9 MINUTE READ
Ice cream generally contains seven categories of ingredients: milk fat, milk solids-not-fat (the lactose, proteins, minerals, water-soluble vitamins, enzymes, and some minor constituents), sweeteners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, water, and flavours. In this post, we’ll be looking at why stabilizers are used in ice cream production.
You might also like to read:
Cuisinart ICE-100 Ice Cream Maker – A Comprehensive Review
Lello 4080 Musso Lussino Ice Cream Maker – A Comprehensive Review
Locust Bean Gum In Ice Cream
Ice Crystals in Ice Cream
How To Calculate An Ice Cream Mix
Table of Contents
- 1. Why are stabilizers used in ice cream?
- 2. How much stabilizer is used in ice cream?
- 3. Ice Cream Defects Caused by Stabilizers
- 4. Summary
- 5. References
1. Why are stabilizers used in ice cream?
The primary purposes for using stabilizers in ice cream are: to increase mix viscosity; to produce smooth and creamy texture; to provide resistance to melting; to retard or reduce ice and lactose crystal growth during storage; to prevent wheying off; and to help prevent shrinkage during storage (1 2). Many of these functions are attributed to enhanced viscosity of the ice cream mix.
1.1 Increase Mix Viscosity
The best ice creams in the world have a smooth and creamy texture. This texture, primarily associated with a high milk fat content and small ice crystal size, is also strongly influenced by the viscosity of the ice cream mix (3 4). Viscosity can be loosely defined as the thickness of a liquid, with thicker liquids having higher viscosities (honey has a higher viscosity than water for example). In general, as the viscosity of an ice cream mix increases, the smoothness of texture and resistance to melting increases, but the amount of air, or overrun, decreases (5).
The most important factor responsible for enhancing the viscosity of an ice cream mix is the addition of stabilizers (6 7 8 9).
1.2 To produce smooth and creamy texture
Creaminess perception is strongly influenced by mix viscosity, with higher ratings of creaminess attributed to samples of higher viscosity (4). Soukoulis et al.10 found that the use of stabilizers improved creaminess and reduced wateriness in ice cream, a sensory property that occurs when the sample melts unusually quickly into an uncharacteristically thin, water-like fluid. Carboxylmethylcellulose, guar gum, sodium alginate, and xanthan gum were used as the stabilising agents. The researchers found that samples containing 0.2% sodium alginate or xanthan gum, which had the highest viscosity, provided the best texture.
1.3 To provide resistance to melting
The slow meltdown, good shape retention, and slower foam collapse are some of the important quality parameters of ice cream (11). Stabilizers significantly affect the melting quality of ice cream through their viscosity-enhancing properties. As viscosity increases, the rate at which ice cream melts slows significantly (12 13 14 10).
1.4 Retard or reduce ice and lactose crystal growth during storage
Ice crystal size is a critical factor in the development of smooth and creamy ice cream (15). Smooth and creamy ice cream requires the majority of ice crystals to be small, around 10 to 20 µm in size. If many crystals are larger than this, ice cream will be perceived as being coarse or icy (16 2). During storage, ice and lactose crystals grow and undergo recrystallisation. Recrystallisation is defined as “any change in number, size, shape… of crystals [during storage]” (17) and basically involves small crystals disappearing, large crystals growing, and crystals fusing together. Ice crystal growth and recrystallisation during storage eventually lead to coarse or icey texture.
Stabilizers are added to ice cream mainly to retard or reduce ice and lactose crystal growth and recrystallisation during storage (or mask the effects of crystal growth), especially during periods of temperature fluctuation, known as heat shock (5 18). Heat shock occurs when ice cream is left at room temperature for extended periods of time and then re-frozen.
1.4.1 Which stabilizers are used to reduce ice crystal growth and recrystallisation?
The most widely used stabilizers to inhibit ice crystal growth and recrystallisation are guar and locust bean gum (19). Locust bean gum has been shown to reduce recrystallisation rates better than guar gum (20 21 22). Sutton & Wilcox22 showed that the inhibition of recrystallisation by these two stabilizers was concentration dependent up to a level of about 0.3%, after which further addition did not result in further inhibition. Other stabilizers that are commonly used to retard or reduce ice crystal growth and recrystallisation during storage include sodium carboxymethylcellulose, alginate, k-carrageenan, and xantahm gum (23 24 5 25).
