Ice cream

Ice cream (formerly and properly ice-cream, derived from earlier iced cream or cream ice [1]) is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners. In some cases, artificial flavourings and colourings are used in addition to, or instead of, the natural ingredients. The mixture of chosen ingredients is stirred slowly while cooling, in order to incorporate air and to prevent large ice crystals from forming. The result is a smoothly textured semi-solid foam that is malleable and can be scooped. The meaning of the phrase "ice cream" varies from one country to another. Phrases such as "frozen custard", "frozen yogurt", "sorbet", "gelato" and others are used to distinguish different varieties and styles. In some countries, such as the USA, the phrase "ice cream" applies only to a specific variety, and most governments regulate the commercial use of the various terms according to the relative quantities of the main ingredients.[2] In other countries, such as Italy and Argentina, one word is used for all variants. Analogues made from dairy alternatives, such as goat's or sheep's milk, or milk substitutes, are available for those who are lactose intolerant, allergic to dairy protein, and/or vegan. The most popular flavors of ice cream are vanilla and chocolate.

The Story Behind Ice Cream

In the Persian Empire, people would pour grape-juice concentrate over snow, in a bowl, and eat this as a treat, especially when the weather was hot. Snow would either be saved in the coolkeeping underground chambers known as "yakhchal", or taken from snowfall that remained at the top of mountains by the summer capital Hagmatana, Ecbatana or Hamedan of today. In 400 BC, the Persians went further and invented a special chilled food, made of rose water and vermicelli, which was served to royalty during summers.[4] The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavours. Arabs were perhaps the first to use milk as a major ingredient in the production of ice cream. They sweetened it with sugar rather than fruit juices, and perfected means of commercial

production. As early as the 10th century, ice cream was widespread among many of the Arab world's major cities, such as Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo. It was produced from milk or cream, often with some yoghurt, and was flavoured with rosewater, dried fruits and nuts. It is believed that the recipe was based on older Ancient Arabian recipes, which were, it is presumed, the first and precursors to Persian faloodeh. Some distorted accounts claim that in the age of Emperor Yingzong, Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) of China, a poem named (Ode to the ice cheese) was written by the poet Yang Wanli. Actually, this poem was named (Ode to the pastry; is a kind of food much like pastry in the Western world) and has nothing to do with ice cream.[9] It has also been claimed that, in the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan enjoyed ice cream and kept it a royal secret until Marco Polo visited China and took the technique of making ice cream to Italy. When Italian duchess Catherine de' Medici married the duc dOrlans in 1533, she is said to have brought with her to France some Italian chefs who had recipes for flavoured ices or sorbets.[11] One hundred years later, Charles I of England was, it was reported, so impressed by the "frozen snow" that he offered his own ice cream maker a lifetime pension in return for keeping the formula secret, so that ice cream could be a royal prerogative.[12] There is no historical evidence to support these legends, which first appeared during the 19th century.

Types Of Ice Creams

A masterpiece of chemistry: ice cream, cake and meringue baked in the oven until the meringue browns. Ice cream, in a rectangle or mounded in a pie plate, is covered on all sides with slices of sponge cake or pound cake, which is then covered with meringue. The entire dessert is then placed in a 425F oven just long enough to firm the meringuethree or four minutes. The meringue is an effective insulator, and in the short cooking time needed to finish the dessert, it prevents the ice cream from melting.

Bombe A combination of frozen parfait and ice cream, in a mold; the mold can be conventional (round, oval) or an unusual shape (flower, lobster). As with a frozen souffl, fruit can be added, and the mixture can be molded to individual portions or large molds. It is a classic French dessert and an elegant end to a dinner.

Cabinet A Rhode Island term for milkshake. The term may have derived from the cabinet in which the ice cream was kept; i.e., the soda fountain referred to the unit with the soda-dispensing spigots; the cabinet was a separate unit from which the ice cream was scooped.

Crunching The process of freezing a liquid mixture in an ice cream machine to minimize crystal formation while incorporating air.

FLOAT An ice cream soda, so-called because the carbonation of the soda causes the scoop of ice cream to float on the top of the drink.

FRENCH-STYLE ICE CREAM

Ice cream made with a custard base that includes eggs. It is richer than regular ice cream, also called Philadelphia-, New York- or American-style ice cream.

FROZEN SOUFFL A dessert that has a base, usually a cooked custard, that is lightened with whipped cream or cooked egg whites and then still-frozen in a souffl dish in a conventional freezer. Fruit can be added, and the mixture can be molded in individual ramekins or molds or in large molds.

