Ciao Bella Gelato

A few weeks ago, when my husband wasn’t feeling well, I went to the store for Tylenol, Kleenex, and throat lozenges, and ended up spending a bit of time in front of the ice cream coolers. I admit, it was a relief to be “off duty,” if only for twenty minutes, and I was going to enjoy the time away from hubby’s illness. Plus, I thought ice cream might numb his aching throat, and, well, just plain taste good. I browsed the usual Ben and Jerry’s section, scanned the Haagen Dazs and Dove pints. And then there they were, on the top shelf, sporting bright colors and interesting flavors—Ciao Bella Gelato.

If you’ve never had gelato, here’s the scoop. It’s an Italian-style ice cream that contains only twenty percent air by volume (as opposed to American ice cream’s 60 percent), and less butterfat. It’s incredibly smooth and rich. Often, one scoop will leave you more that satisfied.

The Ciao Bella company is based in New York, but you can find their products nationwide. In addition to gelato, they produce sorbets and other specialty desserts. Some of the gelato flavors are: bourbon butter pecan, caramel, chocolate hazelnut, cinnamon, coconut, dulce de leche, espresso, fromage blanc, ginger, green tea, hazelnut biscotti, lemon poppy seed, lychee, pistachio, rum raison, strawberry, several varieties of vanilla, and zabaione, plus a whole lot more. Their sorbets come in apricot chardonnay, blackberry cabernet, blood orange, cassis, champagne, chocolate orange, lemongrass coconut, mango, margarita, passion fruit, peach, pear, and many more. Don’t they all sound fabulous?! To view the full list, click here, and keep in mind that many of these flavors are available by the scoop at venues only. The pints come in more limited flavors. To find out where you can purchase a pint, or enjoy a scoop or two, you can search via your zip code on this page of Ciao Bella’s website. My local Safeway wasn’t on the list, however, and they had at least 6 varieties… If nobody in your area carries the brand, you can have it shipped to you. Keep in mind it will be expensive…

I took home a pint of chocolate hazelnut, and it was divine. Next on my list to try is the blood orange sorbet. Oh, yeah!