Graeter's is bringing more than ice cream to its customers this week in its first rollout of new product lines since it added chocolate chips in the 1950s.

CEO Rich Graeter said the company has decided to begin making gelato and launch a line of reduced sugar ice cream called A Little Less Indulgent for people who have health issues that limit their sugar intake.

According to Graeter, the family-owned business "has been making high-fat gelato and calling it ice cream" for a long time. Graeter's French pot production system uses the same process to make ice cream as gelato requires, just with cream instead of milk, so no new equipment had to be purchased. That system of creating ice cream isn’t used by other ice cream or gelato brands offered in grocery stores, Graeter said.

Gelato is distinguished from ice cream because of its lower fat content and a lack of air in the product. Federal regulations determine what products can be called ice cream and what is considered gelato based on the percentage of butter fat they contain.

Graeter's will begin offering four gelato flavors this week: vanilla with milk chocolate truffles, hazelnut with hazelnut-filled truffles, dark chocolate with dark chocolate-filled truffles and caramel with caramel-filled truffles. A family confectioner in Pennsylvania makes all of the truffles included in the line.

Graeter said the flavors in the gelato pop because they contain less fat and "they taste pretty decadent."

The second new line, called A Little Less Indulgent, contains 50 percent less sugar, 25 percent less fat and 25 percent fewer calories than traditional Graeter's ice cream. It’s made using crystalline fructose and monk fruit.

Caproni heads up web operations for the Business Courier.