KATY, TX (Covering Katy News) – Adriana and Samir Martula share a family legacy of owning and operating a gelato business in Katy. Inspired by their grandmother, they pursued their passion and teamed up with the creators of The Gelatist to bring the authentic Italian gelato experience to Texas.
Located at 6300 FM 1463, their warm and inviting gelato shop has become a popular destination for customers from miles around.
Growing up, Adriana and Samir developed a deep appreciation for high-quality and fresh gelato, and over time became experts in its flavor and quality.
Samir makes the gelato, and Adriana manages the shop.
"Top-quality, fresh ingredients is our focus," Samir said.
Every week, Samir creates 50 varieties of gelato in small batches with ingredients from the local grocery store. It's common for ice cream and gelato shops to use a mix when they create their products. However, Samir and Adriana use fresh, natural ingredients.
"We don't use a mix," Samir said. It's like baking a cake. You can use a mix or make it from scratch. We make it from scratch because it tastes better."
Making it from scratch and using natural flavorings is vital to the process.
"There are no artificial flavors in our gelato. Nothing is fake," Adriana added. "Our flavors come from fresh fruit and flavorings created from all-natural ingredients."
One of the primary differences between gelato and ice cream is the ratio of milk to cream. Gelato uses more milk and less cream. Their kitchen looks like your home. There are single-gallon containers of milk, quarts of cream, real chocolate, pistachios, fresh fruit, and berries.
"We have our own recipes, and some of our flavors are exclusive to The Gelatist," Samir said.
He weighs, measures, and mixes the fresh ingredients to make gelato that wows the tastebuds using a hand-held immersion blender and a small pail.
"It's authentic. Lemon tastes like lemon, strawberry tastes like strawberry because we use natural, fresh fruit," he said.
While they use secret ingredients, the gelato creation process is not a secret. A large window allows customers to watch the gelato-making process.
The ingredients are mixed and poured into a specially-designed gelato machine made in Italy, specifically for The Gelatist. First, the device pasteurizes the mix by heating it. Once that process is complete, Samir flips a lever, and the batch drops into a cooling cylinder that mixes and chills it.
Once the batch is ready, Samir flips another lever, and the gelato slowly flows from the machine. Then, using a white spatula, he gently scoops the soft fluffy mixture into a stainless steel pan and adds fresh flavors like chocolate, fruit, and pistachios. Then the pan is chilled in a freezer to create the right texture.
"We make our gelato daily, in small batches, so it's always fresh. The gelato that we make today will never sit in a cooler for more than a day," Samir said.
"Samir and I share a bit of our childhood in every scoop we serve our customers. That is why we won't settle for anything less than high-quality, real ingredients," Adriana said.