Ice-cream: growing quality and awareness. 10 good examples in Rome

Healthy and natural flavours, quality ingredients and allergen-free products are a must in order to meet the demand of an ever more informed, demanding and health-conscious consumer in the world of ice-cream, as in the rest of the food sector.

According to the managers of the main ice-cream parlours in the Italian capital, be it for ethical, religious, or mere health reasons, today’s consumers are extremely varied. Vegans, celiacs, vegetarians, health-seekers and the intolerant all need to be satisfied.

It is therefore no longer enough to have a wide range and to be able to entice the curiosity of the consumers’ taste buds. We need to increase the awareness to food diversity and the quality of raw materials by offering natural, gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free flavours. Powders, syrups and chemical aromas are outlaws. In their place, organic ingredients and fresh seasonal fruit, PDO and GPI products. Quality not quantity.

Creativity and a clever flavour combinations are welcome. As at Otaleg – described by many as having the best ice-cream in Rome – who daily chooses the best raw materials which the market has to offer and then works them with a painstakingly slow method, without shortcuts, in order to offer its customers gourmet savoury tastes (among others, we point out Broad bean and pecorino, Parmesan cheese with basil and Artichoke) along side their excellent range of rich creamy flavours.

Or Strawberry Fields which pays attention to diversity, one of its strengths, by offering a wide range of lactose and egg-free flavours and produces ice-cream that is based on a meticulous selection of strictly seasonal ingredients.

In general, Rome can boast a large number of excellent ice-cream parlours, with very high quality ingredients and with a varied offer that can satisfy the most demanding tastes, in terms of real customer service. Let us name a few, from the locals’ most common favourites – the “tastiest” and the trendiest – in no particular order. But we do not stop there. Dolcesalato will go to each one of these laboratories to tell their stories of the people, who are the heart and souls. These are stories of passion, commitment and research that end up every day in the ice-cream they produce. This is not ordered list of winners but a collection of evidence of how the ice-cream market is expected to grow and evolve to keep up with the times. Stay tuned!