The knowledge that will make your ice cream superior: A scientific guide

Ice cream is a popular desert among the people of all ages: Toddler to Grandpa or grandma. They are always sweet and eaten in frozen state.

This post mainly focused the home user or small scale family owned individual business. I have noticed that most of the blogs that shares the ice cream recipe are focused on actual procedure not the science behind it. As a science enthusiastic, I thought why not write an article that will provide an over all behind the scenario knowledge of ice cream making science. This post will help you to improve an existing recipe. Additionally, you will be able to make ice cream that you, your family members, guests and customers will like.

What is ice cream?

The definition of ice cream varies from country to country. In the USA you can legally brand an frozen product as a ice cream if it contains a minimum of 10% milk fat, 20% total milk solids and density 0.54kg/L. Now a days the ice cream may contains vegetable fats.

Whereas, in the UK ice cream must contains at least 5% fat and 7.5% milk solids other than protein, sugar and minerals. Additionally, if the manufacturer wants to label \”Dairy Ice Cream\”, it cannot contain no fat other than milk fat.

In general ice cream consists of about 30% ice, 5% fat, 15% sugar solution and 50% air by volume. However, the ingredients of ice cream varies on the types of ice cream.

What are the types of ice cream available today?

• Dairy ice cream – made with dairy ingredients, sugars and flavors
• Non-dairy ice cream – made with milk proteins and vegetable fat
• Gelato – custard-based ice cream containing egg yolks.
• Frozen yoghurt– lactic acid organisms or yoghurt flavored
• Milk ice – unaerated and less dairy fat containing ice cream
• Sorbet – contains no milk or fat. Simply fruit based aerated sugar syrup
• Sherbet – Sounds confusing hmm. It\’s a sorbet that contains some milk or cream
• Water ice – Any kind of ice lolly containing frozen sugar syrup with flavor and color
• Fruit ice – water ice that made with real fruit juice

What are the grades of ice cream?

Usually ice cream comes in four grades: Economy, Standard, Premium and Superpremium. Although there is no strict regulation of the grade usually you can expect expensive ingratiates in premium and superpremium ice cream. More details are on the `following table:

The knowledge you should know to enhance the taste of ice cream

Proper knowledge is the key to success. Making a superior grade ice cream is not an exception. The science behind the ice cream is complex. To tweak the taste and texture of ice cream one need the understanding of ice cream ingredients, processing, microstructure and texture, and, crucially, the links between them. If we consider it in terms of scientific discipline you need the knowledge of physical chemistry, food science, colloid science, chemical engineering, microscopy, materials science and consumer science. Sound\’s scary! Hmm. Don\’t worry there are many blogs out for your help.

Our taste buds actually feel the microstructure of the ice cream. The ingredients and processing create the microstructure of the ice cream. Typically, ice cream microstructure is made of with ice crystals, air bubbles, fat droplets, sugars, polysaccharides and milk proteins.

The table below listed the sensory properties of the ice cream ingredients-

Ingredients	Properties
Fat	Creaminess
Sugar	Sweetness
Ice	Coolness
Air	Softness and Lightness
Flavor	Enhance taste

Let consider a hypothetical scenario: After reading this article Sara wants to make a delicious ice cream. She mixed milk fat, sugar, crashed ice and flavor. After grinding she become disappointed. This mess is anything other then ice cream. Although Sara used the proper ingredients, the science behind the ice cream was absent in her trial.

From the view point of a material science ice cream is a composite material. By definition, a composites is a material made of a combination of two or more substances on a microscopic scale.

Ice cream contains all three states of matter. The ingredients are listed below as their physical states

Ingredients	Physical states
ice and fat	solid
sugar syrup	liquid
air	gas

In terms of chemistry, Ice cream is simultaneously an emulsion, a sol, a foam and a colloids. Emulsions are dispersions of one liquid into another (fat droplets in ice cream). Sols are dispersions of solid particles in a continuous liquid phase (ice crystals in ice cream). Foam is a dispersion of gas bubbles into liquid or solid continuous phase (air bubbles in ice cream). A colloid is a microscopic mixture where the insoluble particles are homogeneously distributed into another substance. In ice cream proteins, polysaccharides forms colloids in the matrix.

