbeer, which creates an interesting contrast with the savory aftertaste of the ice cream .

There is no lack of ice cream reinterpretations of some classic drinks such as the Americano and Negroni or even the Milano-Torino.

Creativity wins among the ice cream trends

Given the considerable consumption of ice cream even in winter, it is important to know what the market trends are, to be inspired and have guidelines to follow in creating flavors for your own artisan ice cream parlor . Beyond fashions, the rewarding factor is as always creativity and experimentation. Especially during the colder months of the year, when ice cream is experienced as a moment to pamper yourself, study and try new flavor combinations, it allows every ice cream parlor to stand out compared to the competition to earn a special place in the hearts of consumers.

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Ice cream: a moment to share with taste

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
12 September 201912 January 2023

Ice cream: a moment to share with taste

Summer is coming to an end, but there is a pleasure we can still fully enjoy: enjoying a good ice cream in good company.

Among the moments of conviviality that of ice cream has always been the sweetest. In the question – “Shall we have an ice cream?” – there is a request to spend time together lightly and carefree.

Consuming an ice cream with someone is more intimate than drinking a coffee: the choice of flavors helps us understand the personality of who we are dealing with and get to know them better.
Each of us has a happy memory lived in front of a cone or a cup: a moment of his childhood in the company of his grandparents, a first date, a meeting with a best friend to confess secrets and dreams .
According to the survey “The role of ice cream in the experience of Italians” conducted at the beginning of 2019 by the Fipe Study Office – the Italian Federation of Public Establishments – 94.2% of Italians habitually consume artisanal ice cream.

But what are the favorite places to enjoy an ice cream with friends, family or a loved one?

For lovers of homemade ice cream: the independent ice cream shop

The small artisanal ice cream shop is the favorite place to consume ice cream by Italians, with 95.4%.
Behind every independent ice cream parlor there is a philosophy, a story that culminates in the sweetness and creaminess of the flavors offered.

In fact, each of these places is unique, both in terms of furniture and style of the place and for the variety of tastes strong>. From liberty to modern style, from classic to design furnishings. From the strudel or apple flavor from Val Venosta in Alto Adige to the one with cherries from Vignola in Emilia Romagna, from the Pettole or prickly pear flavor in Puglia to the mulberry sorbets from Etna or the Cerda artichoke in Sicily .
You go to an artisan ice cream parlor when you walk with friends on a summer evening. Between a selfie, a laugh and a chat, the ideal is to eat an ice cream together to cool off.
Or when you want to try that new artisanal ice cream parlor that you hear so much about in company.

What leads Italians to prefer this type of ice cream shop?
Consumers today are increasingly attentive to the origin of ingredients and their quality. Furthermore, for 42.6% of those interviewed, the presence of a production laboratory influences the choice of an ice cream shop.
Even sight plays a decisive role in the choice: 75.9% of Italians prefer tubs of homemade ice cream in view, while only 19.2% of the sample prefers tubs with lids instead.

For those who combine business with pleasure: the Bar Gelateria

66.6% of ice cream lovers prefer ice cream bars to enjoy a cone or cup.
In an ice cream bar, the clinking of cups alternates with the crunchy sound of a bite of a wafer. This type of establishment offers cafeteria services together with a variety of flavors of ice cream, even if not all of them have production laboratories inside.

The ice cream bar is preferred when in the office or near the house the moment for a coffee intertwines and exchanges with that for an ice cream.
The coffee break at work becomes sweeter with colleagues or a quick coffee with a friend turns into a stracciatella flavored chat.

For 34.8% of Italians, the location of an ice cream parlor is in fact one of the discriminating factors in choosing one place over another, with 11.4% preferring one near their home or office.

For those with a sweet tooth: the pastry and ice cream shop

According to Fipe data, 73.7% of Italians enjoy their ice cream in a pastry shop.
In the ice cream confectionery the sweetness is in plain sight.
The lights of the display case for sweets enhance the delicious colors of macarons and pastries next to the ice cream display case with soft flavors or near the pozzetti.

The pastry shops and ice cream parlors give the consumer a guarantee in terms of craftsmanship and quality of the raw materials.
In fact, those who choose this type of ice cream are very attentive to the genuineness of the ingredients and appreciate, for example, the lava Pistachio from Bronte, the round hazelnut from the Langhe or the pasteurized fresh whole milk from South Tyrol.

You go to these ice cream parlors when you want to eat a dessert in company and you want to choose which sin of gluttony to give in to, a chocolate and strawberry cup or a cream-filled pastry.
The ice cream parlor is also the ideal destination for those who, like 77.4% of Italians, consider ice cream the “ideal dessert to offer when you have guests”.

For those who don’t like change: ice cream chains

According to Fipe data, 25% of consumers choose the ice cream shops of a chain. These ice cream parlors have standard furniture in each store and a homogeneous offer of flavours.

What kind of ice cream do we find in these outlets?
A product that is prepared in advance and then kept on site with milk, chocolate chips, biscuits, nougat according to taste or delivered directly for sale to the public.

You choose a chain ice cream parlor when on Sunday afternoon, during a walk with the family in a shopping center, the desire for a sweet break arises.
Or when on holiday abroad with friends you have the desire for an ice cream and you want to rely on a well-known Italian brand.

These ice cream parlors are preferred by a public that finds confirmation and psychological safety in the faithful and unchanged replication of an image and a flavour. In this way, however, the possibility of discovering an independent ice cream parlor with a particular style and offering innovative flavors is lost.

The ice cream shop: a choice of heart and belly

Eating an ice cream represents a moment of sharing and conviviality experienced with one’s loved ones.
This makes us understand how important it is to take care of every aspect of the place, from the genuineness of the ingredients to the variety of tastes, from the furnishings to the atmosphere in the store.
In fact, when Italians find their favorite gelateria, they remain faithful to it: 62.9% of those interviewed by Fipe declare that they have their own trusted gelateria.
The final goal is then clear: to give the customer a memorable taste experience and guarantee his sweet return.

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Ice cream according to Giuffrè

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
31 July 201812 January 2023

Ice cream according to Giuffrè

Not only ice cream but tradition, innovation and many emotions that can be hidden behind the processing of a product that is a symbol of Italian gastronomic excellence, well represented, also, by professionals capable of combining experience, familiarity and craftsmanship, creating the perfect mix as Alessandro explains Giuffrè, a Roman with Sicilian origins, owner of the homonymous brand present in Rome.
Alessandro Giuffrè of the art of knowing how to make ice cream has made a lifestyle made up of simple but, at the same time, refined elements to create that particular atmosphere that he also wanted to bring back to his shop.
Looking to the Italian territory, enhancing the flavors of a rich and varied country just like the flavors of ice cream that customers can find in ice cream shops. This, Alessandro tells us, is his goal and so, together with him, we try to better understand the work that develops behind the design of the business and of a recently renovated shop in which nothing has been left to chance.

