As the weather heats up, cold desserts are a great way to keep the temperatures down. A great way to cool off is with an Italian spumoni. The combination of flavors can take on a number of different variations that are all satisfying. Summer isn’t complete without a spumoni dessert in hand while enjoying a day or night out with friends. As an Italian original, we especially love the creamy texture and easy handling for consumption while walking around and enjoying the amazing Miami weather.
What is Spumoni?
By now, you may be asking yourself, “what is spumoni”? The Italian root word spumon means “foam” and the traditionally Italian dessert is considered a milk sherbert. If you’re familiar with sherbert, you know that it is entirely ice cream but not a sorbet either. A spumoni has buttermilk or milk which gives it a creamy and delightful texture. Sherbert is required to contain less than 2% fat by law and is made using a terrine in Italy where it is frozen and cut into one inch thick slices. In fact, Italian spumoni is supposed to be sliced, not scooped. It originated in Naples but was introduced to America in the 1870s where it flourished in Italian neighborhoods like parts of Brooklyn. One of the most popular places to find spumoni dessert is at L&B Spumoni Gardens, where it was originally sold door to door in Italian ice cups from a horse drawn wagon!
What Flavors are in Spumoni?
An original spumoni dessert consists of three layers characterized by nut or fruit filled ice cream including chocolate, pistachio, and almond. It would typically accompany a liquor soaked sponge cake. Today, you can expect a number of different Americanized variations depending on where you are. Here a few popular spumoni desserts to look for in your travels:
- Classic – What is spumoni classic? A traditional spumoni will have cherry, pistachio, chocolate or vanilla ice cream flavors because the colors are representative of the Italian flag. Italian culture enjoys showing pride through the combination of their dishes and often chooses foods that coincide with the red, green, and white colors found in the flag. The best part about it is the tasty explosion of flavors and textures in your mouth on a hot day!
- American – What is spumoni American? Neapolitan ice cream is an Americanized offshoot of the spumoni dessert. The combination of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors were the most popular at the time spumoni dessert became popular. This is incredibly simple to make at home by softening each flavor and smoothing them into a large pan until hardened. Once the flavors have settled, you can cut or scoop the ice cream so that you get a little bit of each flavor.
- Inventive – What is spumoni seasonal? Depending on the seasons, you can combine other flavors to come up with something unique and innovative. It’s as simple as choosing the flavors you enjoy the most and combining them for a refreshing experience. To do this successfully, think outside the box by using lemon gelato, raspberry sorbet, and an almond vanilla flavor for a fun and unique combination. This is also great as a summer treat to combat the Miami heat.
- Adult spumoni – What flavors are in spumoni dessert adult style? When you’ve put the kids to bed, you’ll want to enjoy a spumoni dessert on a hot summer night that you can pair with a glass of brandy. This consists of a combination of dark chocolate – chocolate chip gelato, dulce de leche, and butter pecan ice creams. You can expect to trade in the experience of chewing cherries and crunching nuts in a traditional spumoni dessert for caramel swirls and chocolate chunks in an adult spumoni dessert.
Celebrating Spumoni Flavors
Did you know that the spumoni dessert has its own holiday? When you’re looking for ways to indulge in this sweet treat, set your calendars for August 21st known as National Spumoni Day. We won’t judge! In fact, we’ll join you with our Spumoni Sundae made with pistachio, vanilla bean gelato, morello cherry granita, and cannoli. When you pair our Spumoni Sundae with any of our lunch or dinner menu items, you’ll find a match made in Italy! A great way to indulge in an adult spumoni dessert is during any one of our promotions we have throughout the week:
- Happy Hour – Join us in the evenings from Monday through Friday for a glass of brandy and our Italian Spumoni Sundae! We recommend making a full meal with our small plates, entrees, pastas, or Grazing Board featuring prosciutto, local and imported cheeses, honey, marcona almonds, olives, gigante butter beans, pickled vegetables, pesto, and grilled bread. If you prefer to keep it light, we have a number of fresh salads available.
- Half Priced Bottles of Wine Mondays – Wine and dessert go together like peanut butter and jelly! There is no better combination than our Spumoni Sundae and a slightly sweet or sparkling red wine to start your work week. The complimentary strawberry and cherry notes of a Zinfandel pair well with the creamy textures of an Italian spumoni.
- Tuesday Artisanal Pizza Night – What is spumoni without pizza? We don’t know the answer to that because we have both at our location! When you come for our Tuesday Artisanal Pizza Night specials, be prepared for 11 inches of freshly made, stone oven gourmet pizzas that are made for sharing. We have a number of selections including our Margherita Pizzeta, Wild Mushroom Pizzetta, Spicy Pepperoni Pizzetta, and our Sunflower Pizzetta. Start the meal with a light Burrata Caprese salad and end it on an Italian Spumoni note.
- Wednesday Pasta Night – Signature Italian pasta coupled with spumoni flavors to finish off a summer evening is how we like to treat our guests. We have a variety of pasta dishes to choose from including our famous Not Your Nonna’s Bolognese made with slow braised veal, pork, and beef bolognese sauce, pappardelle pasta, local burrata, and basil. Our Pesto Ravioli is also available made with ricotta filled ravioli, asparagus, lemon, parmesan, mint, and pistachio pesto. You’ll also want to try our Stone Oven Lasagna, Bucatini Carbonara, or Ricotta Ravioli and Lobster. All pasta dishes are just $12 so we encourage you to bring the whole family for dinner.
Try Our Spumoni Dessert
Our travels have taken us all over Italy more than once and we still can’t get enough of the beautiful culture and culinary flavors. We’ve brought back as much as we could to share with you, including our modern twist on Italian Spumoni flavors. If you love Italian food, our location is a great place to explore and try new dishes! One of the best times to come is during our live jazz nights where we feature local artists for Residency Night, Progressive Jazz Night, One Man Band Night, and our Acoustic Sunday Brunch.
What is Spumoni without the right ambiance? You’ll find it here in our family friendly setting immersed in Italian culinary traditions. If you’re celebrating an anniversary, wedding, birthday, graduation, or special occasion, we are available for private booking and events. We can accommodate up to 100 guests, depending on the type of seating you are looking for. Our take out menu is also available on our website for days you’d prefer not to cook or just want to enjoy your Italian favorites in the comfort of your own home.
Give us a call today to make your reservations!