Let\’s dig into more details of the ingredients, their functions in the ice cream and few challenges. In general the ingredients of Ice cream are ice, milk fat, nondairy fats, milk solids-not-fat (MSNF), whey solids, sugar, corn syrup, egg yolks, stabilizers, emulsifiers, coloring and flavoring agents. Keep in mind that your ice cream may not contains all of the above ingredients. Follow your recipe and tweak the appropriate ingredients to make the best ice cream.

Milk fat Increases richness of flavor and insulates the mouth. It is responsible for the smoothness of ice cream texture. How ever, milk fat hinders whipping.

Nondairy fats provides good structure and texture however it has no contribution to flavor. Some cases it ends up greasy texture if appropriate nondairy fat is not used.

Milk Solids-not-fat (MSNF) contain lactose, caseins, whey proteins, and minerals. It improve the texture and body of the ice cream through emulsification and water holding capacity. It promotes the development of the overrun. However, excess amount of MSNF may cause salty flavor or sandiness ( caused by Lactose crystals)

Whey solids are less expensive than MSNF and can be used as an alternative. However, excessive use of whey solids can causes freezing point depression. Additionally, they are more prone to form sandy texture than MSNF.

Sugar not only contributes the sweetness of the ice cream but also lowers the freezing point and improves flavor and texture of ice cream. But over use of sugar imparts excess sweetness and chewy texture.

Corn syrup is less expensive than sugar. It improves the texture, stability and body of the ice cream. Excessive use may cause chewy texture and off flavor.

Total solids contributes smoother texture and firmer body of ice cream. Over use of total solids creates soggy or sticky body of ice cream.

Egg yolks causes the custard flavor of ice cream and improves the whipping ability. However, sometimes it may causes egg flavor in ice cream.

Stabilizers increases the shelf life, enhance smooth texture and body of ice cream. It may causes chewiness and melt resistance when eat.

Emulsifiers promotes smoothness and good melting properties in ice cream. As a downside it increases the potential of fat churning.

Coloring improves the overall aesthetics and attractiveness of ice cream. Usually they are artificial and may causes allergic reactions. I personally dislike the uses of any coloring agents since it has no contribution in overall texture and taste of ice cream.

Flavoring agents may be added to create variations and satisfactoriness. Overuse may causes harshness of flavor.

Why ice lolly feels colder than other ice creams?

The temperature of Ice lollies and other ice creams are same but its the perception of coldness in our mouth while eating a lolly. The thermal conductivity of ice lolly is higher than other ice creams. Therefore, when we eat ice lolly the heat is rapidly removed from our mouth and we feel coolness in our mouth. Water ice also shows similar behavior like ice lolly.

How does the ice cream companies promote their products?

Two factors: weather and advertising tremendously dominates the ice cream sale. Ice cream sales peaked at summer and lowest in winter. It\’s common sense, hmm. However, the major ice cream companies around the world accelerate their sales through advertisement. Companies use three major themes to promote their products:

Fun: Target consumer children and families. Common theme to promote all kind of ice creams.

Indulgence: Usually, the premium ice creams are promoted in this theme.

Refreshment: Usually, Ice lollies or water ice products are marketed in this theme.

Proper research and target consumers are the key factors for a successful business. If you are an entrepreneur looking for a ice cream start up, do adequate research, read academic books, target your potential consumer and identify your competitors.

To me, the making of ice cream is an art. Like the other art works, you need several trials before unveiling the best recipe for you, your family members, guests or your customers. Making a superior ice cream is not a daunting task you might think. All you need proper knowledge that you have learned from this article, right ingredients, perseverance and motivation. Keep a notebook and write down every ingredients and their amounts, the recipe, taste and texture. I believe, this article will help you in your journey of making super delicious superior grade ice cream.

Let\’s eat yummy ice cream!