The experience of savoring excellent quality artisan gelato begins the moment you enter the gelateria.
How important is it to design the ideal space and what characteristics should it have?
Today ice cream parlors need large rooms capable of giving the customer a particular experience that is not only linked to taste but also visual, for example. A complete sensory experience at 360 degrees.
For this reason the furniture chosen is minimal, clean, tidy.
The raw material must be and remain the protagonist, which is valued while remaining at the center of attention.
The spaces must be welcoming, furnished with elements built with natural materials, with the aim of once again bringing back to the customer the sensation of attention, care and craftsmanship which are, undoubtedly, elements also present in the preparation of the proposed product.
Being supported, then, by the Clabo group with its experience and professionalism was important and fundamental to obtain the result we aspired to.

Technology and craftsmanship, a distant union only in appearance.
What unites the best furnishing structures and product maintenance with the manual processing technique typical of this activity?
The ice cream masters teach us the importance of values.
Short supply chain products and the search for the best raw materials, for example, must not and cannot go against the most modern final processing techniques which are necessary to have an even tastier and higher quality product.
In our case, technology helps by becoming an indispensable ally.
For example, the innovative cooling technique that characterizes the showcases or the pozzetti allows us to keep all the characteristics of the ice cream unaltered, guaranteeing the maximum satisfaction of our customers.

Custom design. How was the preparatory work organized from the ordering phase to the final set-up?
The idea comes from personal and life experience, followed by the emotions you want to share with customers.
Being able to collaborate with qualified, prepared and specialized professionals is the secret.
In our case, the Clabo company was invaluable by helping us select the best solutions from a structural point of view, coordinating optimally, during the design phase, with the presence of an architect.

What feeling or message did you want to convey thinking about the end customer?
Familiarity. That sense of welcome that you find when you have the people with whom you have the pleasure of sharing the best moments next to you.
This is important to us. Knowing that, in our ice cream shop, you can have moments of serenity and harmony. Obviously tasty.

No longer simple ice cream but, today, much more to meet the careful and sophisticated needs of customers. What are the main trends for the sector?
Trends are diversified also in reference to our territory and our country which has made variety its main characteristic.
Thinking of Rome, the trend is to look for an artisan figure revisited in a modern key and this is why we must be able to guarantee a product with careful selection and labeling, a recipe that speaks of short-chain ingredients, a comfortable environment adequate communication.
The value of simplicity becomes essential for living a unique experience.
In our case, the presence of an excellent pastry shop that is usually more combined with the cafeteria. A different and particular but equally refined choice that we want to offer to our customers.
Dry but also fresh products to experience a moment that can be truly special and unique.

A world, that of ice cream, which can reserve truly great surprises. Surprises made of ingredients of a different nature but skilfully combined, dosed and calibrated to create the recipe that everyone would like to have but only a few can keep.

ROSSANA CAVALLARI

Journalist and storyteller in constant balance between analogue and digital, I live between notebooks, colored pens and PCs, uniting the red thread of the words I seek to tell what I see and observe.

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Ice cream: summer 2018 trends

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
19 July 201812 January 2023

Ice cream: summer 2018 trends

The solstice of last June 21 gave the official green light to summer 2018. A summer which, however, from a weather point of view has not yet shown itself fully. However, it is clear that the ice cream season, the most intense, the truest, the most beautiful, has already begun.

A walk by the sea, an outing in the most fascinating places from a tourist point of view, a tour of the avenues of our Italian villages and, almost invariably, ice cream: the Italian summer is this too. For young people who hope to find their first love, for parents who accompany their children and for the wisest who find refreshment on summer nights.

We parted ways with the winter trends, we find ourselves with the tastes of summer. Many of these, moreover, have already been presented during the Gambero Rosso 2018 Gelaterie d’Italia Guide event, created with Orion, and held at Sigep in Rimini. Gentlemen, there is a predominant color: green.

Green not only because it is the characterizing color of nature, the countryside and the quality of the 0 km ingredients, but also because it is the chromatic effect of the most tasted flavours.

Some clarification is a must to avoid repetition in the course of the post.

First: extravagance is the order of the day. Globalization has also opened up the diffusion of ingredients and products that are not exactly classic. Above all: the pork flavor comes from the USA, broad beans and pecorino from Italy.

Second: registering a brand is becoming customary to avoid duplication and imitation of more innovative tastes. Rosemary Baby, with a raspberry and rosemary flavour, and Venere Nera, with a blackberry flavored with lavender, are the most striking examples.

Third and last: the strongest trend. A vegan, healthy, sustainable ice cream with aromatic herbs, spices and essential oils: the line is now drawn. Ginger, cinnamon, vegetable ingredients to fully replace animal ones, rose essential oil syrup: will they be able to undermine hazelnut and chocolate?

It’s becoming a classic

It is now becoming a classic. Or it already has. Pistachio is one of the most requested flavors in 2018. It is among the most chosen flavours, it has rightfully entered the artisan gelato tradition, it is a simple recipe, it is good for a number of reasons.

Where is the news? In pairings: from the USA they suggest it with lime, from South America with ricotta, from Europe they combine it with fruit and orange, in Italy they increasingly link it to wines as in the case of passito. Speaking of orange, a small digression on the pistachio theme: watch out for the kumquat, also commonly known as the Chinese mandarin.

But green is not only pistachio: we also find it in mint paired with wild fennel, in green apple with cinnamon essential oil (always arriving from America) and, if you like, in olive oil that even goes well with basil better if red.

Alcohol goes well with ice cream

Until now we were used to seeing it in combination: a drink or a cocktail together with ice cream for an aperitif. Today we also find it as an ingredient: beer and vermouth and ginger are the most suitable, but also Lagavulin whiskey and Chardonnay apples and pistachio. However, keep an eye on the production techniques: alcohol complicates the creaming of the ice cream, it is necessary to reduce the sugar.

Basically less sugar and more panache.

Super food also affects “ice cream”

From the Accademia dei Maestri Gelatieri comes the solution that combines taste and greeting: moringa, like the homonymous plant that grows in India at the foot of the Himalayas, a super food appreciated for its beneficial virtues with 9 essential amino acids, 27 vitamins, 46 different antioxidants and many mineral salts.

New techniques for sustainability: nitrogen arrives

There is a new technique that aims to establish itself: it is the nitrogen one: cream based on the desired flavor wrapped in a cloud of nitrogen. Electricity consumption is reduced and water consumption is completely eliminated. Objective: to create a quality product, easily customizable, and save money.

With the halo-halo you make it big on social networks and in taste

It is certainly the king of social media, the most photographed, the most instagrammable, perhaps it is also one of the strangest: it is the halo-halo, it comes from the dessert tradition of the Philippines.

It is not a classic ice cream made with cream, milk, sugar and fruit. Red and white beans, condensed milk, mixed with various fruits according to taste and recipes (even online you can find hundreds of them), necessary coconut, sometimes purple potatoes (they help to give that very purplish colour, with the perfect nuance, for the approval of fans on social networks). Halo-Halo means mix-mix. Or mix everything for the benefit of a like.

