What the heck is mangosteen?

It's delicious and makes an awesome pure white sorbetto.   When I first saw them in the kitchen I had no idea what they were and they don't really look all that edible, but under that dark purple tough skin is a delicate, sweet, tasty white aril perfect for sorbet and gelato. 

They are really hard to come by in the US and they have a very short season when they are available (only about 6 weeks) so the next time you see it at capo get it before it's gone!

Gelato is the perfect gift for any occasion.

A little bit about my life. I recently had surgery of the mouth. This has prohibited me from eating like a normal person. While my friends are eating pizza, burgers and Chinese food, I'm ripping up little pieces of bread and having soup. I hadn't had anything exciting and delicious and was beginning to get into a food funk. Then I came into work and saw we had Blood Orange, Spicy Cajun Peanut, Chocolate Ginger and many more of my favorite flavors. Gelato saved my taste buds. After changing my diet to gelato and soup, I realized the only thing I would want as a gift would be more gelato. All of this lead into me thinking of ways to gift gelato. Your friend just moved into an awesome new apartment. Bring a few pints of Cioccolato Scuro and a bottle of wine. Your son sprained his ankle playing soccer. Bring home some Stracciatella and chocolate chip Emergency Cookies. You can make ice cream sandwiches together. The moral of the story is; no matter what life throws you, or who is having a baby or getting a new house, gelato is always a perfect gift.

Better know a rosaceae!

I might have mentioned it before, but one of my favorite parts of working here is that I get to meet a lot of fruit I wouldn't otherwise come across. We all know I've got some reservations about rambutans, tasty as they are. And starfruit was always something I walked past in the produce section without much of a glance.

Past few weeks though, we've had quince around. Quinces were another one of those fruits that always sort of lurked in my sub-conscious. Maybe I'd heard of them first in a nursery rhyme? Or...did Dickens mention them at some point? Maybe I'm somehow conflating them with mince meat pie? Who knows.

But we've regularly had quince sorbetto for the last little while, and lots of people have questions about them. Their Italian name (mela cotogne--I had to go downstairs and check, I definitely don't know it off the top of my head) is intimidating enough, but people sort of roll around with even just "quince." It's pronounced "kwints," beeteedubs. But we pretty regularly hear "keen-tseh," "kween-tseh," and once even "kweinz." Trust that we're pretty politic about when and if we correct someone's mis-pronunciation of any of our gelato names...

So what IS a quince, exactly? Well, they come from the same botanical family as apples and pears, but they're denser and not as grainy. They're maybe a little more astringent than either and definitely not as sweet as a pear. Usually they're cooked before being used as an ingredient, though they can be bletted to sweeten and soften them. And since they're high in pectin, they make wicked good jams and jellies. The word marmalade actually comes from marmelo, the Portuguese word for quince.

C'mon, when was the last time YOU had any quince? They'll be around for a little while longer, so come get some! And it's a sorbetto, so we've got you covered, you crazy vegans, you.

Gelato that sets you on fire.

Capo13 has been spicing things up behind the case lately.  I’ve heard more than one request for mexican chocolate the past month, and folks, your wish has been granted.  Along with Mexican Chocolate (also known as Cioccolato Messicano) Spicy Cajun Peanut gelato also made an appearance in our gelato case for the first time in a long while.  Both flavors are made with cayenne pepper!!  Who would have thought that gelato could heat you up so much?  




Sorbetto that fights flu season!

Nothing fights sickness better than a good dose of vitamin C!  Capogiro 13 has citrus sorbetto everyday that is made with 100% natural, fresh squeezed citrus!  If you are a morning regular, you might spot one of our kitchen staff at the juicing machine squeezing a ton of citrus.  Guess where all that freshly squeezed juice goes?  Right into our sorbetto.  The maximum health benefits from fruit juice come from freshly squeezed juice, not from some preservative-packed shelf product.

Here’s some more info on the benefits of consuming freshly squeezed juice:
http://usa.zumex.com/en/salud/salud.asp?desplegarMenu=506
(at Capogiro, we have a Zumex Juicer)

Our sorbetto is made from fresh fruit the morning you enjoy it!  Citrus is packed with vitamins C, A, E, B1, B2, and B6! so come in and order a grande of a citrus sorbetto!

-Tori :)

Crosswords!

My increasingly carb-free lifestyle can make a little room for this.

You know how sometimes two things are better when you smoosh them together? I mean, that's definitely one of our priorities. I am still jonesing pretty hard for our Bluecoat and blueberry sorbetto, but that's gonna be a minute obviously. Blood orange will do nicely in the meantime.

(Obligatory mildly odd, perhaps totally unrelated youtube clip that maybe doesn't have much to do with the topic at hand. COMBINATIONS, PEOPLE! Bears and frogs, coming together magically.)


