Frequently asked questions

Rivareno’s gelato is made fresh daily: to obtain the best freshness we produce maximum 4/5 kg of gelato at a time, many times a day according to the sales volume. Gelato is stored in the “pozzetti” counter which is the best way to store gelato, keeping it at a consistent, ideal temperature. Furthermore, we use only selected and high quality ingredients.

In the Rivareno gelato production lab we have no secrets! The key elements are the fresh and high quality ingredients selected, the wise combination of the ingredients and the unique and unmistakable recipes from the long experience of one of Rivareno’s founders, an already well-known gelato maker in Bologna, Emilia.

No, they don’t. The sorbets of the Italian gelato lab Rivareno contain only a very high percentage of fruit (up to 65%), water and sugar. We take allergies very seriously, and try extremely hard but cannot guarantee there is no cross contamination between flavours.

The philosophy of the Rivareno Italian gelato lab is based on one single rule: we make sure the quality is always the highest. For this reason our sorbets contain only real fruit.

Nearly all of our flavours are gluten free, with the exception of a couple of flavours. To be on the safe side, you should always check with our staff in our shops. If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to ask our expert sales people for advice: we are sure our gelato made fresh daily will seduce you. We take allergies very seriously, and try extremely hard but cannot guarantee there is no cross contamination between flavours.

There are many flavours containing nuts or traces of them in our range. To be safe, we suggest that you check with our friendly staff in store on the day. We take allergies very seriously, and try extremely hard but cannot guarantee there is no cross contamination between flavours.

Our choice is to avoid using artificial sweeteners. We have also decided to exclude soy from the ingredients of our gelatos: we think that this product does not allow us to obtain a product with the same quality standards of Rivareno’s products. For our customers intolerant to milk, we have a wide range of fruit flavours and a delicious selection of granita.

It is one of the best types of quality cocoa available. For our freshly made gelato, we use a special mix of African cocoas from Zaire and Ivory Coast, processed by a famous Dutch company.

The idea to found the Italian gelato lab Rivareno started in 2004 in Bologna. Our recipes come from the best culinary traditions of the region of Emilia. Since Bologna is located on the shores of the river Reno, we decided to pay homage to this city choosing the name Rivareno, which is also the name of a district in the city.

Our gelato cakes are all made in our gelato production lab, using only freshly made gelato. We always have a range of cakes available in store. You can customise a Rivareno gelato cake by ordering online and choosing your flavours.

Gelato cakes are frozen, so please keep them stored in the freezer.

How long will the gelato cake last outside the freezer? We usually recommend 30 minutes as a safe estimate for the travel time. Of course it really depends on your environment – e.g. how hot it is on the day, in your car, etc.

Serving the gelato cake:

To amaze your guests, take the gelato cake of the freezer 10-15 minutes before serving. Again, this will depend on how warm it is on the day. But ideally you want the cake to soften a little before serving. Use a large, hot knife to slice the cake up… and enjoy! Just watch your guests’ faces when they try our cakes!

We put our freshly made gelato in  “carapine” (gelato containers) stored in the “pozzetti” counter: it is the best way in the world to preserve the product. Although you cannot see the gelato, there are many advantages to using ‘pozzetti’. Gelato is at its best the moment it comes out of the gelato machine. After this point the gelato slowly oxidises and begins to lose flavour and freshness. The pozzetti are critical for the preservation of gelato, keeping it in the best possible state, maximising freshness and taste. This is particularly important since we use such high quality ingredients.The  pozzetti keeps the perfect humidity level, maintaining the perfect gelato consistency – soft and silky smooth. It also makes sure the hygiene standards are high.

In terms of travel time, we usually recommend 20-30 minutes as a safe estimate for the travel time. Of course it really depends on your environment – e.g. how hot it is on the day, in your car, etc.

Being a freshly made  product, Rivareno gelato should be taken out of the freezer and kept outside,  without the lid, for at least 15 minutes before eating it. In this way it reaches the right temperature and the perfect consistency.

