Ask anyone to name a Sicilian dessert and the same few answers come back: cannoli, cassata, perhaps a granita. Yet in the hottest weeks of the year, many Sicilian families turn instead to something different and, perhaps, not as well-known outside of the region, gelo.
The name is a small riddle in itself, because gelo means “frost” or “ice,” but the dessert is neither frozen nor icy; it sits somewhere between a pudding, a jelly, and a custard, made by cooking fruit juice gently with sugar and a little starch until it thickens, then leaving it to set in the cold.
