Peach Gelato

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Consider Peach Gelato a virtual holiday.  Short of traveling to Italy, authentic gelato often is out of reach. However, with the right equipment and approaches, you will be pleased with how close you can come. The key to this is using simple syrup and the best equipment your budget allows. Please check out this discussion and tips  here.

Perfecting Gelato

Peaches

This recipe is very similar to my strawberry gelato recipe. You can use either as a starting point for almost any fruit gelato. Because the sweetness of the fruit may vary from batch to batch, the quantities of the attached recipe should be considered as a guide.

Increase or decrease the simple syrup and/or sugar as needed. Taste your unfrozen mixture to determine if you got the sweetness right. The frozen gelato will not taste as sweet as unfrozen. Therefore, the unfrozen mixture should taste a bit too sweet.

Simple Syrup

Simple syrup is nothing more than sugar boiled in water. However, the impact of this transformation in gelato is almost magical. The sugar enters the gelato already dissolved, helping limit coarse crystallization. Full credit is owed to Gina Stipo of Ecco La Cucina who suggests increasing the amount of simple syrup quite a bit. This is discussed in greater detail in my overview of gelato.

Ice Cream Maker and Immersion Blender

The choice of ice cream maker is key to making gelato. In particular, you want a maker with a gelato setting that will more slowly churn the mixture. The intent is to add less air in the final product; producing the desired texture. Please see my discussion on equipment for making gelato.

Lastly, an immersion blender is a super useful tool for completely mixing fruit, sugar, and liquids. If you don’t have one, a regular blender will be fine.

Storage

Gelato is best when enjoyed fresh. It allows for the use of fresh fruit and other ingredients. Therefore, it is not intended for long-term storage. I have found that completely filling multiple pint containers (as opposed to one large container) improves storage time.

Even under the best of storage, after about 3 or 4 days, the gelato will become slightly icier. Still tasty, but not quite as good a texture.

Serving

Visit a gelateria in Italy and you will notice the servers, called “gelatai” in Italian, using paddles to constantly move the gelato, stirring and smoothing — almost zen-like. This action gives a smoother tastier gelato.

If you have a gelato paddle – great, a strong spatula or ice cream scoop – fine, or even a large spoon will do. Do your version of the gelatai performance before serving; you will find it helps smooth your gelato.

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