Hannes Bareiter never thought there could be such a thing as too much ice cream.
But when you start eating it at 9am and continue tasting throughout the day every day, even the most ardent ice cream lover starts to waver.
That is what Bareiter discovered while on a gelato making course at Carpigiani Gelato University in Bologna, Italy. Established in 2003, the university aims to "spread the culture of fresh Italian artisan gelato".
"We’d be doing about six tastings every day and every person made nine litres of ice cream - there were 20 students. It’s a hideous amount of ice cream and every day you made the same amount.
"I discovered you can get sick on ice cream."
On the first few days of the course everyone loaded up their bowls of ice cream, but it did not take long before everyone was using a smaller spoon.
"We went from eating to tasting."
It also put a dent in his grand plan to travel around Italy tasting the many varieties of gelato each region specialises in.
"It didn’t quite work out. After being at the university from 9 to 5, I couldn’t see any more ice cream. I stopped having milk in my coffee, I had nothing with dairy any more. I survived on salad and a lot of espresso."
Which was an interesting dilemma in a culture in which gelato is an everyday food, not a treat. It is commonly eaten from small cups, often alongside an espresso, at any time of the day or night.
Admittedly, Italian gelato uses less sugar and cream than a New Zealand ice cream, he says.
"They felt lighter, more fruit-based, healthier than what we have here."
The most important thing he learned during the course was that most ice cream is created on paper.
"You calculate every little element of it from your different sugars, your dairy, your milk solids. Once you understand how milk solids work and the temperatures, the science behind it, you can make an incredible ice cream by using math."
The knowledge of how different flavours pair together is also important.
"The texture is going to be amazing though if you just understand how to use the different products."
They experimented with many different flavours and types, including dairy free, alcoholic and sugar free. Also the more polarising flavours, such as savoury salmon or tuna ice cream and the bitter beer-flavoured Corona ice cream.
The Parmesan-flavoured ice cream was quite nice, he says.
"You start with your standard ice cream and then go into all the different variations and the changes that happen if you add alcohol or go away from using dairy. Anything is possible."
Bareiter was really interested in learning the processes behind dairy-free ice creams, given it was important to be able to cater for those with allergies in today’s world.
He was surprised to learn the fellow students on his course mostly did not come from a food background - instead they came from a wide variety of professions such as lawyers, nurses and even a professional diver with an average age of about 40. Many were seeking a career change.
"People from all over the world. I was amazed by these people who had no idea about it but want in six months to have a gelato shop. It’s amazing, you can make an exceptional ice cream without any past experience within three weeks. Your range will be limited but it will be very good."
But he believes it does help having an understanding of food and how to run a hospitality business.
Desserts have always been a passion of Bareiter and he bought his first ice cream machine while working as a chef at Glenfalloch.
"About 10 years ago, I started getting super excited about ice cream and gelato and working with different people and seeing the science behind it."
As a chef, much of the skill is in the tasting of foods rather than the why.
"You don’t need to know math. Its all about taste, about figuring out and fixing stuff quite often."
So when he discovered the technical side of ice cream making, it really intrigued him.
"Understanding why that ice cream is rock solid and this one not."
Bareiter has always dreamed of learning more about the process and planned a trip to Italy three and a-half years ago to do so, but the Covid pandemic put paid to it.
His interest in sweets came about from the ability for desserts and gelato to bring happiness.
"For me it was always a lot more enjoyable, cooking at a higher level and surprising people."
That is what keeps his passion for cooking alive.
"With desserts, from kids to adults, it’s such a nice thing."
The trip to Italy finally happened this year. His sous chef took over at his St Clair restaurant Titi.
He took his youngest daughter so she could visit her grandparents in Germany while he studied.
Being back home reminded him of his childhood, going to the ice cream shop where they would get small scoops of different flavour ice creams to taste.
"Its quite different to here. A different size and different price."
He was also able to enjoy his passion for motorbikes while there as Bologna is home to the Ducati motorcycle factory.
"It was quite handy - its where my favourite motorbikes come from. So I had my vehicle of choice in Italy, driving to the university every day and through the mountains and to Florence."
Even before he started Titi, he and wife Melanie were already planning to open a gelato shop and had even signed a lease.
"Covid happened, and Titi came about and then the whole dessert ice cream idea was trickling along. But repeatedly, things out of our control happened."
"On the peninsula we’ve got this farmer who planted this massive strawberry patch for us and Central Otago has the most amazing fruits, but the wholesalers here sell fruit purees from France. I never understood that when the fruit here goes to the pigs."
Working alongside local farmers has always been important to Bareiter.
"It’s great to be able to visit the farms."
He has a storage facility full of ice cream and dessert machines from Italy that he has sourced with an eye on the difficulties and year-long delays with shipping, so he will be ready to go as soon as their new premises is.
Back when he first began to plan the shop, Patti’s and Cream had not opened its scoop shop or cafe and Gelato Junkie’s co-owner was working for him.
But that has not discouraged them and they hope next year to open a shop where he can create specialty desserts and gelato.
"Dunedin’s going to be this ice cream crazy place."
NZ Ice Cream and Gelato Week
• Discover innovative flavours and new products.
• In 2022, the average New Zealander was reported to enjoy 28.4 litres of ice cream and gelato.
• Vote for your favourite ice cream or gelato maker: www.nzicecreamandgelato.co.nz.
