Italian Gelato image

Gelato is the Italian word meaning ice cream; but in reality Gelato is a far cry from ice cream as we know it today.  It was a Sicilian, Francesco Procopio, who gave the common man the chance to eat gelato when he opened his Café Procopio in Paris in 1660.  Up to that time, gelato had been a privilege reserved only for the rich and powerful; the Duke of Este in Ferrara, the Medicis’ in Florence, the king of France and the King of England.  Each has a Sicilian “Gelaterie,” a man who could make their favorite gelato delicacies.

Gelato, at that time, was made from fruit juice, honey and crushed ice.  The ice was taken with great effort from the mountains in winter and stored underground until needed in the long hot day s of summer.  This mixture called “Sorbetto”, was served half way through the many courses of the endless banquets of the time to refresh the palate for the heavier foods to come.  When Marco Polo returned from the court of the Great Khan, he explained how the Chinese were producing a deep cold by melting together ice and salt. 

The Venetians, and the people around the Venetian countryside, a region known as Cadore, started making Gelato directly by placing the ingredients in a pan and exposing it to this deep cold.  They eventually replaced the water, or the crushed ice with milk, adding fresh cream, and eggs to hold the ingredients together and give this iced delicacy a smooth, distinctive texture and flavor.

Later this region became part of the great Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and the people from Cadore introduced their product all over Europe.  They were Italians and their produce was known as “the real Italian Gelato” and still is considered today.

Gelato was brought to America by another Italian, Giovanni Bosio in 1851 by Jacob Fussell, the owner of a dairy in Baltimore.  One day Fussell had a large surplus of fresh rich cream and he thought he could preserve it by freezing it with sugar.  That day, the real American ice cream was born.