Frutto Somalo
Elenka product code 406
A banana paste made from selected bananas, dosed at 40 grams per litre of water — low for a fruit paste, because banana is one of the few fruits whose flavour survives concentration intact. It gives the intense, lingering banana that fresh fruit rarely delivers in a frozen product.
Specification sheets are supplied to trade customers on request.
About Frutto Somalo
Banana is the flavour that most exposes the difference between fresh fruit and a paste, and it is one of the few where the paste usually wins.
What it is
A paste made from selected bananas, dosed at 40 grams per litre of water. Elenka lists it in English as Banana; Frutto Somalo is the traditional Italian trade name, historical rather than a statement about where the fruit grew.
Why not fresh
Australia grows very good bananas, and using them in gelato is harder than it looks.
They brown. Enzymatic browning starts within minutes of the fruit being broken down, and the discolouration carries into the finished tub. A grey-brown banana gelato is a hard sell no matter how it tastes.
The flavour is fragile. Banana's aromatic compounds are volatile and largely lost in a frozen product. Fresh banana gelato is characteristically mild — which is why so much of it ends up tasting like sweetened cream — while the flavour that customers picture is the concentrated one.
A paste solves both, and it solves them the same way every time, which fresh fruit at a variable ripeness does not.
Forty grams is low, and that is the point
Most fruit pastes sit at 100 grams per litre. Banana sits at 40 because it concentrates unusually well, so a little goes a long way.
The failure mode is the mirror of the almond problem: over-dosed banana does not read as more banana, it reads as synthetic. That switch happens quickly and it is hard to unhear once a customer has noticed it. Dose at 40, taste it frozen, and resist adding more because it seems mild at mix temperature.
The figure is quoted per litre of water — a fruit paste, not a cream paste. Reading it against the finished mix instead would put you well over.
Where it earns its place
As a fruit tub, in a cabinet where the other fruit is seasonal and this one is not. Banana is available and consistent all year, which makes it a useful anchor between fruit seasons.
It also pairs unusually well outside the fruit family — with caramel, with chocolate, and with a nut. A banana base rippled with a caramel topping is a better-selling tub than either component alone.
What we do not publish
Ingredients, allergens, shelf life and storage conditions are absent from this page because no Elenka specification sheet is held for the Australian range. Absent means the data is not held, never that the answer is no. Request the sheet for any product you are considering and we will obtain it.
Technical specifications
| Recommended dosage | 40 g per litre of water |
|---|---|
| Format | 3 kg pail, 4 per carton |
| Applications | fruit gelato, sorbet, milkshake and drinks |
| Elenka product code | 406 |
Full specification on request
The ingredient list, allergen declaration, shelf life and storage conditions for Frutto Somalo are provided on the Elenka specification sheet. We supply it on request — please do not rely on the product name when answering a customer allergen enquiry.
Related products
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Code 1461 kgMandorla Sicilia
A Sicilian almond paste dosed at 130 grams per litre of mix — high, because almond is a quiet flavour that needs volume to register. Beyond gelato it is the base for granita di mandorla and for almond milk, which is how it is actually used in Sicily.
Code 2613 kgSalsa Caramello
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A peanut paste made from skilfully toasted peanuts, dosed at 100 grams per litre of mix. Peanut is the nut Australian customers already know best and the one almost no gelateria carries, which is the entire commercial argument.
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Frequently asked questions
Why use a paste when Australia grows excellent bananas?
Because banana browns and because its flavour is fragile once frozen. Fresh banana oxidises within minutes of being broken down and loses aromatic intensity in a frozen mix, so a paste gives a consistent, intense result that fresh fruit only matches on its best day.
How much do I use per litre?
Forty grams per litre of water, which is low for a fruit paste. Banana concentrates well, so a little carries a long way — and over-dosed banana turns synthetic quickly, which is the failure mode to watch for.
Why is the product not called Banana?
Frutto Somalo is the traditional Italian trade name for the banana used in gelato. Elenka's own catalogue lists the same code in English as Banana. The name is historical rather than a description of origin.