Ice cream produced using cocoa mass is the new frontier in the world of gourmet ice cream parlors, a specialty that has its roots in the history of Italian gastronomy and that today is proposed again by ice cream makers who want to uncompromisingly enhance the value of cocoa. Made of milk or water, mass ice cream is made just as it was made over two centuries ago using pure cocoa mass, the only one capable of naturally impart determination and balance, at the same time as enhancing its aromatic tones even at negative serving temperatures.
Ice cream as it once was
Andrea Mecozzi, a cocoa origin picker explains that "the first individuals to make cocoa sorbet definitely didn’t use powder which was created in Holland in 1826. Before then, only cocoa mass was used for all cocoa-based preparations, or rather primary processing: dried beans roasted and then pressed, often by hand". The first cocoa mass processing in fact dates back to much earlier, says Mecozzi. "In 1723 in the Palermo Statute of the Camera di Ciucculatari there are directions for the use of cocoa mass and it’s certain that those who enjoyed an excellent cocoa sorbet at that time didn’t use powder but indeed cocoa mass, skillfully squeezed by hand by the master ciucculatari.
Cocoa mass ice cream
Chosen today as a production method by those who want to enhance the importance of cocoa and its flavorsome tones, cocoa mass ice cream perfectly expresses the current trend in the world of ice cream producing parlors, so as to enhance the agricultural fresh elements by choosing ingredients from respected supply chains. Cocoa mass is in fact produced exclusively from the best roasted beans, peeled and pressed with a refining mill.
"In Italy there are very few of us making mass ice cream, a minority in fact, despite the growing trend”, explains Simone De Feo, owner of Cremeria Capolinea in Reggio Emilia. “Mass as an ingredient isn’t that common in our sector because for an ice-cream parlor it is a risky and expensive choice: mass costs more than chocolate coating (which is very common) and for ice-cream to be amazing, it must be of a high quality without any defects, just like the mass selected by Domori. Cocoa mass, however, is particularly recommended in ice cream parlors seen as how it consists of complex fatty matter that helps enhance the aroma at a negative temperature". In fact, due to the absence of sugar, it exhibits 100% aroma from the beans in a totally authentic way highlighting the qualities. Owing to the fact that only finest cocoa of the best varieties is used, there are different types of cocoa masses with different aromatic descriptions and origins.
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