1.5 To prevent wheying off
Most of the stabilizers used in ice cream production (locust bean gum, guar gum, carboxymethyl cellulose, and xanthan) are incompatible with milk proteins and will thus cause a phase separation known as ‘wheying off’. Wheying off refers to the leaking of a clear watery serum layer during the melting of ice cream, which has an undesirable appearance (2). Xanthan gum is the most incompatible with milk proteins, followed by guar gum, and locust bean gum (26).
1.5.1 Why is carrageenan added to ice cream?
Along with its ability to retard or reduce ice and lactose crystal growth and recrystallisation during storage, carrageenan can retard wheying off at very low concentration and is thus used extensively as a secondary stabilizer in most stabilizer blends: it is included in most blended stabilizer formulations at usage rates of 0.01-0.015% (2). At higher concentrations (0.05%), carrageenan begins to gel and fail to function well (26).
1.6 To help prevent Shrinkage
A potential problem that occurs during storage of ice cream is shrinkage. This defect, defined as the loss of volume in ice cream before any part of the product has been removed from the container (27), appears as the ice cream pulling away from the walls of the container, and occurs most often when ice cream is transported between regions of different pressure (as when ice cream is transported over mountains) or via air transport (27 2). The use of emulsifiers such as mono- and diglycerides with polysorbate 80, along with stabilizers such as a combination of locust bean gum, guar gum, and carrageenan, could be one of the solutions to shrinkage (27).
2. How much stabilizer is used in ice cream?
Goff and Hartel(2) note that individual stabilizers seldom perform all of the desired functions. Each has a particular effect on body, texture, meltdown, and stability in storage. Therefore, to gain synergism in function, individual substances are usually combined as mixtures of stabilizers and emulsifiers. Usually 0.2-0.5% of a stabilizer/emulsifier blend is used in the ice cream mix.
Table 2.4. Suggested mixes for hard-frozen ice cream. From Goff & Hartel (2).
3. Ice Cream Defects Caused by Stabilizers
Excessive use of stabilizer leads to an ice cream defect known as gumminess, in which the product does not melt sufficiently quickly in the mouth and retains excessive chewiness. Stabilizer/emulsifier components may also impart off-flavours because they are prone to oxidation if not kept in a dry and cool environment (5).
4. Summary
The primary purposes for using stabilizers in ice cream are to produce smooth and creamy texture; to retard or reduce ice and lactose crystal growth during storage; to slow the melting rate of ice cream; and to help prevent shrinkage during storage. Carrageenan is added as a secondary stabilizer to prevent a defect known as ‘wheying off’. Many of these beneficial functions are attributed to stabilizers’ ability to enhance mix viscosity (produce a thicker mix). Usually 0.2-0.5% of a stabilizer/emulsifier blend is used in an ice cream mix, which includes 0.01-0.015% of carrageenan. Excessive use of stabilizers leads to a defect known as gumminess, in which ice cream does not melt sufficiently quickly in the mouth and retains excessive chewiness.
5. References
1 Goff, H. D., and Sahagian, M. E., 1996 Glass transitions in aqueous carbohydrate solutions and their relevance to frozen food stability. Thermochim Acta, 280:449–464.
2 Goff, H. D., and Hartel R. W., 2013. Ice Cream. Seventh Edition. New York Springer.
3 Mela, D. J., Langley, K. R., and Martin, A., 1994. Sensory assessment of fat content: effect of emulsion and subject characteristics. Appetite, 22, 67–81.
4 Akhtar, M., Stenzel, J., Murray, B. S., and Dickinson, E., 2005. Factors affecting the perception of creaminess of oil-in-water emulsions. Food Hydrocolloids, 19. 521-526.
