Ice Cream School

In the last year I have got to know 2 master ice cream makers, both Italian, who are making a name for themselves in the world of gelato. Interestingly enough, neither of them lives and works in Italy for they have found a demand for their specialist skills outside their home country.

One is Gino Soldan, the master gelatiere in charge of the very special Harrod's ice cream parlour in London (Morelli's Gelato). Gino hit the headlines in the summer of 2008 because of the unusual ice cream he was making for a special, sponsored and limited edition of ice creams. These included an incredible array including wensleydale cheese ice cream. Wallace & Gromit fans will recognise Wensleydale as being Wallace's favourite!



The other is Marina who lives and works in Barcelona. Having run her own, very popular ice cream parlor in the city she recently told me about her latest venture - her ice cream school. It was fascinating to learn what gave her the idea and who her students are. Although I haven't tasted her ice cream (not having been to Barcelona yet unfortunately!), the photographs of her stracciatella ice cream and her fig ice cream are sufficient to make you believe that she is a lady who knows her gelato! Here is a freshly made batch of her stracciatella gelato.

If, however, you cannot get to her ice cream school - and that will apply to many of you of course - then you can always have a go at making gelato yourself. Here is my gelato recipes page. Enjoy!

Gelato Master In Barcelona

Now this is a post I've been meaning to write for some weeks! I think it will be one of the more exciting articles for regular readers of ice-cream-recipes.com.

Imagine if you can ....

• a family with more than 100 years experience of ice cream making
• authentic artisan italian gelato expertise
  
• a master gelato maker for more than 30 years
  
• gelato in barcelona
• gelato making lessons

There's only one person whose life and work encompasses these criteria - Rheya, an Italian living in Barcelona who has two of the most interesting ice cream blogs in the world.

These are:
http://italian-ice-creams.blogspot.com/ (English)
http://www.ilgelatobcn.blogspot.com/ (Spanish)

Rheya is a woman with a passion and knowledge of gelato that is on a level most people can only dream! Visit her blogs and you will see what I mean.

Rheya's experiences in Chicago for example is a great block of posts she wrote about what and who she saw there, how she reacted to the city and - of course - what she thought of the ice cream there. She even writes about the culinary school branch of the Illinois Institute of Arts in Chicago. Fascinating reading!

So for all you gelato lovers out there who have a little time over the Christmas holidays to do some online reading, you should visit Rheya's gelato making blog. Early in 2009 I will be writing a dedicated page about Rheya on ice-cream-recipes.com with lots more information - so revisit and enjoy even more. Happy reading!

Photographs in this post are by Rheya and reproduced with permission
Left photo: Rheya's strawberry gelato mix
Right photo: Chicago on one of Rheya's trips

Master Gelatiere At Morelli's Gelato

My recent interview with Gino Soldan (master gelatiere for Morelli's Gelato in London) is now live on http://www.ice-cream-recipes.com/ Anyone interested in ice cream making, ice cream parlors and ice cream sundaes will love this Special Feature.

It provides an insight into how this master of ice cream making views his work, the depth of passion he has for his craft and how adventurous he aspires to be in developing new and daring ice cream flavors. It's an exclusive interview so be amongst the first to read it before it gets picked up and rehashed by other sites and media.

See: Master Gelatiere Gino Soldan

There is also a gallery of photographs showing some of the wonderful ice cream sundaes made at Morelli's Gelato, including one Gino made especially for my friend Mary. Again the photographs are exclusive to http://www.ice-cream-recipes.com/

Read and enjoy!