Algarvian ice creams

The recipe is simple and famous – two biscuits with strawberry and cream-flavoured ice cream in the middle. The “sandwich” – a delicacy that became an integral part of the Algarve’s weekend football fixtures. It was sold at the games of “Portimonense” (Portimão’s team), on the terraces at “Farense” (Faro Football Club), and today at current first division “Olhanense” games (Olhão). “It’s practically a tradition… you watch the football and eat a “sandes”. It’s from the old days – the times of my grandfather, and it’s funny: those high up in the stadium throw a coin down to the salesman, and the ice cream flies up to them above the heads of the fans.”

The speaker is Virgílio Martins, 32 – who inherited his name from his grandfather along with the taste for making ice cream. He’s our guide round the factory that he’s known intimately since he was a child.

“Many people have a romantic idea about the whole thing and are full of enthusiasm when I tell them about the ice creams, but for me – who practically grew up here, is completely normal”, he tells. While he talks, a pale green creamy substance gloops slowly from a cylindrical machine. Today’s the day they make pistachio flavoured ice cream…

“Our objective is to make a really creamy ice cream – with little or no colouring. We work as much as we can with regional fruit – oranges, lemons, blackberries, strawberries and almonds. Of course, the recipes are constantly updated because new products come along, but I can say that we remain faithful to our origins.”

In itself, the factory isn’t a very large building. Indeed, it almost passes unnoticed among the other shops and businesses in Rua Patrão Joaquim Casaca, in the centre of Olhão. Right now, the fort is held by just five to six employees, who keep the factory that works from the end of March to the middle of September in full production.

It no longer makes sense “to have a lot of people working”, the young industrialist explains – in contrast to the reality of the 80s. Those were “years of huge expansion for «Gelvi» ice creams. There was a higher level of production, as well as many more employees”. But the “aggressiveness” of the market and competition from foreign products that arrived in force in Portugal after joining the Common Market (1986) has caused a slow-down in business.

Someone who remembers “the good old days” is Selva (a curious name considering she was born in the heart of Angola), 62. She’s one of Gelvi’s oldest collaborators – and she knows the house recipes like the back of her hand, guiding colleagues and doing all the necessary daily chores. “I think of my employers as family”, she told us, with obvious pride in her job.

“It’s not difficult to make ice cream”, the founder’s grandson continues as he leads us on to the next floor where two massive vats, each with the capacity for 500 litres, are on the go. These vats are the soul of the ice cream business. They heat to temperatures of 80º C, in order to guarantee the adequate pasteurisation of milk and separation of fat.

After chilling, and adding flavour enhancers, the ice cream has to sit for 12 hours to pass from liquid to solid state. This “resting time” always takes place on Mondays – and from then on, production goes “full-steam ahead”.

The so-called “tub ice cream” or “bulk product” comes out of these large vats – the type that’s sold for example in scoops at the ice cream parlour. It’s decanted through hosepipes into the cylindrical machines on the ground floor, and them cooled once more. In 15 minutes, one lot is ready, and then it’s extracted until it fills a carton. The rest is stored at –23º C.

Each day a new flavour is made, and on occasions in the summer, a number of flavours are produced per day. “We don’t have any magic secret recipe, but we try to create an ice cream with a base that’s more or less elastic”, Virgílio tells us. In other words, the base is very much like yoghurt, to which flavour, and later colour, are added.

The creation of new flavours all depends on the market – and is then subject to the good (or bad) reaction of clients at the ice cream parlour at “Mercado de Olhão”.

“We’ve made ice creams tasting of green apple, and pear – but they weren’t very successful”, Virgílio Martins elaborates. “There are others that people don’t go for, like ice creams that include liqueurs”. In the end, the most successful flavours are the simple ones: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, stracciatella and almond.

But that’s not to say that Gelvi no longer moves with the times, or tries new things. In 2009, the company introduced an ice cream with the flavour of the traditional Algarve sweet, Dom Rodrigo. It was just the success that they’re trying to repeat this year.

Meantime, Gelvi keeps up a small production line of individual ice creams, sold singly, and makes some desserts, mainly for restaurants – served in cups, or by the slice.

But it’s very much a sideline, as although “there’s a good market, it’s more in the North of the country. We produce a lot of desserts here that go to Oporto, and Figueira da Foz”. In the Algarve “people tend to have the attitude that what comes from elsewhere must be better, and we end up being left to one side somewhat,” he shrugs.

And the onslaught of large commercial malls and centres has definitely altered Gelvi’s dynamic. “In the beginning, the malls certainly took away some of our business. We even thought of trying to get an outlet in the new mall in Olhão – but they were asking for €5.000 a month rent! That’s a lot of ice cream! And whoever works in this business knows that sometimes – in the winter – you don’t make even €100 in a month!”

Indeed, the seasonal ups and downs that mark the economy of the Algarve don’t help the ice cream business – while the crisis acts as an even bitterer pill. Virgílio’s father, 63, also called Virgílio, is concerned for the future, believing Gelvi faces “the same difficulties as other national companies”.

But in spite of all these negative aspects, the company that has 100 to 200 clients in the Algarve, has managed to clinch new sales outlets in Portimão and Carvoeiro. Virgílio considers that “the ice cream business is growing because consumption per capita in Portugal, although small, has been increasing”. But he accepts that with foreign competition - particularly from Spain, Italy and Belgium – a small business like his has to fight even harder “to do well in the market”.

“Our philosophy is to try and win markets without losing what we already have – and to be exclusively manufactured in the Algarve”.

Summing up, Virgílio considers Gelvi to follow a rule, a kind of maxim: “To produce less, but better” (than competition). Production costs may be reflected in Gelvi’s prices “but the compensation is in the character” of this hardworking family’s very special ice creams.