FROZEN YOGURT A dessert is made of lowfat or nonfat yogurt plus sweetener, gelatin, corn syrup, flavoring and sometimes, coloring. It is churned in an ice cream machine. Frozen yogurt is available soft-serve and hard-packed

THE COMPOSITION OF ICE CREAM

ice creams -not-fat: this component, also known as the serum solids, contains the proteins (caseins and whey proteins) and carbohydrates (lactose) found in milk -based corn syrup sweeteners

THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS Although ice cream is available in a variety of forms, including novelty items such as chocolatedipped bars and sandwiches, the following description applies to ice cream that is packaged in pint and half-gallon containers.

Blending the mixture

1 The milk arrives at the ice cream plant in refrigerated tanker trucks from local dairy farms. The milk is then pumped into 5,000 gal (18,925 1) storage silos that are kept at 36F (2C). Pipes bring the milk in pre-measured amounts to 1,000 gal (3,7851) stainless steel blenders. Premeasured amounts of eggs, sugar, and additives are blended with the milk for six to eight minutes.

Pasteurizing to kill bacteria

2 The blended mixture is piped to the pasteurization machine, which is composed

of a series of thin stainless steel plates. Hot water, approximately 182F (83C), flows on one side of the plates. The cold milk mixture is piped through on the other side. The water warms the mixture to a temperature of 180F (82C), effectively killing any existing bacteria.

Homogenizing to produce a uniform texture

3 By the application of intensive air pressure, sometimes as much as 2,000 pounds per square inch (141 kg per sq cm), the hot mixture is forced through a small opening into the homogenizer. This breaks down the fat particles and prevents them from separating from the rest of the mixture. In the homogenizer, which is essentially a high-pressure piston pump, the mixture is further blended as it is drawn into the pump cylinder on the down stroke and then forced back out on the upstroke.

Cooling and resting to blend flavors

4 The mixture is piped back to the pasteurizer where cold water, approximately 34F (1C), flows on one side of the plates as the mixture passes on the opposite side. In this manner, the mixture is cooled to 36F (2 C). Then the mixture is pumped to 5,000 gal (18,925 1) tanks in a room set at 36F (2C), where it sits for four to eight hours to allow the ingredients to blend.

Flavoring the ice cream

5 The ice cream is pumped to stainless steel vats, each holding up to 300 gal (1,136 1) of mixture. Flavorings are piped into the vats and blended thoroughly.

Freezing to soft-serve consistency

6 Now the mixture must be frozen. It is pumped into continuous freezers that

can freeze up to 700 gal (2,650 1) per hour. The temperature inside the freezers is kept at -40F(-40C), using liquid ammonia as a freezing agent. While the ice cream is in the freezer, air is injected into it. When the mixture leaves the freezer, it has the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.

Adding fruit and sweetened chunks

7 If chunks of food such as strawberry or cookie pieces are to be added to the ice cream, the frozen mixture is pumped to a fruit feeder. The chunks are loaded into a hopper at the top of the feeder. Another, smaller hopper, fitted with a starwheel, is located on the front of the feeder. An auger on the bottom of the machine turns the hoppers so that the chunks drop onto the starwheel in pre-measured amounts. As the mixture passes through the feeder, the starwheel pushes the food chunks into the ice cream. The mixture then moves to a blender where the chunks are evenly distributed.

Packaging and bundling the finished product

8 Automatic filling machines drop preprinted pint or half-gallon-sized cardboard cartons into holders. The cartons are then filled with premeasured amounts of ice cream at the rate of 70-90 cartons per hour. The machine then places a lid on each cartons and pushes it onto a conveyer belt. The cartons move along the conveyer belt where they pass under a ink jet that spray-paints an expiration date and production code onto each carton. After the imprinting, the cartons move through the bundler, a heat tunnel that covers each cup with plastic shrink wrapping.

Hardening

9 Before storage and shipping, the ice cream must be hardened to a temperature of -10F (-23C). The conveyer system moves the ice cream cartons to a tunnel set at -30F (34C). Constantly turning ceiling fans create a wind chill of -60F (-5 1C). The cartons move slowly back and forth through the tunnel for two to three hours until the contents are rock solid. The cartons are then stored in refrigerated warehouses until they are shipped to retail outlets.

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Ice Cream Defects

Flavour Defects Body and Texture Defects Melting Quality Characteristics Colour Defects Shrinkage Defect

Flavour Defects
Flavoring System Unnatural flavor - Caused by using flavours that are not typical of the designated flavour i.e. wintergreen flavour on vanilla ice cream. esp. vanillin Egg: Caused by using too much egg in an ice cream that is not specified as a custard ice cream resembles French vanilla ice cream . Processing Cooked: Caused by using milk products heated to too high a temperature or by using excessively high temperatures in mix pasteurization. It can dissipate with time, the same as cooked defect in fluid milk. Sulfhydryl flavor: Caramel-like, scalded milk, oatmeal-like. Dairy Ingredients High Acid: Use of dairy products with high acidity (usually due to bacterial spoilage) or holding mix too long and at too high a temperature before freezing. Acid/sour flavours are more rare these days due to the growth of proteolytic psychrotrophs during storage at elevated temperatures, rather than lactic acid bacteria. Salty: Ice cream too high in milk solids-not-fat. Too much salt may have been added to the mix. High whey powder, or maybe salted butter used instead of sweet butter.

