On August 21, we eat a sweet treat

Ice cream is great and all, but one frozen treat that is really one of a kind is spumoni.

National Spumoni Day is August 21, and celebrates the Southern Italian ice cream. Traditionally, spumoni is three molded layers of flavored gelato, which creates a unique dessert that include candied fruits and nuts in two layers and with a third layer of chocolate.

According to an article from The Chicago Tribune in 1979, a recipe was brought to the United States from Nola, Italy in 1905. Salvatore Lezza and his wife Lucia started a bakery in Chicago. Their traditional recipe for spumoni called for three layers of semifreddo – an almond layer, semisweet chocolate, and stracciatella, a type of gelato with irregular bits of chocolate in it.

In the United States, most spumoni will include a cherry layer with cherry bits, a layer of pistachio ice cream, and a layer of chocolate. Other varieties include hazelnut, vanilla, strawberry or pineapple. Spumoni is served sliced to highlight the layers, the traditional way to serve the ice cream dessert. It can also be scooped. It looks like Neapolitan’s chocolate, vanilla and strawberry layers, but includes nuts and fruits. The two ice creams are similar, but only spumoni has its own day.

Many ice cream parlors offer their own version of spumoni. Order up a slice, or try making your own. Enjoy this Spumoni recipe and use #NationalSpumoniDay to post on social media your created spumoni recipe.