The Art of Artisan Gelato with Messina

In all art forms, creativity is the cornerstone of the craft. As we move into a modern world where everything has been created before, creative work has come from all corners of contemporary life. One could list many crevices where the beauty of the art form has spawned an unlikely trade, but never before has gelato been the source of such delicious innovation. Not like this.

It is the cult of Gelato Messina, of course, which has spilled into every corner of Sydney like a sugar-laden avalanche blanketing the city. People eat it for breakfast, follow the rotating specials like movements of the sun and — I can only assume — thank the goddamn world each morning that Messina is open seven days a week, 364 days a year. It’s a sheer phenomenon and, with the opening of the first Melbourne store today, it's not one that's waning anytime soon.

With 10 years already under their belt, an operation that started with just three guys and a gelataria in Darlinghurst has become one with a slew of stores, a factory and over 100 staff. While it's taken a while for Messina to drip down to Melbourne, it was just a matter of finding the right place, says part owner and founder Nick Palumbo. "We feel at home in Melbourne, even Fitzroy kind of reminds us of Darlinghurst," says Palumbo. "For us it just made sense."

The Smith Street store may take their total to six (with four in Sydney and one in China), but the additional demand certainly won't affect the gelato's artisanal properties. Ask anyone in the Messina family, and they'll tell you that their gelato is unlike anyone else's in Australia. It's artisan gelato in every way; everything is distinctly made from scratch and nothing is out of the question.

"What we do differently is that we don't use any pre-prepared pastes or powders that come out of Europe," says Palumbo. "Until about six years ago we had a few flavours that we could not get right, where still using pastes would achieve a better product, but, we finally cut that and now we don't use anything that comes out of Italy. We just do everything ourselves."

While most gelato makers rely on flavoured pastes — akin to a box of cake mix — Messina works of the premise of creating recipes from raw, mostly local ingredients. One of their most popular permanent flavours, tiramisu, was the flavour that spearheaded the whole concept of making their own versions of desserts, says Palumbo. And so, they built a real tiramisu, complete with egg yolks, mascarpone cheese, marsala wine and coffee-soaked biscuits that could be frozen, churned and sold in-store.

There's no doubt that this is doing things the hard way — "it's a very labour intensive procedure," says Palumbo — but it seems it's the only way these guys know how to do it. And the proof is in the numbers: they go through 1000 litres of milk a day, 2 tonne of sugar a week and an obscene amount of salted caramel each month.

The way Messina develop and produce their gelato is not only one of skill, but one that's reliant on constant innovation. With Palumbo's love of gelato dating back to early visits to his family's native Messina in Sicily, he saw an opportunity to bring real, Italian gelato to Sydney — with a twist. "Back then, and even now, gelato places are doing the same flavours they've been doing for twenty years, and, in Australia, gelato has become this hard, icy thing — which it's not at all," says Palumbo.

"We saw an opportunity to do something different and be creative and innovative with flavours."

After starting to experiment with flavours such as Pavlova and coconut lychee, the team has progressively moved from tame to all-out rebellion with inventions such as Isn't That A Salad? (goats cheese, walnut, beetroot) and Nacho Libre (avocado cream, salsa, crushed corn chips). Taking inspiration from their mums, aunties, customers and progressive chefs, a lot of the flavours are variations of dishes or desserts they've eaten at restaurants. With five or six specials constantly rotating each week, the creative process is always in action.

Managed by Simone Panetta, a man with a strong gelato background, Messina Melbourne is set to continue the gelato revolution. While the mix will be shipped to Fitzroy from the Rozelle factory, all the churning of the gelato will be done in store. If you're already following their Instagram account, you'll know that Sydney's weekly specials are posted as they are placed in the cabinet — and, for now, Melbourne will run on the same schedule.

"We're going to start off with whatever specials are running in Sydney, will also run in Melbourne at the same time," says Palumbo. "It's going to be huge, but we’re going to give it a shot."

And, giving it a go is something that's worked out pretty well for these ice cream artisans. Gelato is now an art form, with Messina at the helm of its reinvention.

Gelato Messina is located at 237 Smith Street, Fitzroy. As part of Good Food Month, Gelato Messina is holding Talk & Taste Classes on Saturday 16, 23 & 30 at their Fitzroy store, $60.