It’s all in the scoop for Pretoria chef as he holds thumbs for top gelato prize in Italy

Gelato may be the Italian word for ice cream but they are two very different frozen desserts, which should never be confused, so says Michael Dube, gelato chef from Aroma Gelato in Pretoria. He tells me it’s way creamier, smoother and silkier than ice cream and  gelato, unlike ice cream, doesn’t contain eggs.

He should know — he’s been making it for a couple of years and his favourite apple pie-flavoured gelato, their best-selling flavour, will be scrutinised by the judges of the Gelato World Masters competition taking place on Thursday, at the Gelato Museum in Bologna.

Dube is chilled about the great honour. He is one of four South Africans, a first for the country, included in 32 gelato artisan finalists from 18 countries around the globe.

His apple pie gelato is inspired by his aunt’s famous apple pie - forever etched in his memory - and apart from the apple flavouring, he adds a pinch of ground cinnamon and salt to finish it off. 

“It’s served with a coconut biscuit,” he says, then laughs. “In SA we know it as the Tennis biscuit.”

Because the finalists could not actually physically participate in the competition, their recipes have been made under the supervision of the competitors, who were connected by livestreaming with the production laboratory, and for the final judging will be once again connect virtually before the panel to describe their creations.

They will need to explain how the idea was born, how they selected the ingredients and why they wanted to participate in the competition.

Dube will be doing this with his boss, Mr Shiller, owner of Aroma Gelato whom he considers ‘family’.

The other finalists from SA are: Sandro Tomassetti of La Cremosa in Johannesburg, Karin Loots of The Ice Creamery in Pretoria and Fahmida Moola of Gelato Studio in Johannesburg.