Posted by Renée Suen in ice cream, product comparison on May 21, 2008 at 8:00 am

With summer just around the corner, I can't think of a greater way to cool down than with the delicious taste of gelato. Less fattening than traditional ice creams, gelato is usually made with milk, but, like ice cream, contains less than 35% air for that ideal density and creamy texture. I've found it tough to pinpoint the one gelateria worthy enough to spend my valuable calories and dollars. Not wanting to settle for any icy imitation, I was looking for a flavourful, aromatic product that tasted both fresh and pure - nothing artificial. Toronto offers its share of great eats, but debate ensues amongst foodies when the community is challenged with naming the best of any category. To satisfy my own curiosity, I did what any food obsessed person would do - I set up a taste test.

I recruited a bunch of like-minded (rather, stomached) individuals for the task. Voluntarily subjecting ourselves to dangerously high levels of sugar, our group agreed to have each participant bring at least one pint of gelato, and one sorbetto (dairy-free) to the chosen meet-up location. To standardize the taste test, we compared the classic pistachio flavour - Reale (I have qualms with this fluorescent almond marzipan tasting beast) or Sicilian (the real stuff). The sorbetto choice favoured banana, if available, due to the observation of various yellow hues that have disguised themselves as the fruit in many freezer chests.

As scientific as it sounds (seriously folks, we chose control subjects and all), our gathering resulted in the comparison of products from seven locations (omitting some by consensus due to reports of a thin mouthfeel and watery taste), including those from (in alphabetical order):

The Dessert Lady (20 Cumberland Street);

Hollywood Gelato (1640 Bayview Avenue) - two samples purchased at different times (which ended up being a revelation in product consistency);

La Paloma Gelateria and Café (1357 St Clair West);

Solferino Gelato Café (38 Wellington Street East);

Soma Chocolatemaker (55 Mill Street);

Swirls Cupcake (241 Queen Street South, Mississauga); and

Tvanele Dolce & Gelato Ltd. (35 Saint Joseph Street).

Because we knew that name association would create a bias, we assigned each set of frozen Italian treats a number, and then ranked all the gelatos and sorbettos by taste, aroma and texture. Armed with cups, plastic spoons, and a note pad, our testers ploughed through 14 pints of frozen dessert (with surprisingly too much left over), to reach our final verdict.

We started off with the easier comparison, making a sizeable dent in the surface of all the pistachio gelatos with our spoons and fiercely scribbling down our notes, probably with greater fervour than any one of us have done at an actual voting station. Although there was a tight race for the crowd favourite, the most interesting thing to note was the difference in opinion for the same flavour of gelato from Hollywood. In discussing this we realized that both gelatos were purchased at different times, perhaps coming from different batches (even their colours and textures were different), with our group highly favouring the richer week older version. Sadly, Solferino, which has arguably the best Sicilian pistachio gelato (with nut bits!) in Toronto was not present at our tasting, even though many of our testers agreed that it was their favourite in independent pre- and post-tasting experiences. From the ones we compared, the selection from La Paloma had the closest resemblance to having the ideal pistachio nut flavour, however it lacked the aromatic depth and body of a good Sicilian pistachio, and those swoon-inducing nut bits. Our group agreed that the remaining gelatos were decent, but not satisfying in their aroma or lingering mouthfeel; however we flat out rejected the florescent lime green version from Dolce & Gelato due to its violation to gelato-hood. I don't even think it tasted of pistachio, Reale or not.

Moving on to the remaining gelatos and sorbettos, we found a huge gap for mouthfeel and taste between all the players, convincing us which gelateria reigned supreme.

In our side-by-side comparisons, we were pleased to find that there was consistency in our top ranked (and least favoured) candidates and felt safe to unanimously proclaim Solferino to be our favourite gelateria in Toronto. All the gelatos from Solferino had a smooth consistency, melted nicely in the mouth, had a clean but lingering coat at the back of the throat along with great aroma and flavour. Thanks to a good group of friends, I know where I'll be heading every time I have a craving for some good gelato. Now let's see if anyone will bite for finding the city's best Belgium waffle...

Renée Suen is a graduate student at the University of Toronto, specializing in cardiovascular sciences. She has an insatiable appetite and can often be found with her camera, searching for something tasty to eat. Check out her quest for the ultimate pistachio gelato here.