Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Italian gelato makers, besides bucking the recession to increase sales in their home market, are going global by training Chinese and Japanese to make an ice-cream product that must be consumed fresh or perish.

The Italian market for fresh-served ice cream grew about 2 percent last year to 1.9 billion euros ($2.8 billion) as the economy contracted 1 percent, according to Confartigianato, the Rome-based trade association for gelato makers. Exports of ice cream, both fresh gelato and industrial versions, jumped 43 percent last year to more than 200 million euros.

“Lots of Italian ice-cream makers have already made good abroad, especially in central and eastern Europe,” said Giancarlo Timballo, head of the ice-cream professionals’ association. “China and Japan are the new frontier.”

Rising disposable income in Asia has fueled demand for Italian-style ice cream in the region, and natural-food trends have boosted interest in traditional gelato, which is made from fresher ingredients than industrial ice cream. Hungary, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain now have gelato-makers’ associations to insure quality for the growing number of outlets in their countries.

The Italian School of Gelato has opened branches in Kiev, Warsaw, Prague and Bucharest, and Shanghai’s Chamber of Commerce will host a delegation of master “gelatieri,” or ice-cream makers, to train locals in China, Timballo said. Giolitti, Rome’s best-known ice-cream parlor, has opened three franchises in Seoul and is seeking opportunities in Asia.

Snows of Vesuvius

Marco Polo is believed to have returned from China in the 13th century with a recipe for a dessert resembling sherbet, according to the International Dairy Foods Association in Washington. More than 1,500 years earlier, Alexander the Great reportedly ate snow mixed with honey and nectar, and the Roman emperor Nero had slaves collect snow from Mount Vesuvius for his ice desserts, IDFA says. Milk-based ice cream was reportedly first concocted in 16th century Florence.

No matter the historical origin, there’s little question that Italy is setting the pace in ice-cream making today. Companies such as Bologna-based Carpigiani Group dominate the world market for machinery related to producing fresh ice cream, from batch freezers to whipped-cream dispensers.

Gelato University

Carpigiani has 300 service centers and 11 branches in more than 100 countries, including sites in India, China and Japan. Its sales have quadrupled in less than a decade to about 150 million euros a year. Its Carpigiani Gelato University annually trains 6,000 future gelato makers from around the globe and has developed local flavors for foreign markets such as soybean ice cream for China. Frigomat, founded in 1969, has grown from a local company to an international exporter with offices in Algeria, Australia, Argentina and Indonesia.

“In the last few months, we are starting to see some good results from countries like Germany, the U.K., and France,” said Carpigiani Chief Executive Officer Gino Cocchi. “China has also started moving in the last three to six months, and it could get better for us there within a year.”

Still, the best gelato is found in Italy, which has more than 35,000 ice cream shops, many producing gelato the traditional way. Fruit flavors have only fruit, ice and sugar, while the milk-based flavors have less air injected than typical American ice creams, making them denser and creamier.

Obama Girls

“If you want to eat real, homemade gelato, you have to come to Italy,” said Nazzareno Giolitti, whose family has been making ice cream at their store on Via Uffici del Vicario near the Parliament in Rome for more than 70 years. “Foreigners come here to learn about ice cream. And now we must go to their countries to teach them how to do it.”

Extensive training is part of the formula. After an initial course, a would-be gelato maker has to spend four years as an apprentice before earning the title of “maestro.” Base salaries for apprentices are about 1,200 euros ($1,695) a month. Setting up a “laboratory,” as the traditional stores are known, can cost about 150,000 euros for the equipment and space, Timballo said.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s daughters Sasha and Malia, who got an impromptu gelato-making class at Giolitti during a July visit to Rome, may be hard-pressed to find similar ice cream back home. Italian-style ice cream has been slow to penetrate the $22 billion U.S. market, partly because it’s not fatty enough for U.S. regulators.

Milk Fat

For a product to be marketed as ice cream in the U.S., it must contain at least 10 percent milk fat, according to the IDFA. Italy’s traditional fruit-flavored gelatos have virtually no fat; even the milk-based flavors don’t have enough for U.S. requirements.

Americans also buy about 90 percent of their ice cream at the supermarket. Italian gelato is made to be eaten fresh and can only be stored a few days before serving.

“You can’t get pure flavors like this in the U.S.,” said New Yorker Katie Broderick as she dug into a peach-champagne- chocolate gelato at Giolitti. “I feel like I’m biting into a real peach, there must be some secret.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alessandra Migliaccio in Rome at at

Last Updated: September 16, 2009 19:01 EDT