Fior di Latte Gelato (Italian Milk Gelato)
Italy's plainest gelato and the test of every gelateria: mostly milk, a little cream, no eggs, thickened with a spoonful of cornstarch and served softer and warmer than American ice cream.
Fior di latte means "flower of milk": no flavoring, no eggs, just milk, cream and sugar, the base that stracciatella and many other flavors are built on (Wikipedia:). Who made the first gelato is DISPUTED. Wikipedia reports that some sources credit two 16th-century Florentines, Cosimo Ruggeri, said to have made fior di latte for the Medici court, and the architect Bernardo Buontalenti, while other sources say Sicilian cooks slowly turned sherbet into gelato. What is better documented is how gelato differs from American ice cream. In a 2015 NPR story, gelato maker Morgan Morano put authentic gelato at about 4 to 9% fat against US ice cream's legal minimum of 10% (most brands run 14 to 25%), with 20 to 30% air against up to 50% in American ice cream, and served at 7 to 12°F, about 10 to 15 degrees warmer, which is why it tastes more intense. Gelato machines also churn more slowly, so they beat in less air.
🇮🇹 The original
Italy's plainest gelato and the test of every gelateria: mostly milk, a little cream, no eggs, thickened with a spoonful of cornstarch and served softer and warmer than American ice cream.
🇺🇸 The American version
America's Philadelphia style is cream, sugar and vanilla with no eggs and nothing cooked, churned with more air into the scoop most Americans grew up with. See the Philadelphia-Style Vanilla Ice Cream recipe.
🗳️ Italian gelato or American ice cream? Vote: Gelato vs American ice cream →
Why it works the kitchen science
Cornstarch instead of eggs
A small amount of starch holds water so ice crystals stay small, giving a dense, silky texture while the milk flavor stays clean.
Mostly milk
With three times as much milk as cream the fat stays low, so the gelato tastes of milk and is meant to be eaten softer and warmer than ice cream.
Step by step
- Step 1
Pour 2 cups of the milk and all the cream into a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring now and then, until steaming with small bubbles at the edge, about 5 minutes. Do not boil.
- Step 2
Meanwhile whisk the sugar, cornstarch and salt into the remaining 1 cup cold milk in a bowl until no lumps remain.
- Step 3
Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return it to medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula and scraping the bottom, until it thickens slightly and bubbles lazily for 1 minute, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Step 4
Off the heat, stir in the apricot preserves until melted. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water and stir for 10 minutes to cool it fast.
- Step 5
Press plastic wrap on the surface and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours, until very cold (below 40°F).
- Step 6
Churn in an ice cream maker until it looks like thick soft serve, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Step 7
Eat it straight from the machine, the way a gelateria serves it, or pack it into a chilled container and freeze 1 hour. If it has been frozen longer, let it sit at room temperature 10 minutes before serving so it softens to gelato texture.
Fior di Latte Gelato (Italian Milk Gelato)
Serves 8 (1/2 cup each) · about 1 quart · 25 min total
Gelato base
- 3 cups whole milk, divided
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 7 tsp cornstarch (2 tbsp plus 1 tsp)
- 1 tbsp apricot preserves
- Pinch of fine salt
Method
- Pour 2 cups of the milk and all the cream into a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring now and then, until steaming with small bubbles at the edge, about 5 minutes. Do not boil.
- Meanwhile whisk the sugar, cornstarch and salt into the remaining 1 cup cold milk in a bowl until no lumps remain.
- Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return it to medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula and scraping the bottom, until it thickens slightly and bubbles lazily for 1 minute, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Off the heat, stir in the apricot preserves until melted. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water and stir for 10 minutes to cool it fast.
- Press plastic wrap on the surface and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours, until very cold (below 40°F).
- Churn in an ice cream maker until it looks like thick soft serve, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Eat it straight from the machine, the way a gelateria serves it, or pack it into a chilled container and freeze 1 hour. If it has been frozen longer, let it sit at room temperature 10 minutes before serving so it softens to gelato texture.
Adapted from Saveur's "Milk Gelato (Fior di Latte Gelato)", made with tips from Jon Snyder of Il Laboratorio del Gelato in New York. Saveur's page refused our direct request; the amounts (1 cup heavy cream, 3 cups milk, 1 cup sugar, 7 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 tablespoon apricot preserves, about 1 quart) and the order of the method come from search results quoting the page. Saveur gives 2 to 3 hours of chilling; the cooking times and the serving temperature advice are ours. The cornstarch is the Sicilian-style thickener many Italian home recipes use in place of eggs. Saveur. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (4)
Tips
- No ice cream maker: freeze the cold base in a metal loaf pan and stir it hard with a fork every 30 minutes for about 3 hours, then freeze until scoopable.
- Gelato is best within a day or two; Morgan Morano told NPR it should be eaten within 24 hours.
- Use a flat spade or a spoon, not a round scoop, to serve it the Italian way.
- The apricot preserves are Saveur's trick: you will not taste apricot, only a rounder milk flavor. Use a smooth preserve with no large fruit pieces, or strain it.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Gelato has less fat than ice cream. Documented: about 4 to 9% (Morgan Morano, NPR 2015) or 6 to 9% (Wikipedia) vs at least 10% for US ice cream by law (21 CFR 135.110:).
- Gelato has less air. Documented: 20 to 30% air in gelato vs up to 50% in American ice cream (NPR 2015). Wikipedia gives 20 to 35% for gelato.
- Gelato is served warmer. Documented: 7 to 12°F, about 10 to 15 degrees warmer than ice cream (NPR 2015; Wikipedia gives the same 7 to 12°F).
- Real gelato never has eggs. Folklore: fior di latte has none, but plenty of gelato flavors use yolks; NPR says authentic gelato rarely uses them and then mostly for flavor.
- Gelato was invented in Florence for the Medici. Disputed: Wikipedia credits Ruggeri and Buontalenti only through "some sources", while other sources point to Sicilian cooks reworking sherbet.
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