Sicilian lemon crema (egg-free)

A milk gelato thickened with cornflour (cornstarch) instead of egg yolks and stabiliser, scented with lemon zest.

In Sicily, “crema” is traditionally made without eggs — the mix is thickened with starch cooked in the milk. For a home kitchen it is the simplest substitute for a professional stabiliser: everyone has cornflour in the cupboard. The gelato is clean, milky and refreshing, with lemon zest infused in the milk.

Type: Italian gelato · Servings: 8 · Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 720 g whole milk 3.5 %
  • 60 g whipping cream 33 %
  • 30 g skimmed milk powder
  • 150 g granulated sugar (sucrose)
  • 40 g dextrose (glucose powder)
  • 30 g cornflour (cornstarch) (3 tablespoons)
  • 6 g grated lemon zest (zest of 2 unwaxed lemons)

Making the mix

  1. Pare the zest from the lemons in strips with a peeler, leaving the white pith behind.
  2. Take 100 g of the cold milk and stir the cornflour (cornstarch) into it until smooth.
  3. Heat the rest of the milk with the cream, milk powder and lemon zest until almost boiling, take off the heat and leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Remove the zest.
  4. Stir in the granulated sugar and dextrose, heat again and pour in the cornflour mixture, stirring constantly.
  5. Stirring constantly, bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 2 minutes until the mix thickens slightly (like a thin custard). The starch is then fully cooked and the mix pasteurised.
  6. Stand the pan in a bowl of iced water and cool the mix below 5 °C, stirring now and then.
  7. Press cling film onto the surface and leave to age in the fridge for 4–12 hours. Blend with a stick blender before churning.

Method — Compressor ice cream maker

  1. Switch the ice cream maker on 5–10 minutes in advance so the bowl can pre-chill.
  2. Give the aged mix a quick blitz with a stick blender and pour it into the bowl, no higher than the max line.
  3. Churn for about 30–40 minutes, until the gelato is thick and glossy and clings to the paddle. Then switch the machine off — churning any longer would only whip in unnecessary air.
  4. Transfer to a chilled tub, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for 1–2 hours.

Total time: 7 h 45 min

Method — Freezer-bowl ice cream maker

  1. Take the bowl, frozen for at least 24 hours, out of the freezer just before use, fit the paddle and switch the machine on.
  2. With the machine running, pour in the well-chilled, freshly blended mix — filling the bowl no more than two-thirds full.
  3. Churn for 20–30 minutes, until the gelato thickens to a soft-serve consistency. There is no point going longer — by then the bowl has warmed up.
  4. Transfer to a chilled tub, press cling film onto the surface and leave to harden in the freezer for 2–3 hours.

A freezer bowl only partly freezes the mix, so the gelato needs longer to harden in the freezer and tends to be slightly less smooth than from a compressor machine. A well-chilled, properly aged mix helps.

Total time: 8 h 35 min

Method — Ninja CREAMi and similar machines

  1. Pour the aged mix into the CREAMi tub up to the MAX line, put the lid on and freeze on a level surface for 24 hours.
  2. Fit the tub into the machine and run the Gelato programme (if your model doesn’t have it, use Ice Cream).
  3. If the gelato is powdery or crumbly, run Re-spin, and a second time if needed (many users add 1–2 tablespoons of milk first).
  4. Serve straight away. Level off whatever is left, refreeze it and process it again before the next serving.

Programme: Gelato

With so little fat, CREAMi gelato tends to come out powdery after the first spin. The adjusted recipe has more milk powder — the extra solids hold the block together and one Re-spin is enough.

Total time: 29 h 15 min

Stages

Preparation
15 min
Cooking
25 min
Cooling
30 min
Ageing in the fridge
4 h
Churning
35 min
Hardening in the freezer
2 h
Total time
7 h 45 min

Serving and storage

The Sicilian way in a soft brioche bun, with berries or alongside pistachio gelato. Gelaterias keep it in the display case at −11 to −13 °C, while a home freezer runs at −18 °C — straight out of it, gelato is hard. So move the tub to the fridge 15–20 minutes before serving (or leave it at room temperature for 8–10 minutes) and work the gelato with a spatula before scooping, just as they do in a gelateria.

Artisan gelato is made to be eaten fresh: it is best on the day you make it and within 3–5 days. In a closed tub with cling film pressed onto the surface it will keep in the freezer for up to two weeks, but it gradually hardens and ice crystals build up.

Tips

  • The starch really must come to the boil — undercooked, it tastes floury and the gelato turns gummy.
  • You can use the same method (starch instead of locust bean gum and guar) for any of the milk-based recipes here: 15–20 g of starch per 1 kg of mix.
  • Instead of lemon zest, try orange zest, cinnamon or a vanilla pod.

Why it works

Cooked starch binds water much like a stabiliser, but you need about ten times as much (3 % instead of 0.3 %). Starch barely affects the PAC or the sweetness, but it does raise the total solids. The fat is only about 4.5 %; the proteins from the milk powder give the gelato body. Anti-freezing power (PAC) tells you how much water stays unfrozen at a given temperature — the higher it is, the softer the gelato. Dextrose has almost twice the anti-freezing power of granulated sugar but is about a third less sweet, which is why gelaterias combine the two sugars.

Sources