There’s nothing that quite screams summer like ice cream. So this week, we thought team Pasta Grannies would share their favourite flavours and the memories that come with them.
And, if you fancy making a sweet treat of your own? Vicky’s recipe for Lime and Ginger Sorbet is available on the website for our Pasta Grannies members too.
Linda, Nocciola
I’m not a huge ice cream fan — most of it is just too sweet for my taste. But I would eat hazelnut ice cream all year round, especially the kind with actual hazelnut pieces in it. It’s creamy, rich, and just the right amount of sweetness without being overwhelming. There’s something about the nuttiness that balances everything out. I never get tired of it.
I think it’s because I like hazelnut-flavoured everything! When Vicky and I went to Los Angeles, we stayed in an Airbnb in Long Beach for a couple of days and in the morning I found a hazelnut-flavoured coffee creamer in the fridge. It was delicious!
Megan, Stracciatella e Limone (ideally together)
Growing up, I was lucky enough to be taken to Tuscany every year for my summer holidays. Our family friends had a beautiful little villa perched on some remote hills not too far from Castellina in Chianti, so we would often stay with them or rent the bungalow next door. Summers were hot, and naturally, gelato was a big part of the memories.
I distinctly remember “inventing” a combination of flavours that, at the time, most people seemed to find surprising for a 7‑year‑old girl — but 30 years on, I still stand by it, and not just for the nostalgia! Creamy stracciatella with a scoop of refreshingly tart limone sorbet nestled next to it. I suppose it’s really not far off a lemon tart with cream, so I was definitely on to something!
On my holiday to Menorca a few months ago, I couldn’t resist a nostalgia trip and ordered my usual — stracciatella and limone — and it didn’t disappoint.
Vicky, Pistacchio Salato
Chocolate can hang around in my larder for years, unnibbled. Salted nuts, on the other hand, have to be squirrelled away so I forget where they are — otherwise, the packet is devoured in hours. Hence, I like gelato al pistacchio salato: my favourite flavours but creamed, iced, and preferably spooned or licked while strolling down an Italian street.
It’s my ‘let’s see if they’re any good’ flavour whenever I try a new gelateria, with marks deducted if it’s not on their list. And my favourite place to indulge? It’s Cremeria Santo Stefano in Bologna, where I first tried the flavour. First love and all that.
Livia, Hazelnut-based flavours in winter; fruits for summer
In the summer, I really enjoy eating ice cream to cool off.
I live in Faenza, in Emilia-Romagna, and near my house there’s my favourite gelato shop, Linus. It’s so close that it only takes a one-minute walk. How convenient!
My mother and father have always really liked ice cream, and often in the evening, after we finish eating, I take a quick walk there and buy some for them. In the winter, I like creamier and richer flavours like bacio with whole hazelnuts, stracciatella, and croccantino. In the summer, instead, I prefer fruit-based flavours.
And when I travel to other parts of Italy, I like to benchmark these against Linus’ flavours. During my last beach trip in Calabria, I still remember it perfectly — strawberry and peach. Looking at this picture, I feel like I can almost taste the salt and the sun on my skin.
Michaella, Amarena
It’s not a holiday to me until I’ve had a gelato. I love the light, milky taste of fior di latte laced with the rich, sour, sticky blend of the cherries. It’s the perfect balance of sophisticated and sweet, and it reminds me of feeling grown-up — heading out for a post-dinner treat and plucking up the courage, aged 7, to order una coppetta in Italian (before the self-awareness that comes with age saw my language skills quickly fall off a cliff).
Amarena reminds me of my mamma. Her mamma (my nonna) kept blue-and-white-everything in her kitchen, and Amarena’s signature jars were always tucked decoratively on the shelves to match her blue and white china. Now, my mum has adopted the same habit and keeps all sorts in them: stock cubes, sugar sachets — she even uses them as utensil holders. Of course, before doing so, she devours the cherries from the inside.
So when I have that first tiny plastic spoonful from my cup each summer, I’m reminded of the many blue-and-white kitchens I’ve stood in, and somewhere, as it hits my tongue, I know that my favourite ice cream flavour is likely to be handed down to the future generation below me too.
Do you have a favourite ice cream flavour? Does it bring back holiday memories? Let us know! hello@pastagrannies.com
