Soft Serve Sorbet vs. Other Cool Treats

by | Feb 21, 2014 | Food

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4645093_l-ice creamWhen it comes to selecting an amazing frozen dessert, it seems that the possibilities are great. From frozen yogurt, soft serve ice cream and gelato, there is a lot to choose from.  But where does soft serve sorbet fall?  Is it considered an ice cream, a gelato, a yogurt or something all together different?  Below are a few points to help you better understand the difference between sorbet, gelato and its soft serve counterparts.

A Refreshing Treat
Sorbet is a cool frozen treat that is made from fruit and fruit juices. It does not contain an inordinate amount of artificial flavoring or sugars, so is considered healthier than some other similar treats such as gelato and soft serve ice cream.

Sorbet vs. Gelato
Unlike soft serve sorbet, gelato is derived from Italy and more importantly, the ingredients aren’t water and fruit based.  With gelato the core ingredient is ice cream or milk and sugar.  The only time that gelato can become sorbet-like is when the dairy component is eliminated and replaced with water and more fruit.  This is when the Italian gelato becomes sorbetto.  Interestingly enough, the dairy-based, creamy gelato is native to the northern regions of Italy whereas the sorbetto is native to the Southern Italian provinces.  In short, gelato can be transformed into sorbet however sorbet cannot be transformed into gelato.  The two are not the same and the core difference is milk.

The Healthy Option
If you are a calorie counter then it can be easy to see why you would opt for sorbet.  At 184 calories, sorbet has a significant healthy advantage over gelato which has 204 calories, ice cream which has 267 calories and frozen yogurt which has 214 calories.  But healthy eating is not solely based on calorie counting.  Other things such as fat content, sugars, vitamin content and carbohydrates should be considered as well.  If you take a closer look at the carbohydrate and sugar content of sorbet, it may not be as healthy as it initially seems.  With 34 grams of sugar and 46.2 grams of carbohydrates, it’s less healthy than frozen yogurt which has a carbohydrate count of only 39.2 grams!

When it comes to how selection of a frozen dessert plays a role in staying healthy, more and more people take into account the effects that fat content, carbohydrates, sugars and calories may have on their bodies.  For additional information about a healthy frozen desert alternative, go to visit us website.

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