What Is Spumoni – And How Is It Different From Ice Cream?

If you’re like me, when you hear spumoni, one of the greatest scoops of all time comes to mind. Something swirled scoops can’t even touch; a flavor that laughs in the face of singular ice cream cartons as, clearly, three is superior to one.

But the popular ice cream flavor isn’t actually what spumoni is. That scoop is a version of the frozen dessert from Italy, utilizing the flavors but not the exact texture of the traditional spumoni.

What Is Spumoni?

Spumoni is a traditional dessert made with gelato, whipped cream, and mix-ins like candied fruit, nuts, and chocolate pieces. Gelato starts with a custard base that has a higher proportion of milk and a lower proportion of cream and eggs. That base is then churned slowly, creating a delightfully rich spoonful.

Folding whipped cream into gelato creates a wonderfully light texture. The name comes from the Italian word for foam, spuma. Popular mix-ins include candied fruit, chocolate bits or nibs, amaretto cookies, nuts, or some combination of them. Spumoni is often topped with a drizzle of chocolate syrup.

This gelato mixture is layered into molds and served in the shape of a cake or cut into slices. Spumoni is often referred to as a version of semifreddo, quite literally translating to “half-cold” or “half-frozen.”

What Are Traditional Spumoni Flavors?

The traditional flavors of spumoni are chocolate, cherry, and pistachio, though some versions may have vanilla instead of chocolate, as a more accurate representation of the Italian flag. Italian culture shows great pride in their food and often gravitates to the red, green, and white colors of their flag. 

How Is Spumoni Different From Ice Cream?

The differences between spumoni and ice cream are five-fold:

Type

Spumoni is made with gelato, folded together with whipped cream to turn something viewed more as a snack into a dessert. And, with the items mixed in, possible toppings, etc, spumoni is a more complex and composed frozen dessert. Ice cream is its own dessert, churned faster, using more cream and eggs.  

Fat

The gelato used in spumoni is lower in fat and calories, using more milk and less cream and eggs, or sometimes no eggs at all. This explains why Italians typically eat gelato as a snack, whereas Americans eat ice cream for dessert. 

Churning

Gelato is churned at a slower pace, reducing the amount of air in the final product. The result is something richer tasting and denser than ice cream.

Whipped Cream

Spumoni uses whipped cream folded into gelato to create a light-tasting dessert, whereas ice cream is simply a churned custard base. 

Mix-Ins

Ice cream may or may not have bits or chunks of things mixed in, but spumoni always has fresh or candied fruit, nuts, chocolate or cocoa nibs, and/or cookies folded inside its mixture.

Spumoni vs. Neapolitan

Like spumoni, Neapolitan ice cream is another 3-in-1 flavor; three ice creams layered side-by-side. It also features chocolate, but replaces cherry and pistachio with strawberry and vanilla.

It’s a bit more “classic” a combination for Americans, the flavors being chosen because they were the most popular in the early 1900s. Italian immigrants that brought the idea of this molded ice cream likely swapped the flavors to make it more appealing to the American audience. 

Neapolitan and spumoni are both Italian names; Neapolitan is named after Naples, and spumoni, comes from the Italian word for foam. Both are frozen treats that prove one need not choose when it comes to dairy-based joy. 

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