photo by David Moore

La Scala Creamery
12645 N. Saguaro Blvd., Fountain Hills
480-836-4444
lascalacreamery.com

As the rest of the country celebrates the approach of fall and the promise of cool, crisp evenings, we’re still paddling through the dog days of summer. One way to stave off the searing heat is by diving into a mound of creamy gelato at La Scala Creamery, a new gelato shop in Fountain Hills.
La Scala’s artisan selection of all-natural, preservative-free gelatos and sorbetti rotates among more than 80 flavors, from traditional (chocolate, hazelnut, espresso) to exotic (lychee, pink grapefruit, young coconut).
Gelato is lower in fat than ice cream because it contains more milk than cream, but owner Zomore Quan is taking some flavors a step further by concentrating on digestive health.
Quan uses live kefir (a probiotic fermented milk) and kombucha (fermented tea), both of which she makes in-house. She is such a true believer in the restorative powers of fermented foods that she offers classes inside the shop on how to make them at home.
We’re not health experts, but we are taste experts, and the kefir is deliciously tangy. Pair the snowy white kefir gelato with flor de Jamaica (hibiscus) sorbetto, a flavor Quan developed specifically for the kefir, or with any other fruit-based sorbetti, like black current, blood orange or mango.