Cremolata di pesche (Peach Cremolata)

FrankCampania, dessert, Puglia, Sicilia38 Comments

Cremolata

Perhaps due to Italy’s hot summers, Italian cuisine, especially southern Italian cuisine, offers a dazzling variety of frozen desserts. Gelato is probably the most popular type, but then there’s also sorbetto and granita as well. And each type comes in a wide variety of flavors. We’ve covered many of these desserts on Memorie di Angelina at one point or another over the years. But we haven’t yet covered a lesser known but equally delicious frozen dessert, the cremolata.

Often compared to and sometimes confused with granita—more about this in the Notes below—cremolata has a smoother, creamier texture, as its name implies. You make it with fruit pulp blended together with sugar, water and lemon juice to make a kind of pourable “smoothie”, which you then freeze. To achieve its characteristic texture, you shave the frozen mixture little by little, then stir the shavings into a creamy mass. Or, if you’re lazy like me, you can make short work of the process in an ice cream maker set to a soft-serve consistency.

Using this basic recipe, you can make a cremolata with a variety of seasonal fruits. The peach cremolata featured in this post is wonderful at this time of year. But you can also make cremolate with strawberries in the spring, melons at the height of the summer and figs in the late summer and early autumn. And so on…

Cremolata deserves to be better known. It’s as full of flavor and as smooth and creamy as gelato and yet lighter on the tongue. And, of course, since it lacks any dairy, it’s vegan as well. And if you have a blender and ice cream maker at home, it’s really simple to make. Well worth adding to your repertoire.

Ingredients

  • 350g (12 oz) yellow or white peaches, peeled
  • 350ml (1-1/2 cups) water
  • 350g (12 oz) sugar
  • Juice of one lemon

For the macerated peach:

  • 1 small peach
  • Sugar, q.b.

Directions

Peel and pit the peach, then slice it into bite-sized chunks or thin wedges, as you prefer. Cover it with sugar and let it macerate at least one hour.

Meanwhile, place the rest of the peaches in a blender along with the sugar, water and lemon juice. Blend until smooth.

Transfer the peach purée to an ice cream maker and freeze until the purée reaches a soft-serve consistency. Just before it’s ready, add in the macerated peach and continue until the peach bits have chilled. Take care that they don’t actually freeze.

Serve right away.

Cremolata

Notes on Cremolata

Cremolata can be found throughout southern Italy. It is perhaps most closely associated with Sicily. But Puglia is also renowned for its exquisite fig cremolata, and this particular recipe appears in Jeanne Caròla Francesconi’s classic, La Cucina Napoletana. She attributes the recipe to a Neapolitan gelatiere, or ice cream maker, named Umberto Bartoli. (Sadly, I haven’t been able to find anything about him online or otherwise.)

Cremolata vs other frozen desserts

Despite its name, you don’t make cremolata with cream or any other dairy. That distinguishes it, along with granita and sorbetto, from gelato. And what then makes cremolata different from granita and sorbetto? The differences can be subtle, but most sources agree that a cremolata has more fruit pulp (never juice). And, as in this recipe, cremolata often has bits of fruit rather than a pure fruit purée. By contrast, you typically make granita with liquids like coffee or lemon or other fruit juice. Like a cremolata, you can make sorbetto with fruit pulp, but less: only 50% as compared with 80% or more for a typical cremolata.

Of course, this cremolata, with its ratio of equal parts fruit, water and sugar by weight, it doesn’t conform perfectly to this typology. And just to confuse things even more, the most famous sorbetto, sorbetto di limone, is made with lemon juice. All of which goes to show how—in striking constrast to classical French cookery—Italian cookery tends to defy clear categorization.

And then there’s technique. You stir granita by hand from time to time while it freezes, which gives it its characteristic grainy texture. In contrast, you shave a cremolata after freezing and stir the shavings together, creating a more finely grained and creamier texture. You typically make sorbetto in a machine rather than mixing it by hand.

This article from Gambero Rosso provides an excellent overview of the history and distinctions. It also discusses yet another frozen dessert we haven’t yet covered on the blog, the grattachecca, Rome’s iconic shaved ice. As a former resident of the Eternal City, it holds a special place in my heart, and I’ll get around to blogging about it one of these days.

Cremolata
Print Recipe

Cremolata di pesche

Ingredients

  • 350g 12 oz peaches
  • 350ml 1-1/2 cups water
  • 350g 12 oz granulated sugar
  • 1 lemon, juice of

For the macerate fruit

  • 1 small peach
  • sugar q.b.