So we get our rippin' good brioche from Au Fournil fresh every morning. Brioche is a sweet bun that's been made way, way better by the addition of all the butter and eggs the dough can stand--pretty much SuperBread. It's of course great on its own with a little warming, and you can't go wrong by using it as a vehicle for debatably appropriate amounts of Nutella or jam. It's the breakfast of lazy video game champions! But then there's us. We're always the ones who stand around, look at all the good stuff we have on hand and think about how we can combine all of those good stuffs into even more good stuff that's maybe greater than the sum of our parts. So, our gelato. It's okay. Y'know. We're pretty proud of it. So here's what we'll do for you: we'll take one of the already stellar brioches, whack it in half, and toast it. And then. THEN. Well, this:

Gelato con Brioche, yeah? I made this one with Cioccolato Scuro, but any of your nuts will do. Or white chocolate, if you're feeling that. Or burnt sugar. Bananas foster wouldn't make me mad. Shoot, it's your dessert. You want to do grapefruit campari sorbetto with it, I'd be delighted to whip it up for you. So. If you're feeling like you're stuck in a rut gelato-wise, there ya go. Wicked!

Bloody 'Ell This Is Good Sorbetto.

Well it's about that time mates. We've had many folks wondering when we were getting in blood oranges. They are here and they are brilliant! If it's not your cup of tea, which I don't see how it couldn't be, we have golden kiwi to satisfy your fancy fruit cravings. You healthy types would be pleased to know blood oranges are packed with antioxidants and vitamin C. We use Moro blood oranges, which are the brightest and most colorful of the types. We also serve this seasonal delight in juice form. If you are 21, or 18 in England, you should try taking a few pints home and pairing the blood orange sorbetto with a good wheat beer. Did you know if you're between the ages of 5 & 17 in England you can drink with permission from your parent? Any who, come in and indulge yourself with some seasonal delights. Until then, you can watch Dexter doing his daily routine which includes juicing a blood orange. Blood oranges are the bees knees with those vigilante characters. Ta ta for now!

Capogiro Fraiche

What’s a Kumquat?

A good question indeed.  One you might soon find yourself asking at the gelato case at 13th street Capogiro.  Creme Fraiche and Honeyed Kumquat Gelato.  First let’s explain the Creme Fraiche.  Here’s Randy Marsh for the explanation:

 

If that wasn’t clear enough, Creme Fraiche is a type of gourmet sour cream that is sweeter than average.  It has a pH of around 4.5 and contains butterfat, which makes it sweeter than regular American sour cream.  To better understand Creme Fraiche, please follow this link:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s14e14-creme-fraiche

Now for Kumquats.  Long cultivated in Asia, Kumquats are basically smaller, sweeter, oranges.  The rinds of normal oranges are normally too bitter to be enjoyed by themselves but the rinds of kumquats are sweeter and even more delicious when honeyed and mixed in with delicious creme fraiche gelato. Keep your eye out for it and grab a sample, it is extremely good.

In other news, BLOOD ORANGE IS BACK!!!  I can’t count how many requests for blood orange sorbetto I have had through the summer and fall.  It is finally here and you can probably expect to see it often.  Other new and interesting flavors include Candied Chestnut gelato and Persimmon sorbetto.

<3 Tori

Everyone needs a little nagging round about resolution time

Hey it's the new year! WICKED. It's early and of COURSE it's only now that the cold weather decides to settle in. But didn't I see you at the Mummers the other day? You went, right? I did prettttty firmly suggest that you finally make it to your first Mummers parade. C'mon, don't bail on your resolutions THAT fast! If you resolved to go to the parade this year and didn't make it...I dunno, man. I dunno.

But the beginning of the year is one of the best times around Capogiro way. You know we change our flavors out as the year goes on, and there's really sort of a nice pattern to it. It seems like as we get further past fall and into the holiday season, there are a particular set of flavors that really signify all that--your zucca, your King Leo stracciatella. Cold weather stuff that makes you think of pie and candy canes and spoiling the littler members of your family.

But now we've turned the corner. Know how I know? I've officially heard the first rumor of blood oranges. Best sorbetto ever? Mmmmm...could be. Could be. I might have to hold out for blueberry and Bluecoat Gin, but that's definitely a summer flavor and not at all helping my argument that winter's a solidly awesome time of year for sorbetto. But it is! Now I'm left wondering if we can't do something with Bluecoat and blood orange...

Don't get your hopes TOO high, though. I know we don't yet have our blood oranges yet. Maybe by this weekend? MAYBE. I wouldn't want to make you hollow promises, but trust that we'll be tweeting loud and proud once they show up for real. Follow our twitter feed! @CapogiroPenn has to be the most entertaining frozen aweseomeness-related twitter feed going.

So. You're not already sliding on what you promised yourself, right? Get some momentum going! And if a little espresso is what you need to get moving, well. You know where to find us.

We've made it!!

Well despite the "Mayan Doomday," holiday shopping, travel insanity, fiscal cliffs, getting wasty-faced on New Years Eve, and the Mummers annual takeover of Broad Street and most of South Philly it seems that everyone at Capogiro has survived and we are already 2 days into the new year!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and spend as much time as possible with your friends, families, and loved ones.  I myself gained a new family member this past Thursday.  Little Patrick Robert O'Connell is the first O'Connell gentleman born in over 23 years and we are all very excited to have him.  His older sister Lily is turning 3 next week and is also very excited to have a younger brother she can fight with in the coming years.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and don't forget to keep on stopping by and seeing what fun flavors 2013 may bring for us all.  

Sean