Tag: Low Fat Ice Cream

The Future of Ice Cream

Ice cream, America’s favorite treat, has been around for a very long time. It is believed that some form of ice cream dates back to 200 B.C. Folk lore has it that in the 1st Century, Roman Emperor Nero ordered his slaves to bring ice from the mountains to make his iced mixture with fruit topping. Since ice cream has evolved in one form or another for over more than 2000 years, what is in the future of the ice cream business?

An innovative product called “Dippin’ Dots” has already made pioneering advances in the freezing techniques of ice cream that may pave the way to a whole new ice cream of the future.

Curt Jones, a microbiologist and Founder and Chairman of Dippin’ Dots began using cryogenic encapsulation which uses extremely cold temperatures to freeze tiny beads of ice cream, yogurt and ice crystals. The quick deep freeze preserves the freshness of the flavor of the ice cream ingredients. The ingredients are fresh dairy products and fruity and exotic flavorings. Liquid nitrogen flash freezes the ingredients almost instantly. This cryogenic flash freezing process may put an end to the use of the huge ice cream hardening tunnels.

Another ice cream of the future may actually be semi-sold in form and will be kept in the refrigerator rather than the freezer. Since ice cream will be able to be kept in the refrigerator, then packaging will likely change.
Vending of frozen snacks and soft-serve premium and low-fat ice cream is a trend for the future. The vending machines will provide consumers healthy products in the workplace, public places and in schools. These pre-packaged single serving products are convenient and are already portioned for counting fat grams and calories.

It stands to reason that with the increased concern over the nations’ growing waistlines, the science of ice cream will constantly be involved in working to find a healthier ice cream that suits America’s palate, lasts longer, and costs less. Food science is constantly looking for fat substitutes that will replace the butterfat in ice cream. However, if there is no fat in ice cream, it couldn’t technically be called ice cream because there has to be a minimum of 10 percent fat in the ingredients.

Co-branding is a recent trend in ice cream that is expected to continue. Ice cream products are teamed up with other products like candy, chocolate, cookies, peanut butter, and coffee to make premium ice cream products. This has been a very popular marketing strategy that has brought attention to ice cream products and other products. The success of this partnering will entice manufacturers to continue this method into the future.
Ice cream has been around for over 2000 years and isn’t likely to go away very soon. With such longevity, perhaps it will be around for another 2000 years. It remains to be seen how the product will evolve over time. Will ice cream go full circle and go back to the original, healthier fat-free version of ice covered with fruit topping? But then it wouldn’t technically be ice cream.

How Ice Cream Is Made

The hand crank ice cream maker or freezer was invented in 1846 by Nancy Johnson. In 1848 a similar ice cream freezer, the Johnson Patent Ice-Cream Freezer was patented. By 1850 ice cream had become a popular treat. It wasn’t until 1851 that Jacob Fussell’s Baltimore Company began to manufacture and market ice cream commercially.

At some point in time someone figured out that using salt mixed with the ice would lower the temperature of the ingredients and that the wooden freezer bucket and paddles would open the way for the larger-scale manufacture of ice cream. Today, ice cream is still made using the basic method of the hand-crank ice cream freezer.
With nearly two billion gallons of ice cream and other frozen desserts produced in the United States yearly, there is a need for regulation. This need is met by the International Ice Cream Association. The IICA works to regulate the manufacturing and distribution of ice cream. The organization was founded in 1900 and does market research and regulatory and legislative advocacy.

Along with regulations in producing and marketing ice cream, manufacturers are doing their best to make ice cream healthier. Unfortunately, there is a lot of butterfat and calories in ice cream which, in excess, will cause problems with obesity and other weight-related illnesses.

The fat in ice cream is needed to make the texture smooth. Fat is also what makes the ice cream taste good. Low-fat ice cream does not hold the flavor the way regular ice cream does. Regular ice cream is 10 to 20 percent butterfat and 60 to 62 percent water. To qualify as true ice cream there has to be at least 10 percent fat in the ingredients. With less than 10 percent butterfat, there is more percentage of water which makes the ice cream more like tasteless ice.

Sugar is another ingredient in ice cream that helps keep the creamy mixture smooth and soft by lowering its freezing temperature. Without sugar, or other forms of sweetener, the ice cream would freeze rock solid. Sugar also makes the ice cream taste better. Sweeteners can be regular cane sugar, honey, corn sweeteners or beet sugar. Plant derivatives are stabilizers that also help keep the ice cream smooth and keep it from developing ice crystals. Mono-triglycerides and lecithin are emulsifiers that are used to aid in keeping the smooth whipped texture of the ice cream during and after freezing.

When the ingredients have been mixed in a tank, it is then pasteurized. The pasteurization process involves heating the mixture to a required temperature. Homogenization occurs next where the milk fat is broken down so that the ice cream mixture will be creamy and smooth. It is then quickly cooled to 40 degrees F and then frozen. The ice cream is frozen one batch at a time using the continuous freezer method that has evolved from the method used in the first ice-cream freezers from the 1800’s.

The paddles used in those early freezers may have been precursors to the dasher blades that are used today to keep the ice cream from being solidified. These dashers aerate the ice cream so that it will not weigh more the 4.5 pounds per gallon as required under federal regulations.

After the ice cream leaves the freezer, any chunky ingredients like candy or fruit are added to the mixture before it is packaged. The last step is sending the ice cream to sub-zero temperatures in the hardening room where it is stored until it is shipped and finally ends up in your freezer.