Waiting for Godot
Beckett built one of the most famous plays of the mid-twentieth century on it. Mr. Godot kept waiting, almost nothing is known about him, we only know that “he won’t come today, he will come tomorrow”. Black ice cream is to gastronomy what Godot is to the theatre: will it be the right year for his definitive affirmation? Taken from the ash obtained from the coconut and the consequent extraction of activated carbon, we have been talking about black ice cream for some years now. In a world, however, still tied to emotions, still tied to colors.

Quality, training and innovation are still the keywords for summer 2018 ice cream. Refinement, variety, territoriality and proximity: many different ways to enrich your Facebook jewellery.

ANTONELLO MINOIA

Freelance journalist, with a huge passion for carbohydrates, for sport and for all that is writing, texts, contents and communication. As a child I wrote fairy tales, when I grew up I wanted to be a poet or a writer. They told me: “Don’t tell stories.” And instead, that’s exactly what I do: I tell stories.

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Interview with Gianfranco Buccafurni

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
6 June 201812 January 2023

Interview with Gianfranco Buccafurni

Experience and tradition put at the service of research and innovation to give life to what is a unique product. The ice cream maker Gianfranco Buccafurni, who chose the technology for his place, tells us how it all began and how “the Kingdom of Gelato”, a renowned Calabrian ice cream shop, was born.

Yours is an expert and wise hand, can you briefly tell us where your story starts from?

Our story began way back in 1937 when grandfather Giovan Battista, inside his water mill, produced flours and starches for the renowned Calabrian and Sicilian pastry shops. Hence the idea, after a few years, of opening the first family ice cream shop, managed for a very long time by my 90 year old and working mother. So as you can imagine my story starts from behind the counter, many years ago.

You were awarded as “Expert and guarantor of traditions and artisan gelato in the world” at SIGEP in Rimini 2018: how important are these awards to you?

Surely the awards stimulate you to do better and to compare yourself with other people, other methods, other realities. Recognition, however, must correspond to reality: the right response to those who enter a place honored by illustrious awards and expect to find what they can’t find elsewhere, i.e. professionalism, competence and exaggerated quality of ingredients.

How do you see Italian ice cream in the world, what role can it play?

With the right denomination and the correct setting, Italian ice cream can and in many cases is already the ambassador of Made in Italy in the world.

Experience and tradition, with an eye towards constant research and innovation: these are the guiding principles of FB Showcases, which you have chosen for your new venue. What role do technology and innovation play in a traditional ice cream shop?

Technology and innovation walk hand in hand with the new frontiers of ice cream which, fortunately, can return to ancient flavors also thanks to the use of modern technologies.

The “Cremosity” is the main peculiarity of your ice cream: what are the secrets to producing a creamy ice cream?

Over the years the continuous research and the continuous exploration of noble ingredients – such as cream, the yolk of fresh eggs, raw and naturally certified Sila milk and olive oil – have allowed us to reach a very high level of creaminess of our ice cream, lasting over time.

The word “art” is hidden in the term “artisan”: art is the ability to express something through a work. In your opinion, what does the art of artisan gelato consist of?

The craftsman is not a mixer of pre-packaged and pre-weighed ingredients. The craftsman is the one who creates the recipe, the product, the new taste and the new ingredient. All this to create the unique, inimitable and original recipe.

A quality product needs to be exalted, stored and displayed in the right way. Can you tell us the reasons that led you to choose FB Showcases products for your new venue?

The very hot Calabrian summers put a very creamy product like ours to the test, which needs constant and strong cold. In this sense, the Fb Showcases windows guarantee an excellent temperature that does not abandon you during work, as well as an impetuous exposure to our creations.

The “Virna” showcase you have chosen guarantees elegance without excesses and extravagance: do you find it in line with the taste of your ice cream?

The “Virna” showcase was chosen by me precisely for its characteristics of elegance, refinement and visibility of the product, but above all for its technology and cold power that never leaves you.

Choosing the best showcase is a fundamental aspect for an ice cream maker. What factors influenced your choice?

All gelato makers want a better showcase that enhances and preserves their creations.

How did the tastes of the area, in your case Calabria, influence the choices regarding the products and furnishings of your restaurant?

The continuous research on local products often leads to strange culinary pairing rituals such as fiordilatte with Tropea onion jam, pecorino and nduja, caciocavallo and rosemary, chocolate with bergamot pepper and dried figs immersed in a huge and spectacular display window surrounded by a tile mosaic in full harmony with the landscape and the surrounding hill.

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Interview with Paolo Brunelli, FB testimonial

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
3 April 201812 January 2023

Interview with Paolo Brunelli, FB testimonial

The hills of Agugliano and the sea of Senigallia, the experimentation and technique typical of jazz, the family tradition and the strong inclination to technology and innovation, the classicism of chocolate and the ability to deal with changes in taste: to change the history of such a popular product, for all budgets, like ice cream, you need to have the desire to take it even beyond modernity . Music (it is appropriate to say) and score by Paolo Brunelli, born in 1965, from the Marches, Master of the homonymous Gelateria Cioccolateria in the province of Ancona.

Photo by brambillaserrani.it

Let’s start right from the music. All his creative experience seems to be guided by music and brought back to music. What values does it bring you?
Music, jazz in particular, has been a part of my life for a long time and is still a part of it today. It led me to discover an important model to work on: knowing the technique in an iron way to then strongly develop improvisation and, improvising and experimenting, incorporate as much technique as possible to reach a higher level.

The family business has deep roots, in 1934 in Agugliano. How important is it to have grown up in a family of restaurateurs, how important is family tradition in the ability to improvise and experiment?

Having a background of taste memories is essential in my opinion. The ability to recognize tastes, to know how to dominate the sense of smell, also in relation to traditional cuisine, is very important for developing one’s own perception. Experimenting in the cold and in the pastry also passes through these memories, these experiences, because it is the basis of knowing how to innovate. Since the early 1980s I have been able to develop my career, also by being at my mother’s side. And, every step was devoted to innovation and experimentation, having clear in mind, however, what the foundations were.

Best chocolate ice cream in Italy according to the Gelaterie d’Italia 2017 guide, three cones also according to the 2018 guide are just the latest awards. How much are these prizes worth?

They are certainly important, from a business point of view and from a personal point of view. But I am convinced that these acknowledgments must come after a process of credibility and a lot of work. The end consumer recognizes the rewards, but truly appreciates the journey you’ve made. If there isn’t a real and sincere relationship with the consumer, if there isn’t research, training and experimentation, the awards and titles remain only on paper and don’t offer the added value they deserve.</span

Is the quality of the raw materials or continuous research more important in the success of a pastry chef and an ice cream parlor?

Definitely both. The high quality of the raw materials is certainly the basis of the product. But personal and professional growth, research, the desire to work on oneself and on one’s own product must be grafted onto this basis. In this sense, the modern gelateria must look to the future, must be able to offer a product that winks at technology and innovation. The new generations must continually work on training, even in sectors and areas not strictly connected to ours. I’m thinking of beverages, of traditional cooking classes. We must always be growing, in formation.