5 Marshall, R. T., Goff, H. D., and Hartel R. W., 2003. Ice cream (6th ed). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
6 Davidson, V. J., Goff, H. D., and Flores, A., 1995. Flow characteristics of viscous dairy fluids in HTST holding tubes. J Dairy Sci, 78(S1): 105–108.
7 Davidson, V. J., Goff, H. D., and Flores, A., 1996. Flow behavior of viscous, non-Newtonian fluids in holding tubes of HTST pasteurizers. J Food Sci, 61: 573–576.
8 Goff, H. D. and Davidson, V. J., 1992. Flow characteristics and holding time calculations of ice cream mixes in HTST holding tubes. J Food Prot, 55: 34–37.
9 Minhas, K. S., Sidhu, J. S., Mudahar, G. S., and Singh, A. K., 2002. Flow behavior characteristics of ice cream mix made with buffalo milk and various stabilizers. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, 57, 25–40.
10 Soukoulis, C., Chandrinos, I., and Tzia, C., 2008. Study of the functionality of selected hydrocolloids and their blends with κ-carrageenan on storage quality of vanilla ice cream. Food Science and Technology. 41, 1816–1827.
11 Wildmoser, H., Jeelani, S. A. K., and Windhab, E. J., 2005. Serum separation in molten ice creams produced by low temperature extrusion processes. International Dairy Journal, 15, 1074–1085.
12 Uzomah, A., and Ahiligwo, R. N., 1999. Studies on the rheological properties and functional potentials of achi (Brachystegea eurycoma) and ogbono (Irvingia gabonesis) seed gums. Food Chemistry, 67, 217–222.
13 Guven, M., Karaca, O. B., and Kacar, A., 2003. The effects of the combined use of stabilizers containing locust bean gum and the storage time on kahramanmaras-type ice creams. International Journal of Dairy Technology, 56(4), 223–228.
14 Muse, M. R., and Hartel, R. W., 2004. Ice cream structural elements that affect melting rate and hardness. Journal of Dairy Science, 87, 1–10.
15 Donhowe, D. P., Hartel R. W., and Bradley R.L., 1991. Determination of ice crystal size distributions in frozen desserts. Journal of Dairy Science. 74.
16 Drewett, E. M., and Hartel, R. W., 2007. Ice crystallisation in a scraped surface freezer. Journal of Food Engineering, 78(3).
17 Fennema, O. R., Powrie, W. D., and Marth, E. H., 1973. Low Temperature Preservation of Foods and living Matter. USA: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
18 Bahram-Parvar, M, and Tehrani, M. M., 2011. Application and Functions of Stabilizers in Ice Cream. Food Reviews International. 27:389-407.
19 Adapa, S., Schmidt, K. A., Jeon, I. J., Herald, T. J., and Flores, R. A., 2000. Mechanisms of ice crystallization and recrystallization in ice cream: a review. Food Reviews International, 16(3), 259–271.
20 Wittinger, S. A., and Smith, D. E., 1986. Effect of sweeteners and stabilizers on selected sensory attributes and shelf life of ice cream. J Food Sci, 51(6):1463–1466, 1470.
21 Goff H. D., Ferdinando, D., and Schorsch, C., 1999. Fluorescence microscopy to study galactomannan structure in frozen sucrose and milk protein solutions. Food Hydrocoll, 13:353–364.
22 Sutton, R., and Wilcox, J., 1998. Recrystallization in ice cream as affected by stabilizers. Journal of Food Science, 63, 104–110.
23 Hagiwara, T., and Hartel, R. W., 1996. Effect of sweetener, stabilizers, and storage temperature on ice recrystallization in ice cream, Journal of Dairy Science, 79, 735–744.
24 Miller-Livney, T., and Hartel, R. W., 1997. Ice recrystallization in ice cream: interactions between sweeteners and stabilizers. Journal of Dairy Science, 80, 447–456.
25 Regand, A., and Goff, H. D., 2003. Structure and ice recrystallization in frozen stabilized ice cream model systems. Food Hydrocolloids, 17, 95–102.
