Dairy farmers mix in family roots to spin out Italian gelato in Tulare County

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A south Valley dairy family has found a creative twist on the milk they cultivate everyday. They've turned it into gelato.

Tasty ice cold Italian gelato is being churned at curtimade dairy in Tulare County.

"It's fun because you get to taste all of your recipes," said Tessa Hall.

Hall is owner of Ciao Cow Creamery, a small batch gelato company.

She's a fourth generation dairy farmer. Her family has been in the business more than 100 years.

She attended a gelato class and got hooked.

"I thought what a great opportunity to be able to share my dad's Italian heritage with his family, melting that with our California dairy industry and generational history here." Hall said

Hall and her husband run Ciao Cow Creamery. They mostly use the milk from their cows and mix it with a seasonal or fresh flavors like lemon. She uses a machine from Italy to pasteurize the ingredients and freeze it down to -5 degrees.

"Our flavors change because we are trying to do a lot of seasonal like now we have a peppermint bark available so it depends on what's going on at that time. We do have some consistent flavors like salted caramel is a popular one as well," Hall said.

Ciao Cow has been able to launch their business and take it on the road with their mobile stand, serving gelato at weddings and pop ups.

"Normally on a dairy, the milk gets shipped out everyday and it goes to butter and cheese for somebody, but we never get to meet that somebody. So it's great to be able to talk with people and share our story and see their reaction. Especially kids. When they get fired up over how good it tastes, it's awesome,"said Stuart Hall.

In the future, Hall hopes to set up a scoop shop in the Visalia-Tulare area.

It's a sweet treat handcrafted in the Valley.