In the Rivareno gelato production lab we do not use any artificial preservatives. Our mint is natural and has no chemical additives: we make it with an essential oil extracted from mint leaves which does not have a green colour.

We state it proudly: at our Rivareno gelato production lab  not only do we produce a delicious gelato, but it is also “healthy”. Many commonly used food additives in our industry have no natural origins. Such additives are used to prevent the ice-cream from melting quickly and to add more air, so that the ice-cream cone seems artificially bigger. We, at Rivareno, prefer to avoid such tricks and shortcuts. We have chosen to have higher costs, therefore to spend more in research and lab experiments to make sure our product is really good and as healthy as possible.

Because we make our gelato fresh every day, the production quantities and number of flavours we sell is organised before production in the morning. Our aim is to not have gelato left over from the night before – rather we tend to sell out late in the evening. Therefore we anticipate how busy we will be based on the weather, the day of the week and any other relevant factors. During the weekend as we are busier, we can increase the number of flavours on offer and the amounts of each flavour.

Because our gelato is natural, with no nasty chemicals, it is extremely sensitive to even slight changes in temperature. To freeze our gelato super cold in order to transport it would affect the texture of the gelato. The gelato is made fresh every day and goes from the gelato machine straight into the pozzetti counter. We do not keep any storage of gelato onsite, instead we choose to remake flavours during the day when we need more. The way we make gelato is much more costly as a result of not having a central factory, but because we have a no compromise on quality approach, we believe this offers our customers the best possible texture and maximum taste.

Whilst ‘gelato’ in Italian literally means frozen, it refers to the dessert invented in Italy, which has roots that go as far back as ancient times across different cultures.

You might think that ‘Gelato’ is simply the Italian word for ‘ice cream’ but the truth is, it is very different. Here we set out some of the main differences.

Less Fat – Gelato is made predominantly from milk, whereas ice cream is cream-based. Gelato typically contains more high quality real ingredients and less sugar than ice cream. Immediately you can see why gelato typically contains much less fat, and less sugar (this does depend on who is making it of course).

Churning – Gelato is churned much slower than ice cream and has a lower ‘overrun’ (the additional air content incorporated). Whilst gelato might have a 20% overrun, ice cream can have an overrun of 90%. That is why, when you pick up a 4 litre tub of ice cream it feels like it doesn’t weigh anything at all (because it is mainly air), whereas when you pick up even a small tub of gelato, you will feel the weight. This means that gelato denser, contains less air, and is therefore more concentrated in flavour. Ice cream on the other hand, contains much more air, and as a result the flavour is somewhat ‘diluted’ by the air.

We at Rivareno Gelato do not need to use chemicals or airing agents to ‘puff up’ our gelato, as a result, it contains much less air, and is very dense.

As previously mentioned, our gelato is natural. There are no artificial additives used in our gelato which stop the gelato from melting and help it to incorporate more air in order “puff up” the gelato. Our gelato contains much less air, and as a result contains many more particles of the actual ingredients. Why do we do this? We wanted our gelato to be natural and “healthy” but also because there is less air, there is much more flavour as the gelato is not diluted with more air particles. Unfortunately people are visual, and think they are getting less gelato so it is important to point this out.

Using artificial additives is commonly used in this industry because they can double the profits of the gelato maker, and trick customers into thinking they are getting more gelato. We don’t use tricks, and our gelato is much more costly to make this way.

At Rivareno gelato significant research, thought and testing go into flavours.

Flavours do not just come about for no reason; to the contrary each flavour has a reason for being there. They are usually based on traditional Italian desserts, or simply combinations which go very well together. We would never simply throw a bunch of ingredients together for the sake of coming up with a new flavour. Like all good Italian food – it is the combination of few, high quality ingredients that go well together.

No flavour becomes a Rivareno flavour unless it passes one simple test: blindfolded, with no prior knowledge, one should be able to pick the flavour immediately.