Manufactured ice creams can offer a superior taste experience when compared to homemade product, and premium brands contain less air and more fat, according to a US food scientist.

Making ice cream at home offers very different results to commercially produced, Maya Warren, a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told the Institute of Food Technologists in a video interview.

“It all has to do with the freezer itself, the slower you freeze the product, the more time the ice crystals have to grow,” said Warren.
“Imagine it taking 30 minutes to freeze a product [at home] versus making a product commercially and taking 30 seconds to freeze.”

Less creamy mouth feel

The larger the ice crystals, the less-creamy the mouth feel and therefore the less satisfying the product, she said. The differences between premium and economy brands came down to the levels of fat and air in each of the products, explained Warren. Premium scooping ice creams would have more than 15% milk fat in them, while economy scooping ice creams would have around 10%.

“Also, the amount of air [differs],” she said. “Premium scooping ice creams tend to have lower air and it’s crazy how many frozen dessert are out there, and there are big differences between them.”

Higher demand from consumers for lower fat and lower sugar products had led to a new type of ice cream on the shelf, she added.

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