They’re close relatives, not opposing teams.
Both are frozen desserts built around flavour, texture and ingredients. The differences usually come from how a recipe is balanced, how it’s churned and how it’s served.
Ingredients
Recipes vary a lot from maker to maker, so there’s no single formula for either one. Traditional gelato often uses a different balance of milk, cream and sugar from a typical ice cream, along with the other ingredients that make up a given flavour. It’s the balance that matters, not one universal rule.
Air and texture
Churning and formulation affect how much air ends up in the mix. Gelato is typically churned so that it holds less air than a lot of ice cream, which is part of why a spoonful can feel denser. “Typically” is doing real work there — it’s a tendency, not a law.
How it’s served
Gelato is commonly served a little softer than hard-packed ice cream. That softer, slower-melting spoonful is a lot of what people recognise as “gelato” texture.
Flavour
Texture and serving conditions change how much flavour you actually notice — a softer, denser scoop can read more strongly on the spoon. It’s less about one being “more flavourful” on paper and more about how you experience it.
Is gelato healthier?
Not necessarily. Serving size, recipe and ingredients all matter, and both can be as light or as rich as the maker chooses. Gelato is a treat, same as ice cream — we’d rather it be a good one than a “healthy” one.
And sorbet?
Sorbet takes a different route again, built around fruit rather than milk or cream. Lighter and sharper than either, and a regular part of our cabinet.
What we make
We make small-batch gelato here in Labrador, with carefully selected ingredients. The part we care about isn’t winning the definitions argument — it’s the flavour, the texture, and whether you want another spoonful.