Chocolate is certainly a distinctive mark of your own and of your creations. But if you had to choose your favorite flavour, which one would you recommend?

I would say hazelnut, among the most traditional. But we must never forget that even the pushed tradition must be innovated, it must be expanded. This is what I also recommend to the younger generations: always innovate, look for new paths to taste. I am thinking of gastronomic grafts, olive oil, spices, cheeses. We must also be able to look at new tastes. There are already new frontiers in this sense. We have to work on those.

Photo by brambillaserrani.it

Ice cream in particular is becoming a real Italian excellence. What are the margins for improvement and what are the risks of excessive diffusion?

We must take advantage of technology, innovation and training to overturn the sector and always recompose it according to new rules. New ferment is maturing, the desire to innovate is growing because the challenges are new. I could say that the old ice cream parlor is now dead. If we have the ability to always study and create new styles, we break down the risk of Italian sounding and push the limit to reach further and further. In doing so, the Italian school will never be reachable.

After Avanguardia Gelato, he also published Gelateria for all seasons. From creamy to pralines, 365 days of delicious ideas. Is the secret also in sharing experiences?

Never be afraid to share your experiences. Because the exchange of knowledge remains decisive even in the sectors of haute patisserie and ice cream. We almost need to share our ideas, even small personal secrets.

“Gelateria for all seasons” in addition to being the title of your latest book, is it also a strong vision in overcoming the limit of periodicity?

Inevitably, ice cream is a product that is mainly consumed in the summer. But there are ways to overcome this limit. Also in this case innovation comes to meet us. The strategies can be different and all valid. We have to take advantage of technology to bring ice cream into the homes of Italians, so as to be able to consume it even in winter. We have to bring modern ice cream to haute cuisine with experimentation. We have to work on seasonal adjustment through the proposal of ever new tastes linked to the quality of the products and through contaminations with traditional cuisine.

ANTONELLO MINOIA

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Ice cream is good for you. Not only for the spirit

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
14 February 201812 January 2023

Ice cream is good for you. Not only for the spirit

Memories, sensations, emotions. That exit out of town, that cone by the sea, that ice cream by the lake, the cup in the mountain pastry shop. Real madeleines of Proustian memory inextricably linked to the taste of an ice cream.

But a good ice cream is not only good for the spirit and the heart. Let’s discover together the benefits of a food that favors the increase of HDL cholesterol, the “good” one, and the decrease of bad cholesterol.

Let’s dispel a myth: ice cream doesn’t make you fat. On the contrary, the artisan one with quality ingredients is good for health (naturally in not excessive doses, as always), provides nutrients and vitamins, provides energy, replenishes liquids, activates the pleasure circuit, putting you in a good mood.

Seasonal ailments: ice cream yes or no?

Colds, flu, winter ailments: is ice cream good for you, can it relieve the situation or does it worsen our condition? It is necessary to make some distinctions.

Ice cream is an ideal solution in case of sore throat, thanks to the refreshing and vaguely analgesic action brought by the cold, it can give relief to inflamed regions of the oral cavity . In this case it would be preferable to choose a fruit-flavored ice cream, avoiding the milk contained in creams which increases the production of mucus).

The opposite situation in case of flu: it significantly reduces body temperature, forcing the body to “divert” part of its energies from the response to infections to restore homeostasis .

Lunch break: no more sandwich!

And if during the lunch break, better if in the summer, we left the sandwich at home and ran to the first ice cream shop? That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Ice cream has more advantages than the classic sandwich: it gives us a sense of satiety, nourishes, refreshes, and in most cases is easily digestible.

Thanks to its properties and ingredients (a good ice cream never causes thirst), ice cream brings water to our body, a very important element especially in warm months.

Music for our palate

Scientific studies show that eating ice cream triggers a pleasure mechanism in our brain that is very similar to the one we get by listening to our favorite music. Sweet notes for our palate, therefore, and positive effects on our mood.

The return to childhood, a never forgotten love, the right reward for a difficult working day: there can be many ideas, there can be many situations in which a good ice cream saves our mood: coffee and tiramisu to recharge our body too, black cherry to relax, chocolate as a natural warrior against a moment of sadness.

Easily absorbed sugars affect the brain area and our face is more relaxed. Thus also facilitating relationships with others.

Consumption of ice cream also stimulates the production of serotonin (the hormone of happiness). In the milk present in the creams, there is also tryptophan, a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system.

Be careful though: if you have problems with insomnia, a fruit ice cream is better.

The most suitable flavors for our well-being

Ice cream also and above all means a fairly wide range of flavours.

It starts with dark chocolate which helps us to be in a good mood with vitamin B3 and minerals such as magnesium. Remaining in hazelnut creams, there is an excellent supply for skin and hair (vitamin E) and excellent support for sportsmen.

Almost all red fruit tastes: blackberries with vitamin C and E have antioxidant substances, strawberries and raspberries contain fiber and mineral salts in quantity and blueberries have the most powerful antioxidant effect of any fresh fruit.

Let’s not forget the pistachio: vitamins, mineral salts, proteins and ‘good’ fats, excellent energy snack.

ANTONELLO MINOIA

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Ice cream dates in 2018

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
5 January 201812 January 2023

Ice cream dates in 2018

As anticipated in our post on taste trends for 2018, winter is a period that is anything but sterile for the world of ice cream. The guidelines for strong seasons such as spring and summer are outlined and launched, creativity is worked to create products that are nonetheless attractive.

Planning: ice cream makers, pastry chefs, sector companies. They work and meet to understand where the world of ice cream will go (or where it will have to be taken).

Several trade fairs between December and January, many appointments around Italy, home of ice cream and throughout Europe.

January in Rimini

One of the most awaited appointments is certainly Sigep in Rimini, from 20 to 24 January. We’re off to a strong start with the most important international exhibition dedicated to artisan ice cream, pastry, coffee and bakery for operators and professionals from all over the world and now in its 39th edition.

Large numbers: over 150,000 visitors, just over 30,000 arriving from abroad, 1,250 exhibitors on an area of 129,000 m2 in 2018 at the Rimini Fair for an exhibition which anticipates trends and innovations of the four supply chains involved in terms of raw materials, ingredients, plants and equipment, furnishings and services. It is a show that rewards world excellence, presents new formats, develops international networking and makes the sector’s business grow.

Absolute protagonists, of course, the traditional Italian artisan ice cream and the professionals of the sweet cold art. One of the most awaited events of 2018 is the Gelato World Cup, a biennial event organized by Gelato e Cultura and Sigep.

Now in its eighth edition, the Gelato World Cup is aimed at professionals in the gelato, pastry, chocolate and haute cuisine sectors selected from among the best professionals on 5 continents and offers a unique opportunity for discussion and stimulation of individual professionals.

