Selezione Siviero Maria Vaniglia Bourbon Gelato

No, I did not learn to speak Italian. But I did eat some Italian Gelato. This fancy Italian brand, Selezione Siviero Maria, can be found at Schnucks'! What the name means is Selections of Siviero Maria which is the name of the wife of the founder of the company. This company has a couple of other brands of gelato with different names. I think this one is supposed to be the classy brand of this company, hence the selections. Class at it's finest. You also feel really fancy while eating this ice cream because the packaging is all in Italian so you actually have no idea what you are eating.

Of course, when my dad and I sat down to have some of this last night, we were wondering what exactly the whole Bourbon thing was all about. We knew that vanilla had something to do with vanilla in a solution of alcohol and water, so we though maybe Italians used Bourbon as opposed to rum or something. But why would Italians use an American alcohol to make their vanilla? Well they don't. Vanilla extract is just vanilla in a solution of pure, straight up ethyl alcohol and water. No rum, no Bourbon. In fact, Bourbon Vanilla has nothing to do with Bourbon the drink at all. It is named for where it's grown! Bourbon vanilla aka Madagascar Vanilla is grown on islands in the Indian Ocean such as Madagascar, the Comoros, and Reunion Island. The latter was formerly known as Bourbon Island, named after the French House of Bourbon in 1649. The more you know. Also, Madagascar vanilla is by far the most common, so this is probably the same stuff your standard vanilla ice cream uses if your standard vanilla ice cream actually uses a vanilla extract.

Look at that fancy design. Ooooooo aaaaaaaa

Now the gelato. The label says this gelato is 60% Italian fresh milk and .35% Bourbon vanilla extract. Is .35% more than a standard ice cream? Who knows, but I would guess so. This flavor was very sweet and had a much richer, stronger, more complex flavor than your standard vanilla ice cream flavor. In fact, you could kind of even taste the alcohol of the vanilla extract they used. Think about when you open a bottle of vanilla extract and smell it and it has that almost unpleasant odor, except in this gelato it was a very pleasant flavor. Definitely a vanilla gelato to be enjoyed without chocolate sauce. And that's a pretty high recommendation coming from someone who follows the dessert philosophy of my mother: "If it isn't chocolate, why bother?"

So what's the difference between gelato and ice cream anyway? I have to admit I am not an experienced gelato eater. According to Food Republic, gelato is lower in fat than ice cream because it's made with milk not cream, it doesn't have egg yolks in it very often like ice cream does, and it's churned slower so it has less air. Because of these differences gelato is usually served 10-15 degrees warmer than ice cream. But then again, the temperature of my freezer is what it is, so I'm not gonna get that difference at home. Could I taste a difference in texture? Not really. This gelato was dense, but it didn't seem much denser than a very dense ice cream. However, I could kind of tell it had less fat than your standard ice cream. But was it good and worth eating again? Yes. Maybe a more sophisticated gelato eater would be able to tell you more about how this brand's texture stacks up, and maybe over time, I'll eat more gelato and be that person.

Want to know my (chocolate) sauces?
http://www.g7gelati.it/index.php#horizontal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_extract
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_vanilla#Cultivars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union#History
http://www.foodterms.com/encyclopedia/vanilla/index.html
http://www.foodrepublic.com/2013/08/13/whats-difference-between-ice-cream-and-gelato