calories: our gelato vs ice cream
Since our opening, various customers asked us info about the gelato nutrition facts, especially about calories, so we decided to write this article to give you more information about it. As already mentioned in the “Gelato FAQs” section, gelato is different from ice cream, it’s actually a different product, and there are important differences as explained in the FAQs: ingredients, making process, temperature and flavor. If you’d like to know more about these differences please check them here.
Before talking about the numbers we must make an important premise: the way we’re going to calculate the calories since there are different ways to do it.
In Italy we are used to sell gelato containers by weight, and the price is per kg (which is equal to 2.2 lbs), while ice cream containers in the US are sold by volume, usually per pint or per quart. Also in Italy (and Europe) there is a different way to count the calories that is not per serving but per 100 grams, equal to 3.5 oz.
Why are there these differences? Well, the answer is easy: if they sell you ice cream by weight, you’d know how much air you are paying for since ice cream has much more air than gelato, so it’s also less dense (this point is also explained in the FAQs section). Selling it by volume makes it sound like there is more of it, while selling it by weight would make it seem less.
This is also the reason why for the same weight, a gelato amount seems smaller compared to ice cream: it’s because gelato is denser. Thanks to this, you can be satisfied with a smaller quantity of gelato since ice cream has more air.
And about the serving size, since every brand chooses a different measure, it’s not that easy to make a quick comparison while if you use a fixed measure, such as 100 grams, you can immediately realize what product is healthier.
In our opinion the best way to make a comparison is by weight, not volume.
And finally let’s take a look at the numbers! Please remember that all our values are indicative since we calculated them through a recipe nutrition calculator, so just to stay safe please consider a +/- 10% difference.
All the info are based on a 100 grams quantity, which is equal to 3.5 ounces.
Lastly, to keep it short and simple, we compared the calories of six of the most popular flavors from the most famous ice cream brands, and we also included Talenti, that is (industrial) gelato, not ice cream.
As you can see, artisan gelato has far fewer calories compared to ice cream, but that’s not all, far fewer calories also compared to industrial gelato, such as Talenti.
The only flavor that has similar calories is Cookies and Cream, but this is due to the fact that we place A LOT of cookies, so basically it’s the cookies that make the calories count higher, not the gelato base.
The different calorie amount also has a relationship with the ingredients (and their quality) used to make artisan gelato and ice cream, but we won’t talk about that in this post.
So remember, gelato is healthier and contains fewer calories than ice cream, as well as being tastier, so you can enjoy it without feeling guilty about your diet!