Curious customers often ask, “what makes gelato different from ice cream?”.

At the core of it, ice cream and gelato are remarkably similar. Both are a creamy blend (or if you want to get technical, an emulsion) of fats, sugars, ice and air; a beautiful feat of science really (more on that later). Both are cool, creamy, sweet and delightful. Both taste great in a cup or a cone…or straight out of the pint!

The main differences between gelato and ice cream are:

Fat

Premium ice cream has a high fat content, ranging from 10%-18% fat, which comes from milk and cream, with lots of saturated fat. Gelato has a lower amount of fat, usually around 5-8%. This lower fat content in gelato makes for a lighter feeling on our palates, allowing for the flavors to be more pronounced, while still being creamy.

Air

For any frozen treat to be soft and scoopable, we need to whip in some air, but too much makes scoops overly fluffy giving you less of the good stuff. The air incorporated into ice cream and gelato is called overrun. Standard ice cream usually contains about 50%-60% overrun and some value or low-calorie ice creams can have up to 150%!  Gelato is usually churned more slowly, containing 20-40% overrun – more flavor, and more product in your pint!

Temperature

Gelato is often found in shops, made in small batches, which allows for the scoops to be served a bit warmer than traditional hard ice creams we have in the US. For optimal enjoyment, we recommend you serve Doozy Pots after it has been out of the freezer to let it soften into its silky-smooth texture.

The Doozy Difference

Doozy Pots plant-based gelatos replace dairy fats and proteins with fats and proteins from hemp hearts, cocoa butter, and whole oat flour. Our base mixes are made with about 8% fat, which is a blend of hemp heart oil and cocoa butter, giving an ideal balance of unsaturated and saturated fats. As compared to dairy or coconut milk frozen treats we have much less saturated fats, which allows our flavors like coffee, cinnamon and mint shine!