Speedy, speedy, speedy!!! Is that you? Do you need your desserts, be it gelato, sorbet or ice cream on tap, at the snap of your fingers? I think I may have found the perfect machine for you.
Hi, folks, Adrian here with the review of the DeLonghi GM6000 Gelato Maker.
About Gelato
Let me school y’all a little. You know and love your ice cream. You may have had gelato in a few Italian themed ice cream parlors and you realize there is actually a difference in the taste and ‘feel’ of the 2 desserts.
Gelato is a dessert preferred by some people due to its low calorie content. This is achieved by using whole milk instead of cream. This also allows gelato to have much greater density.
Gelato differs from ice cream in composition, as the volume of air in gelato is much less, giving you a really dense and smooth dessert.
How does this work
Having tried to make proper gelato at home with regular ice cream makers, I realise it’s never tastes quite right. While I’m not comparing it to the gelato that can be had from gelaterias in Italy, I still expected a level of similarity. This was sadly lacking though. With further research, I realized that to make real gelato, you have to ensure that there is no air present in the mixture when making the gelato.
Ice cream has about 50% air whipped into it during its production. This gives it a light, ‘fluffy’ taste. Gelato on the other hand, needs to be made with only about 20% to 30% air in it. This makes the gelato denser and creamier. This thickness intensifies the flavour.
The desire to recreate this effect at home is the reason DeLonghi, an Italian company of repute, created the DeLonghi GM6000 Gelato Maker with Self-Refrigerating Compressor. The design of this appliance incorporates an air tight lid that keeps all the air while preparing the dessert. In fact the machine will not run if the lid is off. The lid is a transparent, hermetic closure lid that creates an air tight seal, separating the mixture from the air outside. This is done for 2 major reasons:
- To get thick, creamy gelato, the dessert must be made at freezing temperatures, exposing it to slightly warmer air will affect what is eventually produced.
- The air tight seal also keeps the temperature inside the appliance consistent throughout the mixing process.
The internal refrigerating compressor that is built in the DeLonghi ensures that you can have gelato in a few minutes. No more waiting for hours for a bowl to be pre-frozen, before you can enjoy your dessert. This speed of production lets a user produce batch after batch of creamy dessert. From the initial mixing of ingredients to enjoying your first batch ready to consume takes 40minutes.
The in-built timer lets you know exactly when to stop the process and scoop out your gelato.
This appliance makes a cool 1.2 quarts of ice cream with every batch you produce. While you may think this is small, the DeLonghi makes up for this by being able to produce batches back to back. The small quantity produced also lets you experiment and make different flavors to cater to different tastes.
Features
This unit has its own in built compressor. This totally eliminates the need for pre-freezing of any kind. You can mix your ingredients on the spot at room temperature and still produce extremely delicious desserts. This is accomplished by the powerful compressor in the unit. The power of this compressor makes it a little on the heavy side, but that is a trade off.
The lid of this unit is specially designed to seal the mixture while in production and ensure that absolutely no air gets in, promoting consistent temperature and perfectly dense gelato consistency.
Design
It has a double sided paddle that produces the dessert by firmly and thoroughly churning the ice cream base consistently for 20 -30 minutes to produce perfect dessert. The in-built compressor gives it a unique advantage over many other ice creams as you don’t need to pre-freeze any bowl/drum. Simply pour in the mix, plug this kitchen gadget and you are minutes away from enjoying lovely dessert. The dessert it produces is exceptionally unique in its consistency, due to the unique lid this appliance has.
The whole process takes about 25 minutes.
The in-built compressor is filled with efficient R134A refrigerant gas, which doesn’t deplete the ozone layer. It is non-corrosive, non-toxic and non-flammable.
Easy cleaning
Cleanup is easy as you can pull out the stainless steel bowl, paddle and lid are all removable. The dasher paddle and bowl easily separate from the machine, making them easy to wash. I would advise you to wash these by hand, rather than putting in a dishwasher.
Be mindful of the slight groove at the top of the machine where the bowl opening is. If you are not careful, bits of your prepared dessert can fall in there. Don’t be afraid though, it’s easy to fit a folded paper towel in the groove and run it round with the edge of a table knife.
Uses
You can produce different treats with this machine, from gelato to ice cream to even sorbet. All in a little above 25 minutes from pouring the mixture in this kitchen gizmo.
Preparing any frozen dessert you can be long-winded with some machines. With the DeLonghi, it’s a very short period from pouring in ingredients to enjoying some of the best frozen afters you can ever imagine.
Instruction Manual
This DeLonghi GM6000 Gelato Maker comes with a recipe book and instructions on use. While some people may just want to dive into producing the desserts straight away using the include mix it-freeze it instructions, some others may want to invest a little more time and preparation to come up with totally unique flavours. You may also want to try I would suggest buying Torrance Kopfer’s book “Making Artisan Gelato.”
Dimensions
The DeLonghi is a well designed gadget that will fit easily on any kitchen counter top. Its size is 12.5 x 16.75 x 9.44, and weighs about 9 pounds.
It has a stainless steel finish with a sleek design.
It’s Pricey. Is It Worth It?
The DeLonghi may be a little pricey for some, but if you really want the taste and feel of real gelato, the preparation needs to keep as much air out as possible, during production. The DeLonghi GM6000 is built specifically for this. Try it out from Amazon with free Shipping.
