FEW things bring a smile to our face on a summer’s day as creamy gelato.

Vibe asked Oliver Sharp, general manager at Black Vanilla in Blackheath and Greenwich, what makes theirs so good.

Watching the waistline

Oliver said: “Gelato is almost completely unique from ice cream.

“When everything is taken into account gelato works out as about half the amount of fat. It can be a lot less than that.

“It starts at about four per cent fat for our Fior di Latte – that is the base of all our gelato.

“Our sorbettis are pretty nutritious to be honest.

“It is still a luxury and a treat but it is nowhere near as bad for you as some of our competitors.

“Ice creams can get up to 40 per cent fat.”

The machine

“The machine we have is Carpigiani, which is the world’s best machine,” said Oliver. “It is world renowned, so it starts with that.”

Ingredients

“We have an extreme obsession and focus on ingredients.

“Our competitors use cheap alternatives to ingredients. Some of the ingredients cost us so much we don’t really make any money by doing them.

“Some don’t use pistachio at all. They use green lentils and pistachio flavour.

“We still buy our pistachios from Bronte, which are the best in the world.”

Flavours, flavours, flavours

“We do 130 different flavours. We have some that sell better than others so we do a rotation on the others.

“We try to be a little bit adventurous and a little bit creative.

“We do some fantastic alcohol-based sorbettis. This year for the Great Taste awards we submitted Champagne and Strawberries.

“We also do Mojito and Campari and orange. We try to be inventive with our fruits too – we do fig and pomegranate.

“We make a green tea for Fortnum and Mason. My favourite at the moment is Sicilian lemon and almond.”

Black Vanilla is at College Approach, Greenwich and Tranquil Vale, Blackheath.