gelato

Here in Italy, food comes in seasons. The grocery store isn’t packed with peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, squash, and salad year-round. Well, okay, some are. But those are the big chains, and even they will have their supply issues in the winter, battling other major grocery store chains for the fresh produce grown in Sub-Saharan Africa and South America.
“Real” Italy, the old-school picturesque Italy, still has seasons for their foods, and gelato is just another food with just another season.
There’s a sense of excitement in the air during that first weekend of gelato season. Curiosity, too. What kind of flavors will they have? Will someone have been creative, trying to use the last of the artichokes or loquat in their own artisanal blend? I’ve often found myself holding a cone of an experiment that probably shouldn’t have happened, but I’m excited someone tried. In the spirit of that, I want to try and impart some of my knowledge — knowledge, mind you, that came at a hefty caloric toll — to anyone searching for the best gelato. Or, perhaps more specifically, how to find the best gelato.