Instructions

  • Peel and pit the peach, then slice it into bite-sized chunks or thin wedges, as you prefer. Cover it with sugar and let it macerate at least one hour.
  • Meanwhile, place the rest of the peaches in a blender along with the sugar, water and lemon juice. Blend until smooth.
  • Transfer the peach purée to an ice cream maker and freeze until the purée reaches a soft-serve consistency. Just before it's ready, add in the macerated peach and continue until the peach bits have chilled. Take care that they don't actually freeze.
  • Serve right away

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38 Comments on “Cremolata di pesche (Peach Cremolata)”

  1. Reply

    Dear Frank,
    I love pesche so much and I love this recipe! I really would like to try… but here it is, my problem: I do not have an ice cream maker/machine. could you tell me the difference to make a granita – I mean technically, without machine… (just a few days ago I made Cristinas strawberry granita…
    https://www.christinascucina.com/strawberry-granita-frozen-strawberry-dessert-sicilian-style/,
    you know… stirring with a fork every 40 minutes or so during the freezing process…) this one went out really well! – but in this case, we don’t want to make a granita… do we? 😉 oh and english is not my mother tongue (anche l’italiano non è) – so I beg your pardon in case my “writing” sounds a little bit weird…
    I really would appreciate your advice, grazie mille!

    1. Reply

      Actually, the old fashioned way of making cremolata is very close to the technique for making granita. But rather than stirring as you freeze the mixture, you shave the top little by little and when it’s done, you stir the shavings into a creamy mass. More work than using an ice cream maker but even more faithful to the original recipe!

  2. Reply

    We love this recipe! Mirella’s father use to make cremolata with peaches back in the days. Only he didn’t know that what he was making was cremolata and he was calling it granita. It’s also an amazing way to use overripe fruits. Beautiful post dear Frank and thank you for sharing it. 🙂

  3. Reply

    You certainly pointed out something so true about Italian food – – the frozen delights that our elders developed. And also with their focus on simple ingredients. Fruit is so much appreciated in Italy too. I love their limone granita and pesche semifreddo. I’m reading all of your cold dessert recipes. It’s quite warm where I live and cold desserts are always welcome year-round.

  6. Reply

    Interesting! You make a great point about frozen desserts of southern Italy. I do love a good granita! Cremolata is new to me, however, and the thought of a melon cremolata or fig cremolata is mesmerizing. You don’t see those flavors in other frozen desserts too often, and I think that adds to the appeal. Great use of summer peaches here. I could go for a bowl of this one for sure!

  7. Reply

    Cremolata is new to me, and i can’t wait to try it. I think I’ll make it with an ice cream maker, as you do. I love that it has such fresh ingredients, and sounds light.

  9. Reply

    Oooh this is wonderful! I’ve never heard of it but it makes me want to visit my Calabrian cousins in summer. (I really want to experience the full Italian summer …. eventually!). In the meantime, I will try your recipe as soon as there are beautiful peaches available. Luckily for me, your recipe has arrived in perfect time with our Australian summer on our doorstep. Enjoy the last few day of summer, Frank!

  13. Reply

    What a wonderful lesson for a non-dessert maker and eater such as I !! My ;limits; have always been the occasional sorbet or granita mid-summer. The fruit aspect is a drawcard, the sugar may not be . . . a kilo of the stuff will last me well beyond a year. . . but when the coming summer will gift us the fruit will most certainly follow your simple teaching, try some myself and make some visiting friends very happy . . .

    1. Reply

      I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, either, Eha! But interestingly, despite having a fair amount of sugar, the result isn’t overly sweet. I think it has to do with the temperature at which you serve it.

  14. Reply

    Even though I love all possible frozen desserts, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of
    Cremolata. But since I prefer my sorbet very soft, almost melted, I already love the concept here. Needless to say, that’s a beautiful combination of flavours!

  15. Reply

    What a terrific post! LOVE frozen desserts like this, and I do appreciate how easy this one is. And flavorful! We’re still getting wonderful local peaches in our market, so I need to get some and make this. Great way to celebrate a long weekend! Thanks.

  17. Reply

    Cremolata Oh I love it when you share such wonderful treats. Since you didn’t specify, but are saying it is a Vegan treat, I’m assuming that you are using raw sugar! (White Sugar is white because of the added bone meal, so not vegan!).

    If not raw sugar, then do you know if I might substitute with Coconut Crystals? It would be darker in color but thought perhaps the Coconut flavor would blend best with fruit.

    I can hardly wait to try!!

    1. Reply

      Interesting! I had no idea that white sugar was made with animal product. But I suppose anyone who is vegan will know that and use raw sugar? I don’t know about coconut crystals, but I have some doubts. The sugar isn’t just for flavor, it’s needed to prevent the fruit purée from freezing solid. I’d go for raw sugar even if it might darken the color a bit.

We'd love to hear your questions and thoughts! And if you tried the recipe, we'd love to hear how it went!

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