PUNTOITALY N°2 - July - December 2012

THE ITALIAN MAGAZINE FOR INTERNATIONAL BUYERS IN GELATO, PASTRY AND TRENDY FOOD-AND-DRINK 45 Creating new exiting flavours that you can combine with drinks and other food will help you discover a whole new perspective on your business. For example if you own a bar, it could become famous for the freshness of its Mojito gelato served during happy hour. In the same way your restaurant could become known because of its gourmet gelato. Imagine the reaction to a T-bone steak served with a portion of creamy tasty gelato made by com- bining olive oil, parmesan cheese and a bit of celery? SUITABLE EQUIPMENT To realize all these dreams it is necessary to have really good equipment that would include a pasteurizer machine and a suitable batch freezer. The process of production can be performed in two different machines or in a single combined machine. HYGIENIC REASONS Nowadays it is not acceptable not to pasteurize the mix be- fore freezing anymore. Since milk can carry so many diseases it is compulsory to heat it to 85°C in order to kill all the path- ogenic bacteria. It doesn’t matter if the milk is already pas- teurized, because this heat treatment, invented by Dr. Pasteur in the Ninetieth Century, is actually the perfect way of dis- solving and mixing together all the raw ingredients. ONE OR TWO It doesn’t matter if you decide to get a combined machine or two separate ones, the final result will be the same; the only difference will be in the organization of the flow of work in the lab. To start with, you would pasteurize a batch of mix, e.g. 30-60 liters, called the “white base”, and pour 3-4 lt in a bucket together with a flavour paste (try using pistachio, it has a great flavour and colour). After combining the “white base” and the flavour paste with a mixer you place it all in the batch freezer. Just give it time, about 7-8 mins to be precise… once it’s finished the machine will let you know that your fresh gelato is ready! If you choose to concentrate the production line in only one machine, you would put all the ingredients (sugar, milk, pis- tachio and so on) in the upper part of the machine that will start pasteurizing them. After a certain amount of time (this will depends on the machine and the quantity) the equip- ment will let you know that it’s time to move the mix into the freezing section and after 7-8 mins a lovely pan of pistachio gelato will be ready. • Maybe because it’s not difficult to produce or maybe because it has good profit margins, many people around the world have started producing fresh gelato on their own.