The Difference Between Ice Cream, Gelato, Sorbet, and Sherbet
Cold desserts are loved by a lot of people. However, it’s not very obvious what the difference between ice cream and gelato is, or between sorbet and sherbet.
5-Minute Crafts is going to tell you about each of these cold desserts and teach you how to not confuse them.
Ice cream
Ice cream is made from a custard made of milk, cream, sweetener, and often egg yolks.
Among all the cold desserts, ice cream has the highest concentration of milk fat which varies from 14% to 25%. It also has a fluffy, creamy texture. During the production, it’s whipped at very high speeds adding air bubbles into the mix. This is where it gets the texture from.
Ice cream comes with a lot of different flavors. It can be made from chocolate, strawberry, pistachios, and caramel.
Ice cream is served at between 6 and 10°F which makes it the coldest of frozen desserts. The temperature numbs the taste buds, so strong flavors don’t come through as well as they do in other frozen desserts.
Gelato
Even though gelato means ice cream in Italian, this dessert is different from ice cream. It contains less milk fat and during the production it gets less air which makes the texture thicker.
Like ice cream, gelato can have a lot of different flavors but it’s served at a higher temperature: it shouldn’t be too firm, so that it’s easy to chew. It’s served at 10-22°F and has a richer taste and a softer texture.
Sorbet
Sorbet doesn’t contain anything but fruit and sugar. It’s often made in ice cream makers which makes the texture soft enough to eat with a spoon but still not creamy.
Sorbet is a low-calorie dessert because it doesn’t contain cream. The absence of cream makes the texture lighter compared to other frozen desserts. Because only fruit is used in sorbet, it doesn’t have many flavors.
The temperature it’s served at also varies from 10 to 22°F, which makes it soft and rich in its taste.
Sherbet
Sherbet is somewhere in between sorbet and ice cream. Just like sorbet, sherbet is made from fruit but is also contain milk or cream. This is why is has a creamier texture than sorbet.
Because it contains only a little bit of dairy products, there’s only around 1-2% of fat in sherbet. The flavors are also not very diverse and it’s served at the same temperature as sorbet.