Are you only as good as your gelato machine? Well, not really. It’s the ingredients that count. There are many kinds of gelato machines at various price levels; some have their own freezers and others rely on a canister that is kept frozen and put back in the freezer after each use. My workhorse model is the economical three-speed Cuisinart ICE-70C for ice cream, sorbet and gelato; it costs only $179.99 at amazon.ca.

The 25-minute ice cream and 40-minute sorbet settings rotate the bowl at 62 rpm, and the gelato setting, a slower 49 rpm, takes 30 minutes, reflecting different aspects of each style. It comes with a canister that’s kept in the freezer and used for churning.

If you make gelato in the morning and then again at night it probably can be used twice a day. You pour in the chilled mix, pick which style to be churned, press the corresponding button, and walk away. It chimes when the time is up. There is an incredibly detailed, scientific review here.  As value added, there is a Cuisinart recipe book, with all three categories as well as sauces for frozen desserts. They are also available online, but the book is handy, and it among the best in the home gelato field.

When it’s done, scoop the finished product into containers like the Tovolo one quart tub, $14.32 each. They are air tight, very important to preserve freshness.

I also stock mini tubs for samples, like the Tovolo Sweet Treat 6 oz. set of four for $31.68. Another essential is a good scoop and the New York Times Wirecutter product review section recommends the Zeroll Ice Cream Scoop, which has been around since 1935, saying it “looks dead simple but the genius is in the handle.” Its 85-year-old technology with heat conductive liquid in the grip uses “the heat of your hand to warm and soften even the hardest” flavours. It comes in three sizes, ranging in price from $20.93 to $46.92, also at Amazon.ca. Scoop shops swear by it, with many ecstatic reviews. There you have it; now you are ready to make gelato, just like I do.