Talenti - Mediterranean Mint

Medterranean Mint - Mint Gelato with Flecks of Bittersweet Chocolate

Switching it up today as we do a gelato review. Several grocery stores here stock large selections of Talenti gelato in the ice cream section.  I've gotten recommendations for Talenti from multiple friends.  Recently, even a cashier brought up Talenti when ringing up my ice cream.  So, I give this brand a shot.  Out of all of the flavors available, I figured I'd start with their version of my favorite mint chip flavor -- Mediterranean Mint.

I found myself asking the question, what exactly is gelato and what makes it different from ice cream?  Googling around I found several opinions but the common thread they all had was the gelato is churned slower at a warmer temperature with less fat, eggs, cream and air than American ice cream.  How they get gelato to thicken up at all without all those thickening agents is a bit of a mystery to me, but I found the result to be more "gelatinous" than ice cream.  Still, technically "gelato" is just the Italian word for ice cream, so the two desserts are close enough that I don't feel a gelato review is out of place here.

The first thing I noticed with Talenti is that the gelato comes in this lovely reusable jar rather than a throwaway carton.  It's a pint size jar, so you could probably even use it as a cup for drinks.  The lid of the jar actually unscrews off which is a nice twist on what I am used to.  The top of the pint is pale green in color with the specks of chocolate visible on top.  If it wasn't for those chocolate specks, I might think that I'm looking at a jar of face cream.  I resist the temptation to apply the contents liberally to my face and instead dig in with my spoon.  The texture of the gelato is indeed softer than ice cream yet holds its shape after each dig with the spoon.  Even on the attached spoon shot, you can see the remnants of previous scoops that are rarely evident in a scoop of ice cream.

Enough with the texture, how did it taste?  Its was quite minty as expected. The 'mediterranean' adjective I think is just for a nice alliterative title.  Mint is a relatively common ingredient in Italian cuisine, but its not like this was a different kind of mint.  I enjoy the flecks of chocolate here.  They reminded me of the the chocolate bits in the mint chip ice cream that I had growing up (called "Peppermint Bon Bon" in the upper midwest).  They were small little flakes that crumbled a bit when you chewed them.

I did enjoy this pint.  It did not unseat McConnell's Mint Chip as my favorite rendition of my favorite flavor, but its a cheaper and perhaps more readily available alternative.  What does everyone think, should I do more gelato reviews?