Gelato
Are you getting the idea that the Italians have a bit of a frozen dessert fetish by now? Here's another one of their creations: granita. Think slushy sorbetto (or fruit sauce), in traditional flavours of lemon, coffee, almond, chocolate, mint, jasmine, orange, and berries when in season. It's become popular in North America and the UK of late as a palate cleanser between courses, with adventurous chefs whipping up more savoury flavours like tomato, rosemary, and basil.
Soft Serve Ice Cream
True confession time. If it was my last day on earth, and I was requesting my final meal, it would include a Dairy Queen soft serve, chocolate dipped. I love the stuff. I know it's not chi-chi or gourmet. I know it has a few weird, unpronounceable ingredients in it, but man it's good! When I was a kid and lived in a small town, the nearest DQ was about 20 minutes away by car or about 45 minutes, uphill, by coaster bike. More often than not, it was a long, hot, peddle. But the reward was great! I still have one—just one—every summer. And just in case there is any confusion, the soft serve that comes off the trucks these days is nothing like a classic, one-of-a-kind, original DQ, which was invented in the early 1930's by the founder of Dairy Queen, John F. McCullough. It is airy, creamy, and light, with less butter fat than hard ice cream. So go ahead, enjoy guilt-free, especially if you ride your bike to and from!
Frozen Yogurt
Oh dear, more confessions. I'm old enough to remember the introduction of frozen yogurt to the marketplace, but it was a very different thing back then in the 70s. Hippie ice cream, really. It was very simply yogurt that had been frozen. It was cultured, less fatty, and very tart. In the beginning it came in one flavour: plain. Then came the machine that blended a block of frozen yogurt with a handful of frozen fruit and everything changed. These days you might find a brand claiming to be enhanced with probiotics, but really, there isn't all that much difference between frozen yogurt and ice cream in terms of sugar content and taste.
One Last Bite
Ice cream has inspired some pretty creative and, well, kind of weird culinary creations, beyond the ever-popular banana split and sundae, or over the top baked Alaska. In the 1960s, a German citizen, Dario Fontanella, invented an ice cream concoction that looks just like a bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce called Spaghettieis. Vanilla ice cream is passed through a Spätzle maker to form ice cream noodles and topped with strawberry sauce and grated white chocolate standing in for parmigano.
Did your family call sorbet sherbert, or was that just in my house? Come to think of it, I also called Neopolitan ice cream, Napoleon, so it might very well have been an idiosyncratic variation. Please comment, and help clear this mystery of my childhood up for me!
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