For someone who has not stepped foot in Italy and relied on the internet and figures in media to relay the authenticity of Italian gelato, I have no idea that the reason gelato is sweet is for a purpose!
And it is, surprisingly, not for taste alone.
Italian gelato chef Domenico Croce revealed the sugar in gelato is to keep the consistency of its texture. He broke down the ingredient ratio for the cold dessert and what it became, with more water resulting in confection, ice cream and so on.
“This is why gelato needs the highest amount of sugar; it keeps the freezing point to be cold yet soft,” he further explained to almost 30 people made up of F&B entrepreneurs, gelato enthusiasts and dessert makers at Amrichi Gelato Lab in Johor Bahru.
Amrichi, recently appointed as the representative of PreGel, one of Italy’s most respected global producers of premium gelato, pastry, and dessert ingredients, for the Malaysian market, held a demonstration class.
According to Jeffrey Tan, Amrichi’s founder, Italy’s PreGel, the leading gelato & pastry ingredient, see this as a significant advancement for Malaysia’s evolving dessert and F&B landscape, bringing world-class Italian formulations, technical expertise, and ingredient innovation closer to local chefs, gelaterias, restaurants, hotels, and manufacturers.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but I let out a surprised gasp, knowing that sugar act as an important agent during the brief.
Domenico admitted that to an Asian palate, the authentic gelato is a bit too sweet compared to the gelato that is made to cater to local taste buds, where they sacrifice the sugar and add more milk, making it creamier-which is a woe to Italians who are generally known to be vocal about the authenticity of their food.
After the short brief, we had several taste tests of true Italian gelato made by the chef himself, using PreGel’s open secret in keeping a gelato authentic, yet meeting the Asian standard of ‘not too sweet’.
The PreGel’s Sweetness Reducer allows replacing up to 30% of the sucrose generally added to the recipe, thus obtaining a gelato with a reduced level of sweetness (compared to gelato made using sucrose) and a more compact and matte structure.
What is even more exciting is that it can be used not only for gelato but for baking as well. Meeting in between authenticity and less sweet in taste is now possible!
It is such an adventure to have joined the Amrichi Gelato Lab’s professional demonstrations & workshops, where they also have the full line of PreGel’s products for Malaysia’s F&B. Besides the gelato and sorbet bases, they have traditional pastes, Fortefrutto fruit pastes, variegates (ripples and toppings), the Pino Pinguino Line (PreGel’s iconic range of warm and cold creams known for their smooth, creamy texture even at frozen temperatures), the Sprint Line (Ready-to-Mix Instant Gelato Bases), stabilisers, emulsifiers & technical ingredients and pastry & dessert solutions.
Jeffrey welcomes the F&B community in Malaysia especially in Johor, to pay a visit and collaborate with them for Professional demonstrations & workshops, hands-on product trials,
R&D sessions for new flavours, training for gelato formulation & balancing, chef collaborations & educational events, and OEM and menu development support.
He can be reached via email at admin@amrichi.com or call at +601111717438
Amrichi Gelato Lab is located at 8-1 Blok G1, Pusat Perdagangan Ion Medini, 1, Persiaran Medini Sentral 6, Bandar Medini, 79250 Iskandar Puteri, Johor Darul Ta’zim.