12 teams selected: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, France, Japan, Morocco, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA.
Scientific research to promote innovation and defend excellence, unpublished proposals for healthy gelato, in-depth conferences and innovations in international competitions: the next edition of Rimini International Exhibition of Artisanal Confectionary Art will revolve around these major themes.

February in Paris, Stuttgart and Mexico City

At the beginning of February there are two appointments on the calendar, both around Europe.

From 3 to 6 February Europain in Paris, but especially from 3 on 7 February there is the di Gelatissimo, the biennial fair in Stuttgart. Reference exhibition for the countries north of the Alps, with the German market which in fact represents the second in Europe as regards ice cream.

Unique opportunity to learn about trends and developments in the sector, innovations and “>new trends in raw materials and additives, toppings, ice cream machines and cooling technology, presentation and lighting systems and sales promotion, new preferences and new demand.

The end of February ends in America with the Feria Internacional del Helado of Mexico City from 22 to 24 February, monographic exhibition that presents the latest innovations launched on the market by national and international companies.

ANTONELLO MINOIA

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December 13, 1903, the ice cream cone is born

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
5 December 201716 January 2023

December 13, 1903, the ice cream cone is born 

There is a date that marks the history of ice cream universally more than others. There is a date that more than others has changed the image we give to one of the products that is most capable of arousing emotions, memories, sensations.

That date is December 13, 1903. That is the date on which Italo Marchioni, an Italian living in New York City, applied for and received the US patent for the invention of the cone. One cannot be sure that he invented the cone. The options in this regard are many, often conflicting. But December 13, 1903 remains a certain point in the history of the ice cream cone.

The origins

The cone is one of the possible “containers” for ice cream. It is conical in shape open on one side, often made of wafer or biscuit or other wafers, to be held naturally with the open side up.

The roots go back to Catherine de ‘Medici who apparently introduced her recipes in France. And even in England this tradition seems to have spread since the sixteenth century. One thing is almost certain: at the basis of all these historical traces there is always an Italian.

The figure of Marchioni

On December 13, 1903 Italo Marchioni, born in a small fraction of a municipality in the Belluno area and emigrated to America at the end of the 19th century (like many other confectioners and ice cream makers in the Dolomites), received US patent no. 746971 for the invention of the ice cream cone. In particular for the invention of a machine for the production of cones which “can be particularly convenient for manipulating and shaping the dough into unusual shapes which have never been created up to now, due to the delicacy of the substance and the difficulty of detaching the substance from the moulds”.

In fact, he himself had been selling ice cream cones in America since 1896.

Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey the stages of its history with stars and stripes. Restaurants, bars and a factory of cones and waffles in small Hoboken are his activities.

The transition from glass to cone

They weren’t returned. They fell and inevitably ended up breaking. They were impractical, a little cold if you will. The glass cups in which ice cream was served in New York at the beginning of the twentieth century represented an inconvenience and, also, a small loss of capital.
Nor did the paper cones help. Too much waste to dispose of.
In short, the cone does not yet exist and ice creams are consumed in containers of various shapes and sizes. In Austria and Germany the glass was brought from home, the nobles ate it in porcelain ice cream cups, others often also in soup plates. In short, the need to use something more comfortable and transportable made itself felt. In France metal or paper cones, in Austria still on a square cardboard. But nothing edible. This is why Marchioni invented the cone: a state of necessity, an Italian remedy, our characteristic inventiveness.

Marchioni is currently considered the most accredited inventor of the cone. To certify that patent that others have not obtained. Just as Cadore and Val di Zoldo are considered the homeland of ice cream on a par with Sicily. In reality, the chronicles also tell of disagreements about that patent. Italo Marchioni was opposed in this regard by Frank Marchioni, a cousin of his who owned an ice cream shop in New York, and by Antonio Valvona, who in 1902 had also patented an oven in the USA to produce “biscuit bowls for ice cream”. But these are judicial processes without certainties and they remain so. Which did not affect the fame of Marchioni (Italo).

On his death on July 29, 1954, the New York Times wrote: “In 1896 he prepared the first cone and a few years later, according to his family, he obtained the original patent. The cone patent debate, the subject of much controversy and controversy, has never been fully resolved.” Above all, all this does not change the meaning of history: December 13 is and remains a significant date.

The other hypotheses

According to the versions repeatedly reported by the New York Times, one of the sellers present at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the Syrian confectioner Ernest Hamwi, introduced a new way of eating ice cream: with a thick paste cooked in a wafer.

There are no written documents that confirm this story and in reality there were several exhibitors at the 1904 St. Louis Fair who credited themselves with the invention of the first cone. Another Syrian, a Turkish immigrant and two brothers from Ohio enter hearsay, almost legend.

Among other things, to deny the St. Louis hypothesis is the already told story of the Marchioni family, Italo and Frank.

Italy

One fact is more certain than others: modern ice cream is an Italian invention, with an Arab derivation and a long Chinese tradition, but with a very strong local brand. Italian craftsmen and companies are the best on the market and remain so. Today even the cone has become an art in its own way: in Italy at the beginning of the twentieth century even ice cream did not escape the rules of eating with cutlery, tablecloths and napkins, served in glass glasses or served on a plate and consumed with a teaspoon. The eatable cone arrived in Europe in the early twentieth century and in Italy in the thirties, in particular in Trieste, the city where, precisely in these years, the round scoop-shaped portioners were spreading (again the protagonist is an ice cream maker originally from the Val di Zoldo ).

The cone today

The “Cornetto” is commercially the best known. But the artisan ice cream cone is experiencing new frontiers. The preparation of the wafer at the very moment in which the ice cream is served, the different shapes of the cone itself and the study of fragrance and crunchiness are now well-trodden sides. And roads traveled by high-profile ice cream parlors to offer a superior taste experience.
Making gelato unique through quality and sophistication. The same approach as Fb Showcases: to offer you, as always, the best possible.

ANTONELLO MINOIA

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The tastes of winter: new trends for 2018

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
2 November 201716 January 2023

The tastes of winter: new trends for 2018

The most popular ice cream parlors not only because they are located in the most famous streets in the world, but also because they are recognized as centers of taste and quality. The most sought-after pastry shops in terms of proposals and style. Who said that ice cream isn’t also a “winter” product? Who ever thought that ice cream runs out with the farewell to the warmer months?

Evenings in the most renowned ski and mountain resorts have a truly different flavor if concluded around an ice cream. December and Christmas dinners are perfect when closed with a chocolate cone. The coldest nights take on sweeter aspects with a pistachio cup.

Not so usual in Italy, not so strange in the rest of Europe and the world.

And the tastes? What will be the most sought-after flavors? If real trends are outlined for the summer, it is really difficult to establish the most popular fashions for the winter. After all, this is the season in which the lines for the strong months are launched (the trade fairs between December and January are different, many appointments around Italy, the home of ice cream and the world). We try. This is a vademecum to enrich the marvel of your shop window with the right flavors, even in winter. So that these are not only transitional seasons.

