What is Crema?

One of the most confusing gelato flavors, if judging solely by name

If you're about to order and you're panicking, "crema" is what the English-speaking world calls custard.

If you don't speak a word of Italian, you might think that "crema" means "cream" and it's going to be a very inoffensive flavor and that would be incorrect. Crema is closer to pastry custard than fresh cream since egg yolks give crema its distinctive yellow color, and because of this, it can definitely have an "eggy" taste which can be amazing if it's from a gelateria that uses fresh eggs, but it can also be a weird egg-flavored gelato.

If you're a gelato purist and you want to try the most stripped down flavors a gelateria has to offer in order to better judge the quality of ingredients, crema (or fior di latte) will make that happen.

Sometimes—not often, but sometimes—a gelateria will infuse a little bit of cinnamon or nutmeg into the custard. This can give it an interesting, more floral, quality, but I wanted to mention it for those of you with allergies.