In Italy, even the flavours of gelato are custom to the whims of fashion. There are a couple of flavours, very common when I was a child in the 1980s, which you very rarely find nowadays, but which for me say still say Italian summer.
The first flavour, which might seem a little odd, even macabre, was Smurf. That’s right. The little blue people that lived in Smurfland. The Smurfs, or I Puffi, were very popular in 1980s Italy and there was merchandise to collect everywhere. I remember that there was a particular brand of cream cheese that used to include Smurf stickers in the packets, and kids would go to school with Smurf rucksacks and exercise books. In Italy, you have to take a special diary to school with you and the summer shops are full of these in the latest designs reminding kids that even though the holidays have just started back to school will come soon enough. I remember wanting the Smurf version which to a ten-year-old was very cool.
Smurf gelato was, as you’d expect, blue and tasted of marzipan. I suspect that it was supposed to have been made of Smurf, but the kids didn’t seem to care and were very happy to consume it. Nowadays I expect it would have carried an advisory: no Smurfs were harmed in the making of this gelato.
The second flavour, and one which I crave to this day, is Malaga. This was made with uva malaga, spanish raisins from the city of that name, and rum. It was incredibly popular and most gelaterie, carried it as one of their stock flavours along with lemon, strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. Today, however, it’s almost impossible to find. I friend and I went on a gelateria crawl of Florence one hot summer’s day recently and gave up in the end, no malaga gelato to be had that day.
Of course, if you have a gelato machine at home, all is not lost. You can make malaga gelato using the recipe below. Unfortunately it’s really impossible to make authentic style gelato without a machine but you can get them relatively cheaply. A couple of years ago, I invested in a more robust and expensive one which I have always taken as an excuse to eat more gelato. Buon appetito!
What flavours remind you of childhood?
Gelato malaga
Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 10 minutes (+ 30 minutes soaking time)
Churning time: 30 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
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Ingredients
100g (3 1/2 ounces) uva malaga, or sultanas
4 tablespoons rum
4 egg yolks
150g (2/3 cup) sugar
300ml (1 1/4 cups) milk
150ml (2/3 cup) single cream
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Method
- Put the sultanas in a bowl and cover with the rum. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or better overnight.
- Put the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk together until the eggs begin to turn pale.
- Add the milk and cream and whisk to combine.
- Put the mixture in a saucepan and heat very, very gently being careful not to bring to the boil. The mixture should just begin to thicken so that it coats the back of a spoon. Leave to cool.
- Freeze the mixture in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. This should take about 30 minutes.
- Leaving the gelato in the machine, add the sultanas and remaining rum and continue to churn for about two minutes until combined.
- Transfer the gelato to a plastic container with a lid and then put in the freezer until ready to serve.
I am polling my friends to see if anyone has a gelato machine!
Willing one to have one.
You know I love a spot of food colouring, so I’d naturally go for the Smurf! 😉
Well Fanny was still alive when it was popular …!
And I had just managed to convince myself that Ive no desire for a gelato tonight… ps: this looks divine!
Thanks! You ALWAYS need a gelato.
😀 That is an undeniable fact of life! OK, so that’s it then – am going gelato shopping first thing tomorrow morning (don’t have the machine or I would be making it each day for sure)
I just ate some of the malaga sitting on my terrace in the warm Tuscan evening reading Elena Ferrante. Paradiso!
La serata perfetta per godere la vita. 🙂
Hai ragione.
By the way, because my late husband had a white beard the kids would call him Papa Smurf….in Italian that would be Babbo Puffo…right? Google translate shows it as Grande Puffo!
I eat a lot of blue food but probably not gelato…but only because there are so many other amazing flavors.
That’s so nice! Yes he was Grande Puffo in Italian. There are indeed a lot of amazing gelato flavours! More coming to the blog soon.
I’ll have to remember to have a picture of Jim when we meet in Venice in March. The beard was great but I refused to let him paint himself blue…even for Halloween!
I bet he made a great Babbo Natale though? I’d love to see a picture, thanks!
Yes, indeed…even though he didn’t have the padding they put on here in the States.
Thanks for the explanation of malaga gelato. Quite a number of years ago I remember going to a gelateria somewhere in Rome with a Neapolitan friend who ordered malaga and said that I had to try it, but he didn’t really know what was in it. I’m always hesitant with deserts as I don’t like nuts. He wasn’t able to explain the ingredients, but I remember quite enjoying it. The pieces of fruit weren’t as clear as the raisins in your photo, but then again, it was sort of dark out. I was quite intrigued by the taste, I must say.
As for an ice cream taste from my childhood, I always remember the creamsicle fondly. I haven’t had one in years. It was a US popsicle brand – vanilla ice cream covered with an orange flavoring of some sort.
It seems that real Italian Malaga was made with either Malaga wine or Marsala rather than rum.
When I lived in Italy I used to say that Malaga gelato is what rum raisin ice cream would taste like in heaven.
Any thoughts?
I just returned from Italy and found a good amont of Malaga gelato available. Must be making a comeback! Thanks for the recipe.
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You brought back wonderful memories with the Malaga gelato Thank you Carla
In Germany it’s still a standard flavor in most Ice cream shops.