Let’s say it right away: the reference context seems to be in line with the past seasons: the “without” flavors are on the rise (in line with the growing interest of millennials for quality products), the focus is still on the territoriality of the regional proposals and indeed the local specificity is valued, the “well done” is worth more than the “very different”. In short, the market today requires an artisanal, natural and healthy product that respects food intolerances. And even on this trend line, variety plays its part.

We follow the best

December and January: time of seasonality. Of offers that also change from month to month. From this point of view, social networks, by their nature, lend us a hand, scrolling through the pages of the best ice cream parlors in the world.

More seasonal fruit than chocolate (without exaggerating though), more new flavors than traditional ones, a strong orientation towards salty flavors that blend with sweets, diversified colors with black so fashionable in summer that turns towards lighter shades.

An overview of the most famous ice cream parlors in the world can make your tour really interesting: hunting for the taste that will be most in demand, but above all hunting for the most sense. Because there are very few common denominators, but the thrust is local. Very local.

Look for the right hashtag, trust the best. Also because around the world the predisposition to experiment is much higher (almost always, however, starting from the tradition and quality of Italian products as a basis). Figs, radicchio, pine nuts and so on and so forth: a journey through the Italian regions, unique products that also conquer the world.

Let’s try to follow the chefs: vincotto, almonds, baileys, persimmons and other special specialties.

On the other side of the fence: pineapple and saffron, rosewater and toasted sesame, Indian tea and kulfi are tastes that have by now a bridge has been created between the East (India and China) and the West (especially the United States) and which could soon also reach Europe with force.

After the summer…

When choosing flavours, there are those who rely on the tradition of the classics out of laziness and those who always choose the same one so as not to make mistakes. But there are also those who like to vary a lot and those who like to change their choice often. That’s why after a hot summer in which “exotic” tastes dominated (lime, ginger, mint, coconut, passion fruit, mango, avocado, all synonymous with freshness and lightness), they could up the classification of tastes for creams such as chocolate, hazelnut and stracciatella, perhaps combined with tropical fruit flavours. Chocolate, licorice, grapefruit: a triangle to bet on.

Also watch out for creativity in the proposed shapes: go beyond the classic cone.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Vegan

It is certainly nothing new. However, gluten-free ice cream has become an extra resource to satisfy customers (celiac and otherwise).
The ingredients for a good “gluten free ice cream are the same as the traditional one: quality raw materials, fresh products and balanced recipes. A few precautions are enough: replace the ingredients containing gluten in some flavors and avoid contamination with the cones at the time of service.

To meet the needs of all consumers even in the winter period, therefore, for example, artisan soy ice cream cannot be missing, a perfect alternative for all those with a sweet tooth ice cream who are intolerant to gluten, lactose or who want to keep the figure.

He has a marked health-conscious inclination. A constantly accelerating trend: dairy free and vegan will soon become highly sought after.

His Majesty the Pistachio

It is among the most chosen flavours, it collects awards around the world, it represents a classic of the artisanal gelato tradition but it is never banal, the quality of a simple recipe that is the result of long experience and attention to every detail but opens up to creations that can also bring together different varieties of the same product. It is probably one of the most chosen flavors in the world today, the only one capable of undermining the “very classic”. His Majesty the Pistachio.

So much in vogue that it can hardly be considered trendy even for the first months of 2018. Perhaps waiting for others to try to undermine its leadership position to next summer.
Also because if you think that pistachio makes you fat, we have to prove you wrong: like all dried fruit, pistachio is able to help lower the cholesterol level in the blood. Reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Protects eyes. Contains saturated fats whose properties are able to bring benefits in subjects with dry skin. Facilitates the absorption of iron by the body.

It has antioxidant properties. And much more. Practically perfect for your customers’ “winter” diets.

Kinder flavours

The entry into the ice cream sector of Ferrero has already been announced for 2018, through the launch of the Kinder Ice Cream line, in partnership with Unilever. However, the operation (naturally linked to the packaged ice cream sector) will not concern Italy.

And, then, what better occasion to surprise children and teenagers (that is, what is probably still the majority of ice cream consumers) with a taste in line with the products of the Colossus of Alba. It starts with chocolate, of course. But the nuances in the Ferrero world are many and, who knows, they could also excel among artisan ice creams, perhaps taking advantage of the absence of the brand from the ice cream counter.

Refinement, variety, territoriality and proximity: many different ways to enrich your Facebook jewelry. And to personalize it with your unique style.

ANTONELLO MINOIA

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Stories of chocolate ice cream

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
21 September 201716 January 2023

Stories of chocolate ice cream

We would like to eat it every day, and when it’s not in our pantry we do nothing but think about it. We are enchanted by the ice cream showcases that showcase it. Dark black, lighter with milk, dark, according to taste. We’re talking about chocolate, of course! But have you ever wondered how this delicacy that we can’t live without is born? Probably taken by its taste you will never have asked yourself too many questions, but today we take away some curiosities.

Where does chocolate come from? The story begins in Latin America: here some beans have become food, cure, pleasure, gift, medicine. Join us on a journey through this fascinating story!

The history of chocolate begins 4,000 years ago in Mexico. This is where the first cocoa plants were found. The Olmec, one of the first civilizations of Latin America, was the first to transform the cocoa plant into chocolate, to use the drink as a medicine. Centuries later, the Maya proclaimed chocolate “drink of the gods”. It is said that, in the fifteenth century, however, the Aztecs used cocoa beans as currency. No one knows for sure when chocolate reached Europe. Legend has it that the explorer Hernán Cortés brought chocolate to his homeland starting in 1528. Cortés probably discovered chocolate during an expedition to the Americas. In search of gold and riches, however, he found a cup of cocoa that was offered to him by the Aztec emperor. When Cortés returned home, he introduced cocoa beans to the Spanish. Though still served as a drink, Spanish chocolate was mixed with sugar and honey to mellow the bitter taste. Chocolate quickly became popular with the wealthy.

But the Spaniards kept the chocolate all to themselves for quite some time! The rest of Europe was able to enjoy its goodness only after a century. In 1615 the French king Louis XIII married Anne of Austria, daughter of the Spanish king Philip III. To celebrate the union, he brought samples of the chocolate to the royal courts of France. After France, chocolate soon appeared in Britain in special “chocolate cases”.

The revolution that chocolate has been waiting for

Chocolate remained immensely popular among the European aristocracy. Royalty and the upper classes consumed this delicacy mostly for the health benefits. However, the chocolate was still made by hand, a slow and laborious process. But with the industrial revolution just around the corner, things were about to change. In 1828, the invention of the press revolutionized chocolate making. This innovative device could help cocoa butter escape from roasted cocoa beans, producing a fine cocoa powder. The powder was then mixed with liquids and poured into a mold, where solidified it became an edible bar. And just like that, the modern age of chocolate was born.

