Pistachio Gelato
Pistachio Gelato
One of the most requested recipes has been a pistachio gelato! This has a great pistachio flavour with a natural colour and smooth texture.
Pistachio paste is an expensive ingredient, so you can make it yourself, but you’ll need a high-powered food processor and some really good quality bright green pistachios, like Sicilian ones!
A high end gelato/ice cream machine is really important here too, as the built-in chiller will maintain a constant cold temperature to ensure small ice crystal formation while the mixture churns. I use the Musso Lussino 4080.
Ingredients
Method
Into a small bowl, add 20g of the caster/white sugar and the ice cream stabiliser. Stir these together to combine and set to one side.
Add the remaining caster/white sugar, pistachio paste, dextrose, skimmed milk powder and whole milk to a medium saucepan.
Place the pan onto a medium heat and whisk until it reaches 45C/113F. Once at temperature, add in the sugar/stabiliser mixture and keep whisking.
Cook the mixture until it reaches 85C/185F the immediately remove it from the heat.
Pour it into a clean bowl and blend with a hand blender for a minute to emulsify.
Get the bowl into a sink full of ice water and stir it occasionally for around 15 minutes to cool it down. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate the base overnight to mature it.
The next day, if you are using an ice cream/gelato machine with a chilling unit, turn it on about 15 minutes ahead of time to get the bowl cold. If you are using a stand mixer freezer bowl there is no need to do this - although note you will not get the best texture with one of these as they cannot chill the gelato to the correct temperature.
Blend the pistachio gelato base one more time and then pour it into your machine to churn. It will take anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on your machine.
The gelato should be a scoop-able texture but depending on your machine, may need to go back into the freezer for a few hours to firm up. Scoop it into a container and freeze it. Ideally this needs to be churned and served on the same day so up to 6 hours in the freezer is long enough. As the gelato freezes, the sugars begin to re-crystallise which makes the gelato go icy. As the recipe has a stabiliser in it along with skimmed milk powder, we are doing everything we can to trap as much water too, but eventually the texture will deteriorate.
Ingredients
Directions
Into a small bowl, add 20g of the caster/white sugar and the ice cream stabiliser. Stir these together to combine and set to one side.
Add the remaining caster/white sugar, pistachio paste, dextrose, skimmed milk powder and whole milk to a medium saucepan.
Place the pan onto a medium heat and whisk until it reaches 45C/113F. Once at temperature, add in the sugar/stabiliser mixture and keep whisking.
Cook the mixture until it reaches 85C/185F the immediately remove it from the heat.
Pour it into a clean bowl and blend with a hand blender for a minute to emulsify.
Get the bowl into a sink full of ice water and stir it occasionally for around 15 minutes to cool it down. Cover the surface with cling film and refrigerate the base overnight to mature it.
The next day, if you are using an ice cream/gelato machine with a chilling unit, turn it on about 15 minutes ahead of time to get the bowl cold. If you are using a stand mixer freezer bowl there is no need to do this - although note you will not get the best texture with one of these as they cannot chill the gelato to the correct temperature.
Blend the pistachio gelato base one more time and then pour it into your machine to churn. It will take anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on your machine.
The gelato should be a scoop-able texture but depending on your machine, may need to go back into the freezer for a few hours to firm up. Scoop it into a container and freeze it. Ideally this needs to be churned and served on the same day so up to 6 hours in the freezer is long enough. As the gelato freezes, the sugars begin to re-crystallise which makes the gelato go icy. As the recipe has a stabiliser in it along with skimmed milk powder, we are doing everything we can to trap as much water too, but eventually the texture will deteriorate.
Hi Matt, what can be substituted for dextrose? Thanks
I’m afraid you need it
What brand of paste is best
Linked in the recipe
Hi Matt! It’s extremely difficult to get LBG here in Hong Kong. Iwas wondering if I swap it with guar gum, do I need to adjust the dosage? As I know LBG sucks more moisture out.
I haven’t tried GG before but that could work or just a generic ice cream stabiliser!
Hi matt
What is a ice cream stabilizer? Can I substitute it for something else?
Linked in the recipe – it can’t be skipped
How large of a mixer do you use?
Linked in the equipment list
does this work with Paco Jet?
I don’t own one so not sure about that
What pistachio paste did you use? Or, did you make your own?
Linked in the recipe for you
Hey. Thanks for the recipe. Will try it.
What is the purpose of using Dextrose please? As opposed to sucrose?
Thanks
Alexis
It adds body to the gelato, while being less sweet and lowering the freezing point (which makes it softer when you serve)
Hi Matt, thanks for sharing. I made this recipe (and the chocolate) and finished it my ninja Icecreami (basically a domestic paco jet) and was pleased with the result. I thought it may not have been as light as yours, but it was great. Very important to be accurate with the gum measurement … can leave a weird consistency if you put too much in. Thanks again.
Ok I clicked on the pistachio paste, is it the gusto brand that you use?
I use Callebaut Pistachio Paste – it might be the amazon is auto redirecting you to an alternative!
Can I use full fat milk powder? What is the reason for skim milk powder?
You need skimmed milk powder. It’s important in capturing loose water particles. We don’t want any additional fat.
What is the reason to add the stabilizer mixture at 43°C and to stop cooking at 85°C?
The stabiliser won’t dissolve properly if you add it cold and you need to reach 83 for it to pasteurise properly 🙂
Hey Matt just curious on the reason you chose an eggless recipe for this gelato? How does egg yolk usually influence the taste/ texture?
Most ‘professional’ gelato recipes are eggless as ice cream stabilisers do a much more efficient job of stabilising the base vs yolks
Hello Matt! Is it possible to cut down the amount of sugar to 100g for a less sweet version?
Also, can I raise the pistachio paste to 150g?
In gelato the balance of ingredients is really important – i haven’t tested this so couldn’t say if it works