Feeling like the 4th of July!

Red, white, and blue is having a stupendous run this week.  America is teeming with extra Patriotism first rallying for a Team USA win in the World Cup and the headliner event tomorrow on the 4th of July.  Dessert is the ideal means to keep the spirit flush right into the celebration of our nation’s independence.  

Sweet treats are a necessity for any style 4th of July party.  Frozen treats are even better, the supreme choice to beat the heat with added happiness. Serve up sorbetto smoothies for a refreshing and simple crowd pleaser.  Made with premium whole fruits sorbetto, gelato without milk, is dairy-free, gluten-free and fat-free!Sorbetto smoothies are delicious, healthy, and transportable. Serve each flavor (see recipes below) in clear cups with blue straws for an added bonus of having red, white, and blue covered.  

Pino Gelato smoothies

RED:

3 scoops strawberry, watermelon, and/or raspberry sorbetto

seltzer water

optional (sweetener):

½ cup San Pellegrino Sparkling Aranciata Rosso (blood orange)

photo credit: drinks.seriouseats.com 

WHITE:

3 scoops lemon sorbetto

seltzer water

optional (sweetener):

½ cup San Pellegrino Sparkling Limonata (lemon) or Pompelmo (grapefruit)

BLUE:

etsy.com

Fruit pies or fruit crumbs are a hit acting as a summertime staple at gatherings. For a perfectly simple method, written in steps in a ‘create-your-own-crumb’ style, follow the basic crumb instructions at Food52… but for everyone’s added benefit be certain to top servings of the crumb creation with a scoop of gelato!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

Toast to Happiness!

Winter drab has gone on long enough. People in most parts of the country need a bit of hoopla to entertain at this point.  No need to rush to the local watering hole, keep it downright interesting with an adult beverage, complete with gelato.     

Mixologists have affirmed the creative cocktail trend is here to stay.  More advantageous? Bartenders ahead of the curve are mixing alcohol and gelato to create the happiest of hours in existence.  

Recently, a list of 15 Food Reasons Italians Are Better at Life appeared on Huffington Post (an enthused shout out to numbers 12, and 1), to build upon this accurate list number 16 easily should be Italian liquors.  Campari, Limoncello, Sambuca, Frangelico; the span of flavor across the famed spirits of Italy are ideal to infuse in gelato or sorbetto to create supreme recipes combining alcohol and the luxury frozen dessert.  It is becoming increasingly more common to find gelato with rum or another standard spirit on menus across the world.

A gelato cocktail that will go over well with everyone.

Surely, one of the most fabulous ways to enjoy gelato and get through the impending storms is to add a dash of the “good stuff” for a tasty way to make it to spring.  A favorite gelato cocktail recipe brilliantly uses pistachio gelato, espresso, and coconut to make a luscious concoction.  Worthy modifications include caramel drizzle on the rim, best served in a chilled glass. Honestly, even a "plain" vanilla gelato cocktail is delicious.

Gelato and Italian liquors add sophistication to dessert time and/or happy hour.  Celebrate this match made in heaven with a gelato cocktail toast to happiness!

Pino Gelato is available in quarts and pints for you to order to make your own gelato cocktail recipe at home! Please share your favorites with us in the comments section. Salute!

Sweet Celebration this 4th of July!

Sweeten up the celebration this Independence Day!  The Fourth of July has approached rapidly this year, it is time to slow down and honor our nation with family and friends in a traditional backyard gathering.  Widespread heat waves throughout The USA call on us to cool down guests with frozen treats this Thursday.  Gelato flag cake, yes please.

 Pino Gelato Flag Cake!

Keeping guests cool in a simple atmosphere is a combination perfect for serving up frosty drinks, ice-cold dessert, and a tremendous avenue to showcase the holiday’s symbolic colors red, white, and blue.  Offer guests homemade lemonade and iced tea with a scoop of lemon sorbetto and fresh mint leaves.  To promote the color scheme offer fresh or frozen blue berries and raspberries to up the ante in the frozen drinks.  Another amazing festive option is to incorporate this great fizzy, fruit float drink using a more decadent route by topping with vanilla gelato (the straws are awesome).  Simple, refreshing, and fun, exactly what the 4^th of July exudes.

Photo: Jennifer Davick, Prop Styling: Amy Burke, Food Styling: Marian Cooper Cairns

Start the day with a local parade or festival to truly immerse into the honoring of our country.  There is something very American about celebrating with neighbors and members of the community, to be a part of it.  Once gathered in the backyard, keep the menu simple with grilled entrees and classic side dishes.  For dessert a gelato flag cake provides the perfect holiday showcase while satisfying the sweet tooth in all.  Serving quarts of gelato and sorbetto is another fuss-free route to take to beat the heat in a tasty way.  Gelato on stand-by for topping pies (a la mode) is also a huge favorite, as well as an American staple. Cool desserts covered!

Host or partake in a sweet party to celebrate Independence Day, just follow these tips to be sure to keep cool.  Happy Fourth of July!

Awesome compilation of fireworks!

