for the angels

What is artisanal gelato?

Search it and you’d find a myriad of definitions and degrees of severity. On one spectrum, there are what we can call purists. They besmirch the alchemy and technology of modern gelato production, repudiate the use of foreign stabilizers and prepare their gelato with very few, very fresh ingredients.

We can call this style of artisanal gelato production metodo antico. The “old method” of gelato production spans from the days of the Medici’s to circa 1950s. We’re pleased to offer a few of these recipes, prepared in small batches, using researched and historically accurate recipes. They are delicious, time consuming, labors of love, and they don’t keep.

Aside from building on the collective creative genius of gelatiere all over the world for the last few hundred years, or the breadth and depth of information available in our contemporary world at our fingertips, or the increased international access to and knowledge of superior ingredients, there are two main factors distinguishing modern gelato production from what preceded it:

1.   Rise of the Machines

The same way we’re not trudging out to the river with a washboard when we want clean clothes, the technology involved with the production, storage and preservation of gelato may well fall within the parameters of revolutionary.

2.   Food Science

Understanding how different particles interact with each other and in different environments, the science of how to make proteins bind around sugars that don’t freeze in a precise way, which results in a rich but silky, perfectly dense and creamy gelato that’s neither too hot nor cold on the palate is what this is all about. 

It’s about balancing and stabilizing recipes with different sugars, naturally derived thickeners, proteins, milk solids and emulsifiers. We’ve developed our own proprietary blend of all natural, vegan binding agents for our gelatos and while we limit both the amount and variety of their use, their incorporation creates a superior product that you can take home and enjoy for a few days without fear of crystallization and integrity loss.