Messina – The summer sun hits us, I let an ice cream melt on my tongue in the shade of a palm tree. Welcome to Sicily, the island of nostalgia and the birthplace of ice cream. The cream dissolves between the palate and the tongue like all alone, I am in Messina, where ice cream was invented 1200 years ago.
The impetus for this came from the Arabs who brought Sharbat to the island, sweet drinks cooled with ice from Mount Etna. The Sicilians then made granita from it: water, sugar, fruit juice or fruit pulp, iced, stirring constantly. The Sicilians then made granita from it: water, sugar, fruit juice or fruit pulp, iced, stirring constantly.
Five rules will help
In Sicily, ice cream is usually spread in a brioche (a sweet milk roll), which almost replaces a meal. From classic varieties to extremely extravagant combinations, like lemon-basil sorbet, olive oil ice cream or radish sorbet, it’s always a sweet surprise not to be missed. There is ice cream in every corner and mine is also very good… But is it really? Here are some tips to help you identify great, high quality, handmade ice cream. With wine and oil, there are tasting rules that can guide the consumer. We can also use them when entering a glacier.
1. If we see a glacier with icebergs spouting out of the containers, something is wrong. The ice is well above the cold line and will not melt. This could be an indication of stabilizers that can withstand higher temperatures. So no to icebergs.
2. Color: Ice cream should look natural, especially when it comes to the flavor of the fruit. Keep in mind that the fruit will naturally oxidize a bit during processing and the color will fade with low temperatures. Bright yellow, shock pink, light green should be viewed with suspicion as they have been intensified with dyes. Banana flavor is white when natural, kiwi is pale green, etc.
3. The temperature: strange, but the ice cream should not be too cold, that is, it should not fill your mouth with ice cream (too much water), but it should not be too cold. plus being too soft and temperate, a sign of too much fat.
4. Taste and Aromatic Durability: It may sound trite, but hazelnut ice cream must taste like hazelnut, nut like walnut, lemon like lemon (and so on). Each taste must be recognizable in its individuality. Some ice creams that are not made well still taste the same because they are all made on the same basis and only one flavor is added at the end. The taste should stay in the mouth for a long time.
5. Quality: A good ice cream does not make you thirsty. Ice cream is said to be refreshing and quench your thirst. Industrial ice creams often use vegetable fats which, in some cases, have a higher melting point than cream. Under normal conditions, the temperature of the human body cannot dissolve these fats in the mouth and we are thirsty for them.
… and cream on top
So, following these little rules I go to my favorite ice cream parlor in Sicily, I have two crazy flavors: Gorgonzola nut, and Modica chocolate with chili, of course in a brioche and whipped cream on top!
If you want to explore the whole island and all the glaciers, I can also recommend the following accommodation: sizilienferien.ch