Health behind Gelato

To stay congruent with the overall health vibe January induces in many American’s homes, the information here intends to lighten the load and expose the actual health perks gelato offers. 

Gelato is made predominantly with milk, which means it is 93% fat-free. By law, ice cream must contain more than 10% butterfat in the United States to be considered ice cream.

Manufacturers typically whip air into their ice cream products, which results in over 50% of air by volume. Gelato does not have all this air whipped into it, which means it is a dense, rich product full of flavor. This texture makes it thick and “creamy” without the use of heavy cream.  Because ice cream contains more than twice as much air as gelato, the high fat content in the heavy cream allows ice cream to maintain a creamy texture.  Sorbetto, gelato without milk, is dairy-free, gluten-free and fat-free. Making these Italian treats all-inclusive.

Gelato is produced in small batches with only the best available premium ingredients versus the mass production of ice cream made months prior to consumption. Gelato is lower in fat content per serving and lower in calories per serving versus ice cream.  The rich texture and flavor of gelato allows for true indulgence and satiety in lesser quantity.

Often gelato varieties have flavors with fresh seasonal fruits or the best chocolate products. Used are products such as whole fruits, real espresso and premium high cocoa content chocolate to give gelato the best possible flavor. Chocolate has benefits conducive to health as well, from antioxidants, to stress relief, and a natural metabolism booster from the caffeine content.  Fresh fruits are an everyday staple as they provide a bevy of vitamins and recommended nutrients. Some ingredients are imported from Italy, to keep the true flavor of authentic Italian gelato.  The combination with the healthy fats in gelato allow consumption of these pairings to go unhindered and become a celebration, a choice, and a delicious portion to achieving a healthy lifestyle. 

Eat gelato!

Tough decisions...

When customers step in a Pino Gelato, they are amazed by the presentation and flavor varieties we offer. As they sample our flavors, it sometimes seems people have a harder time choosing a flavor than naming their first-born child!

Now, while we love our customers, we think it is time to make it even harder on you. That’s right, it’s time to add new flavors to our list!

But choosing flavors is not just hard on our customers! The Pino Gelato team needs your help choosing  new flavors that we can include in our stores. Do you enjoy traditional gelato flavors, like chocolate, hazelnut and pistachio…or are your favorites some of the non-traditional, like Reese’s and Cream or Ocean Caramel? 

Here’s where you come in… We have heard suggestions ranging from lilac to a chocolate-chocolate chip gelato. No idea is too ordinary or too wild (in fact, we can’t wait to hear the wild)! 

Straciatella (Chocolate Chip) is a traditional Italian flavor; while Peanut Butter hits the spot for others!

Please let us know what flavors you would like to see, whether you have seen it before, or you are the creator. In fact, we will name the best flavor suggestion after the person who suggests it for its first 2 months in our corporate store on Hilton Head Island, SC.

 We appreciate your input, and can’t wait to hear your ideas!

Earth Day

We celebrated Earth Day on April 21st with Experience Green and Hilton Head Monthly at Shelter Cove Community Park. We are very passionate about being green and take steps at making a difference, we call it “greenifying.”

Carolina and the zumba girls enjoying some Pino Gelato

We participate in a program with our local power supplier that allows us to buy power from renewable energy sources like wind turbines and solar panels. They estimate the environmental benefits of choosing renewable energy sources each year are the same as not driving a car for three months!

In our store, we use biodegradable cups, to-go containers, napkins and trash can liners. We clean with environmentally friendly products, and have replaced our floor mats, and our ceiling and floor tiles with ones made from recycled materials. We always recycle plastic, there are so many plastic bottles and bags that the average American uses each year, and recycling these items is so much better for the environment. We even spotted the Bag Monster at the Earth Day event!

Don't Feed the Bag Monster!

We can go green in all parts of our daily routines, because it isn’t just recycling. We can also use environmentally friendly products, or be aware of our energy consumption. Our employees at Pino Gelato take pride in our green efforts, and apply our “greenification” to our personal lives as well.

The energy saved from recycling a single aluminum can is enough to power your TV for three hours! Recycling paper is important too. For every ton of paper that is recycled, 20 trees and an amazing 7,000 gallons of water are saved.

Lets talk about the computer you are reading this blog on, if you left it on for the entire time you owned it, it wouldn’t use as much energy as it took to make it. In fact, you wouldn’t even use 1/4 of the energy required to make it.

Did you know that “quadrillion” was a word? Me neither. Well it turns out the United States consumes over 99 quadrillion BTUs of energy per years…that’s 15 zeros. One BTU is equal to the energy from lighting a single match. It feels good to take steps at reducing our energy consumption and using renewable sources whenever we can.

Nick Wheeler is a thirteen-year-old local resident who cares very much about our environment, and we got a chance to chat over some gelato at the event. Nick started a non-profit organization called “Kids Helping Kids Help the Environment", which has cleanup events at local beaches and parks. You can check out their Facebook page.

                            

We all can make a difference

We are always looking for new ways to “greenify.” What do you do at home to help our environment? Do you reuse something that most people would throw away, or use green products that you want to tell people about? Let us know as we strive to be greener and greener.