It was a short step from chocolate to ice cream

There are only a few days of summer left now, so we have to enjoy the last few mouthfuls of fresh ice cream to the fullest. But which flavor to choose? Chocolate, of course! According to the International Ice Cream Association, 30% of people prefer chocolate ice cream. But what is the first flavor that ice cream has encountered?

Some of the first frozen desserts were composed of shaved ice with flavored sugar syrups, a sort of modern granita. In the Middle East, they were known as sharbati or Serbian – the origin of the words sherbet and sherbet.

Because of this precedent, some of the oldest ice cream flavors were beverages, such as coffee and tea. That’s why chocolate ice cream was invented long before vanilla. The first frozen chocolate recipe was published in Naples in 1692 in the book The Modern Steward. Chocolate was a popular hot beverage in 17th-century Europe and was commonly mixed with spices such as cinnamon, chili peppers, aniseed, almonds, or musks (glandular extracts from musk deer). Today’s “Mexican chocolate” is actually a descendant of how chocolate was served at the Spanish court, not how it was conceived by the ancient peoples of Mexico.

Chocolate has without a shadow of a doubt revolutionized the world of ice cream which, until before meeting the food of the gods, had known only the taste of vanilla. Chocolate-flavored ice cream represents an important revolution precisely because of its complex processing and the delicate combinations that can distinguish it. As we have learned from its history, chocolate has always been considered a precious commodity, a real wealth that was forbidden to belittle! If the Mayans treasured it and the Spanish royals hid it greedily, today we certainly cannot use it as any other “flavor”.

That of chocolate ice cream therefore represents a real art, which not everyone possesses. As the great master chocolatiers teach us, it must be handled with care, know how to work it wisely and combine it cleverly. The taste of chocolate always knows how to touch the deepest strings of the soul, so we need to find the right way to enhance it together with other combinations that could prove to be successful.

Chocolate today: a real work of art to be handled with care

Today chocolate is a real work of art that few know how to handle. There are great gelato masters who have dedicated courses and studies only to this ingredient because its composition needs special care to become tasty chocolate. Distinguishing a low quality chocolate ice cream from one that takes us to heaven is not difficult, just activate the taste buds. An example of mastery in this field is undoubtedly Paolo Brunelli, the ice cream maker who according to Gambero Rosso produces the best chocolate ice cream in the world. Brunelli has always devoted great attention to experimentation and research of raw materials, betting everything on the short supply chain. Without ever putting aside the real human side, Paolo cares about people knowing exactly what they are eating. Paolo Brunelli is for this reason synonymous with quality.

But chocolate has also become the protagonist of many events, including the courses organized by Paolo Brunelli with Orion. An example is Sigep, the leading trade fair in the ice cream, pastry and artisanal sector. During the chocolate fair, panels such as “The Star of Chocolate” are dedicated, where the best manufacturing companies in Italy meet, bringing innovation to the chocolate processing sector, still considered the food of the gods today. Another event in which chocolate is the undisputed protagonist is the Eurochocolate of Perugia. During this real festival dedicated to the delicacy we love most, it is possible to taste chocolate in all its nuances (it is possible to try more than 10 types of chocolate), in different forms and accompanied by different combinations that you never expect.

ANNETTE PALMIERI

Neapolitan, cat lady, talkative, compulsive tweeter, I can’t live without my smartphone at hand. I warn you: I’m worse than Lucy Van Pelt. I love words and every day I fight against my sworn enemies: typos. I’m not good at everything, on the contrary, the things I can’t do are considerably greater than the things I can do. For example, I can write but I can’t walk and drink at the same time.

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Tastes of summer 2017: new trends for palate and mind

by lorenzo in Ice cream shop
22 June 201716 January 2023

Tastes of summer 2017: new trends for palate and mind

With the arrival of summer, comes the desire to try something new. The evenings get longer, the stars get brighter and the mind seeks new stimuli, including (and above all) discovering new tastes and flavours. We’re talking about ice cream! What are the most innovative, traditional, particular flavors of summer 2017? Let’s discover them together!

We are really curious to know what surprises for the palate are hidden inside the elegant ice cream parlors of the most renowned courses in Italy and the world. Summer 2017 has arrived and the heat of early Sunday afternoons, those of the most exclusive locations, are populated by tourists and personalities whose hearts, eyes and minds need something new. So what are the most exclusive flavors prepared by master ice cream makers for the long summer?

During a walk or during a dinner in a luxury hotel, the ice cream moment is always the most appreciated. How to satisfy the tastes of your customers? Obviously with the wonder for the palate that your shop window hides, colored with a thousand flavors with a summer flavor.

Instagram tips

If your ice cream parlor or your hotel has an Instagram profile, you’ll know very well that the most social flavor of this summer season is black ice cream. A really interesting (and innovative) product created by the Little Damage ice cream parlor in Los Angeles. It is a preparation of almonds and charcoal: a completely black cone that immediately brings to mind the New York atmosphere of the Upper East Side. Elegance, minimal and retro atmosphere.

Imagine the context: an ice cream parlor with a slightly vintage attitude, with an atmosphere purely inspired by the harmony between design and taste, refined furnishings, a breathtaking showcase. Inside he dominates: the black ice cream. An inspiration for mind and palate.

Not only Los Angeles has dedicated itself to the minimalism of (almost) design ice cream makers. A similar product, creamier than the previous one, was made by Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream in New York. Even the big apple has been infected by black is the new black and traces the difference with the East Coast in the creamy texture. The element that characterizes the creaminess of the New York black ice cream is the black ash obtained from the coconut, with a very light sprinkling of cream and coconut milk. Amazing!

On a laden table, at dessert time, a preparation characterized by contrasts between ingredients or working on the presentation with a high creative rate wins the heart of the most fearful of diners. Style is the absolute protagonist!

Questa sera vi saluto con un bel gelato total dark. Ultima creazione di @tuliobondi il gelatiere #unconventional che non poteva che creare un #unconventionalgelato! Cialda croccante con farina di grani antichi verna, gelato con tanto buon latte toscano il tutto in versione dark grazie al carbone vegetale e a completare il tutto, regalando un bel tocco di luce, le foglie d'oro alimentare di @giustomanettibattiloro - - - #gelato #icecream #igelatidelbondi #igersfirenze #gelatoartigianale #gelatolovers #gelatoitaliano #istagood #icecreambreak #foodies #foodism #gelateria #gelataio #lovefood #loveicecream #dark

Un post condiviso da Cakes & Co. bakery Lab 👩🏻‍🍳 (@cakesandco_bakery_lab) in data: 8 Mag 2017 alle ore 13:47 PDT

Gambero Rosso decreta il gelato dell’estate

Quando parliamo di maestri gelatieri e di tendenze gusto 2017 non possiamo esimerci dal consultare la guida alle Gelaterie d’Italia 2017 del Gambero Rosso. Qui l’eccellenza è condensata in 300 indirizzi che percorrono le strade del gusto “freddo” della penisola italiana, in lungo ed in largo. La guida Gambero Rosso decreta appena 36 gelaterie come eccellenze 3 coni per la qualità e l’innovazione per la ricercatezza del gusto gastronomico.

