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If there's one thing that Americans love, it's an ice-cold scoop of gelato on a hot summer's day. The creamy, sugary-sweet Italian dessert resembles a thicker and richer version of ice cream and has taken the United States by storm. However, the sweet treat has recently come under fire, as nutritional education and dietary recommendations see more and more consumers limiting their sugar intake. Now, one company is offering up a solution sure to please lovers of the decadent dessert everywhere– gelato with all the flavor but none of the sugar.

A new process

When gelato is made in the traditional method, sugar is a key ingredient that helps the dessert achieve its signature smoothness. Previous attempts to create sugar-free gelato (by substituting no-calorie sweeteners) have largely produced only hard, icy masses. The substitution of sugar has also been found to come along with a few nasty side effects thanks to the gelato-making process, ranging from irritated bowels to bloating.

Carpigiani, the world's leading manufacturer of gelato-making machinery, believes that they have come up with a solution that fixes gelato's sugary problem. Unveiled at a conference in Sigep, Carpigiani offered a first look at the new gelato making machinery that promises to remove the need for added sugar in the gelato-making process.

Innovation through hot and cold

To get the smooth and creamy texture that gelato consumers crave, the secret is carefully controlling the size of the ice crystals that make up the product. Carpigiani's new machine substitutes the need for excess sugar by taking advantage of smarter and more responsive freezers, which combine a blend of hot and cold air chambers finely calibrated at secret levels to prevent the formation of large ice crystals that can make gelato too hard.

Shifting international trends

Luciano Ferrari, the technical director of Carpigiani Gelato University, is the man largely responsible for the new gelato machine. He said that innovative technology will be crucial in continuing Carpigiani's hold on the current market. This is especially true today more than ever before, as consumers around the globe make moves to limit the amount of sugar in their diets.

“The diet of the world is going toward a reduction of sugars overall,” Ferrari told an interviewer for NPR.1 Gianpaolo Valli, a senior instructor at Carpigiani Gelato University also mirrored Ferrari's sentiments.

“Why are we thinking to cancel sugar? Because we know about metabolic disease. Because we don't eat very well,” said Valli, who also went on to demonstrate a new line of sugar-free hazelnut bases that Carpigiani will be releasing to business owners in the next year.

Gelato is not the only industry that's feeling the pressure as consumers decide that sugar is “out.” According to a report by NASDAQ, soft drink giant Coca-Cola is not even immune to the burn, as the company struggles to innovate in a world looking for less sugar.2 For now, the message to manufacturers is clear: offer low-sugar alternatives or go unsold.

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