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Old Ingredient: Caused by the use of inferior dairy products in the preparation of the mix. Powders made from poor milk or stored too long at elevated temperature or butter made from poor cream will contribute to old ingredient flavour. Unpleasant aftertaste. Oxidized: Caused by oxidation of the fat or lipid material such as phospholipid, similar to fluid milk oxidation. Induced by the presence of copper or iron in the mix or from the milk itself. Mono-and-di-glyceride or Polysorbate 80 can also oxidize. Various stages - cardboardy, metallic (also described as painty, fishy). Rancid: Caused by rancidity (high level of free butyric acid from lipolysis) of milk fat. May be due to use of rancid dairy products (pumping or excessive foaming of raw milk or cream) or to insufficient heat before homogenization of mix. See description of Lipolysis, especially the release of free butyric acid.

Body and Texture Defects

1. Coarse/Icy Texture: Due to the presence of ice crystals of such a size that they are noticeable when the ice cream is eaten. See ice cream structure, the freezing aspects of ice cream manufacturing, ice cream freezing theory, and ice cream shelf life. May be caused by:

Insufficient total solids (high water content). Insufficient protein. Insufficient stabilizer or poor stabilizer. Insufficient homogenizing pressure (due to its effect on fat structure formation). Insufficient aging of the mix (stabilizer hydration, also fat crystallization and development of resulting fat structure).

Slow freezing because of mechanical condition of freezer. Incorporation of air as large cells because of physical characteristics of mix or type of freezer used.

Slow hardening. Fluctuating storage room temperatures. Rehardening soft ice cream. Pumping ice cream too far from continuous freezer before hardening. Fluctuating temperatures during storage and distribution - the most likely cause! See discussion of ice cream shelf life.
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2. Crumbly Body: A flaky or snowy characteristic caused by:

High overrun together with large air cells. Low stabilizer or emulsifier. Low total solids. Low protein.

3. Fluffy Texture: A spongy/marshmallowy characteristic caused by:

Incorporation of large amount of air. Low total solids. Low stabilizer content.

4. Gummy Body: This defect is the opposite of Crumbly in that it imparts a pasty or putty-like body. It is caused by:

Too low an overrun. Too much stabilizer. Poor stabilizer.

5. Sandy Texture: One of the most objectionable texture defects but easiest to detect. It is caused by Lactose crystals, which do not dissolve readily and produce a rough or gritty sensation in the mouth. This can be distinguished from "iciness" because the lactose crystals do not melt in your mouth. This defect can be prevented by many of the same factors that inhibit iciness:

hardening the ice cream quickly maintaining low storage room temps. preventing temperature fluctuations...from manufacturer to consumer

Lactose crystal formation is further discussed in the Dairy Chemistry and Physics section.

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6. Weak Body: Ice cream lacks "chewiness" and melts quickly into a watery liquid. Gives impression of lacking richness. May be caused by:

Low total solids. High overrun. Insufficient stabilizer.

Melting Quality Characteristics

1. Curdy Melt-Down: May be due to visible fat particles or due to coagulation of the milk proteins so is affected by factors that influence fat destabilization or the protein stability such as:

High acidity (protein coagulation). Salt balance (protein coagulation). High homogenizing pressures (fat coagulation). Over-freezing in the freezer (fat coagulation).

2. Does not Melt: See ice cream structure, under the section on melt-down and fat structure/destabilization. May be caused by:

Over emulsification. Wrong emulsifier. High fat. Excessive fat clumping in the mix due to homogenization at too low a temperature or single-stage homogenizer.

Freezing to too low a temperature at freezer.

3. Wheying off: The salt balance, protein composition, and carrageenan addition (or lack or it) all are factors.

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Colour Defects
1. Colour Uneven: Applies usually to ice cream in which colour has been used, but may be noticed in vanilla ice cream under some circumstances. 2. Colour Unnatural:

Wrong shade of color used for flavoured ice cream. Too much yellow coloring used in vanilla ice cream. Grayish color due to neutralization.

Shrinkage
A very troublesome defect in ice cream since there appears to be no single cause or remedy. Defect shows up in hardened ice cream and manifests itself in reduced volume of ice cream in the container usually by pulling away from the top and/or sides of container. Structurally, it is caused by a loss of spherical air bubbles and formation of continuous air channels. Some factors believed associated with the defect are:

Freezing and hardening at ultra low temperatures. Storage temperature. Both low and high appear to contribute. Excessive overruns. Pressure changes, for example, from altitude changes (lids popping when shipped to high altitudes, shrinkage when returned to low altitudes).

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