Ti starai chiedendo cosa puoi imparare da queste 36 gelaterie: che la tradizione vince sempre. I gusti vellutati del cioccolato più buono d’Italia (titolo vinto da Paolo Brunelli), che i gusti più ricercati dai palati più raffinati sono quelli più classici o quelli preparati con frutta di stagione, magari serviti in piatto, con accompagnamento di eccellenze gastronomiche nostrane come il pistacchio di Bronte, famoso nel mondo.

Un’altra interessante scoperta gastronomica della guida del Gambero Rosso è Dario Rossi ed il suo Greed Avid. Sembra quasi il personaggio colorato di un volume dell’Accademia della Crusca, ma questo “ragazzo” ha realizzato un prodotto interessante per i palati dei suoi consumatori. Un gelato senza glutine e preparato con elementi biologici e a chilometro zero selezionati sul proprio territorio. Questo preparato così ricercato vince il premio di Miglior Gelato Gastronomico d’Italia, un omaggio alla cultura e alla natura dei Castelli Romani.

Trarre ispirazione dalla propria cultura locale, con prodotti preparati con elementi naturali e del territorio, serviti con un accompagnamento frizzante (che ne pensi di un vino, magari brulè) a contrastare il sapore dolce del gelato?

La variegatura: l’intramontabile bellezza della diversità

Inutile mentire: tutti amiamo variare, anche nell’arte della gelateria. E quando un gusto stanca, si prova con la variegatura. Dalla più classica amarena al cioccolato, è sempre un gusto che si rinnova ogni estate, anche sulle tavole più eleganti. La differenza sostanziale sta nella “purezza” degli ingredienti: mentre al nord viene preferito più consistente, il sud Italia ama il gusto accennato, come qualcosa che arriva e sconvolge, ma ti abbraccia mente e palato.

Un variegato particolare che si propone come gusto artigianale nelle più esclusive gelaterie italiane ed internazionali è il sorbetto fragola e peperone rosso, sapientemente variato, l’About Strawberry and red pepper. Un gusto davvero curioso che potrebbe conquistare gli avventori più pretenziosi dei nostri locali. Questa piccola chicca gastronomica accontenta davvero tutti: può essere accoppiato con un piatto salato per essere proposto come alternativa in un elegante cena, oppure semplicemente offerto come dessert in gelateria.

Umami al gusto Thai

Il quinto gusto del palato, definito umami dai giapponesi, si fa largo anche tra i gelatieri italiani. Dopo essersi intrufolato nel laboratorio di Paolo Brunelli ed essersi trasformato in “saporosità”. Dopo aver “costretto” ogni gelateria e locale a vestirsi di un’atmosfera fuori dal comune , l’umami si trasferisce direttamente in vetrina, sotto i riflettori. Diventa ancora più concreto nell’ultimo trend in fatto di gelati per l’estate 2017. Parliamo del gelato stile Thai.

La Thailandia: esotica, unica, inaspettata, iconica. Nulla di più lontano dalla sua traduzione enogastronomica che si fa minimalità gelatiera. “Lasciate ogni dettaglio, o voi che gustate”, sembra quasi urlare questa nuova misé del gelato di lusso: addio al cono e benvenuta coppa. Un equilibrio di fusione tra prodotto e presentazione: la spatola riduce al minimo la preparazione liquida del gusto scelto e ne fa una lastra sottilissima che diventa, poi, rotolo. Questi vengono disposti ad arte nella coppa e miscelati con ogni elemento scenografico e culinario possa esser nella mente del cliente: nocciola, cocco, pistacchio, granelle, sciroppi.

Insomma, un vero Ice ‘n roll da servire all’istante e gustare altrettanto velocemente.

Quale sceglierai per la tua attività da mettere in mostra nella tua gioielleria FB?

FRANCESCA CORA SOLLO

Digital Strategist innamorata (persa) del digitale. Aiuto le piccole aziende a raccontarsi in rete attraverso la comunicazione morbida. Credo negli abbracci digitali che diventano reali e che il mondo sia una giungla ma se sei strategicamente te stesso e sorridi forte (forse) ti salvi.

Mi occupo di copywriting, content design e social media marketing.

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FB Clabo Award for Best Digital Communication 2022

The good communication of Michel Paquier

Sincere tales of a good and delicate product

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New trends and great classics: ice cream flavors in 2021

Under the sign of sustainability, the 2021 summer season starts, between tradition and new journeys in gluttony.

Summer 2021.The journey of gluttony starts again with the first warm weather, and the master artisans of the art of Italian Gelato unleash their inventiveness, creating and recreating.

Summer ice cream trends.

The new flavors of 2021

A look at Gelato Day 2021

Gelato Day 2021 is the event dedicated to Artisanal Gelato, an ancient art and food loved by all, to which the European Parliament has named, the only food to have received this honor, a day in its honor, March 24, will be held for the ninth consecutive year.

An opportunity for rebirth

Preparations for Gelato Day 2021

Taste of the Year: Mantecado

Who participates and how to participate

Ice cream shop furniture: good resolutions for 2020

1) Give greater prominence to tastes

2) Find or improve your own

3) Be inspired by the masters

4) Give more importance to the details

5) Don’t make any more compromises between functionality and design

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Ice cream at Christmas: Christmas desserts revisited

Ice cream in winter: good even at Christmas

Panettone

Pandoro

Nougat

The Yule log

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The evolution of ice cream: from a walking cone to a work of art

In the beginning there was the cone

From dessert to main course

Ice cream as a work of art: the work of pastry chefs

What will be the next evolution of ice cream?

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Between confirmations and novelties, ice cream trends for winter 2019

The trends that are confirmed: ice creams “without”, seasonal products

Fruit and vegetables, together for a healthy ice cream

Aromatic herbs and essential oils: ice cream becomes aromatic

Mixology meets ice cream

Creativity wins among the ice cream trends

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Ice cream: a moment to share with taste

For lovers of homemade ice cream: the independent ice cream shop

For those who combine business with pleasure: the Bar Gelateria

For those with a sweet tooth: the pastry and ice cream shop

For those who don’t like change: ice cream chains

The ice cream shop: a choice of heart and belly

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Ice cream according to Giuffrè

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Ice cream: summer 2018 trends

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Interview with Gianfranco Buccafurni

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Interview with Paolo Brunelli, FB testimonial

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Ice cream is good for you. Not only for the spirit

Seasonal ailments: ice cream yes or no?

Lunch break: no more sandwich!

Music for our palate

The most suitable flavors for our well-being

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Ice cream dates in 2018

January in Rimini

February in Paris, Stuttgart and Mexico City

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December 13, 1903, the ice cream cone is born

The origins

The figure of Marchioni

The transition from glass to cone

The other hypotheses

Italy

The cone today

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The tastes of winter: new trends for 2018

We follow the best

After the summer…

December 13, 1903, the ice cream cone is born 