Italian ice cream

Is traditionally made Italian ice cream the best in the world? Of course it is. Just take a closer look at some of the ingredients they put in your favourite supermarket brand: genetically modified fish parts anyone!

To further make our point here is a quick recipe for strawberry ice cream Italian style.

Firstly, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until they form a pale and thick mixture. Heat the milk until it almost reaches boiling point then pour over the eggs, stirring continuously. Rinse the pan, pour back the custard mix and stir over a low heat until it thickens. Chop the strawberries into small pieces and mix them into the egg custard. Stir in the cream and pour the lot into a bowl. Part freeze, whisk again then refreeze. Keep frozen until temptation becomes too strong.

The ‘gelateria’ of Italy sell an incredible range of ice cream, but the most popular combination of flavours is, and will remain forever, cream 'crema' and chocolate with 'panna' topping them off. 'Panna' in English by the way means 'cream' which makes things a little confusing, while cream or 'crema' is sometimes known as 'vanilla' back home. Are you following?

So perhaps the best thing to do is to experiment to find that unique personal combination. Perhaps 'zuppa inglese' with 'straciatella' or 'amerena' with ‘tiramisu'.

Also note that that flavours such as coffee, which can seam a little sickly back home, when made with fresh ingredients and without preservatives retain all their original flavour. This applies especially to 'pistachio', the famous green nuts grown around Mount Etna in Sicily.

Nevertheless, there are gelateria branching out into more exotic and original flavours. A small independent shop in north west Rome specialises in such flavours as ‘pear and gorgonzola’ and ‘pineapple with ginger’.

A word about sorbets or sorbetti.

Traditionally made in the summer they can in no way be called a fruit ice cream. They a simply fruit in season liquidised then mixed with a syrup of sugar and water, itself prepared cold.

The amounts of each are not so important so you can’t really go wrong. And now we are back to those strawberries, by far the most popular fruit for a sorbet, but melons, figs and oranges are all good alternatives.

Not ice cream at all, but equally delicious here in Rome is 'grattachecca'. At the height of the summer small road side stalls sell crushed ice in a plastic cup flavoured with one of a range of fruit flavourings such as coconut or lemon and our favourite, tamarind.