26 Thaiudom, S., and Goff, H. D., 2003. Effect of k-carrageenan on milk protein polysaccharide mixtures, Int Dairy J, 13:763–771.
27 Dubey, U. K., and White, C. H., 1997. Ice cream shrinkage. Journal of Dairy Science, 80, 3439–3444.
So which stabilizer is best for a Gelato ice cream base. I used Guam gum for Popsicle it is good. can i use same here, I am looking for one which is natural and not chemical .
Secondly what if i look for reducing sugar to minimum level. like can i take it to 8% only. in that case technically what would be required to keep the consistency
Sodium alginate and xanthan gum have been shown to increase viscosity the most and be the most effective at retarding ice crystal growth during storage so my recommendation would be one of those. If you reduce sugar to 8%, your ice cream will lack sweetness and be quite flat, and will be quite hard to scoop because of the high freezing point. You will also need to replace the lost solids from the sugar with something else or you will likely end up with coarse texture.
All the best,
Ruben
Hello, Ruben!
First of all, thank you for providing us all this information here. It’s helping me a lot lately! You are making a fantastic work with your blog!!!
Just one question.. For doing a vegan ice cream, would it be possible to use chia seeds as stabilizer? If yes, how and when should I add it to the mix?
Once again, thank you!
Kind regards,
Julia
Hello Ruben,
I’m trying to understand the secret to making soft and smooth feel popsicles. I want to start a small popsicle business but I only collected little information about the ingredients. Artificial sugar, flavors and coloring are essential but not the core / secret ingredient to making smoother popsies.
I heard about Xanthan gum and tried it but I didn’t like the bubbles of air that it leaves in the mixture. Could you help with what is missing to get that soft smooth texture in popsies, please and would I need special mixers to blend all the ingredients to get the perfect result and what at tempreture would I need to blend my ingredients ?
Thank you for your assistance.
Regards,
Saleh Habib.
Hi there Saleh!
Thanks for getting in touch. Good to hear that you want to start a popsicle business. With popsicles, you will have a very high water content in your recipe, which usually means larger ice crystals and coarser or grainer texture. You will need to add ingredients to bind, or soak up, this water, which will, in turn, result in smaller ice crystals and smoother texture. Stabilisers, such as a combination of guar gum, locust bean gum, and carrageenan, are very good at binding water and creating a thicker mix, as is glucose syrup. I’d also recommend including fiber, such as inulin, in your recipe to bind water.
I hope that helps.
All the best,
Ruben
I really appreciate the detailed explanations about stabilisers and sugar. I may have finally got my head around it, Thank you.
I have been making milk-based and sorbets-based popsicles using commercial stabilisers/bases with a view to going commercial. However, I would like to use no stabiliser or a totally natural stabiliser. I understand the milk-based ice cream part you have illustrated, which involved heating the milk for denaturisation and adding skimmed milk powder to increase viscosity. Since popsicles need to maintain their structure and shape on sticks, would the process be different for making milk-based popsicles? Is there a way to make fruit based (sorbets) popsicles without stabiliser (or probably a natural stabiliser) and maintain texture withoug becoming icy and hard?
Thanks,
Prav.
Hello,
First of all, your articles are ALL excellent.
My question to you is, are you familiar with salep ? I’m trying to make turkish style ice cream at home and I know that the main ingredient for stretchiness is the salep. However, as you may know, salep is very difficult to find and so Im trying to find a substitue for this stabilizer. I heard that a mix of guar gum and locust bean gum ca do the trick. Have you ever looked into this ?
Thanks,
Sarah
Hi,
Your blog is great!
I am an ice cream fanatic and self proclaimed geek. I am always comparing different ice creams and there ingredients.
One I was struck by was when I was in America I went into the famous Jenis Ice Cream. The ice cream is really good- nice body and very creamy. But when I looked at the ingredients online later I found the ice cream had no stabiliser or emulsifier?
Please see below for their vanilla-
Nonfat Milk, Cream, Cane Sugar, Tapioca Syrup, Honey, Vanilla Bean Extract, Madagascar Vanilla Bean, Sea Salt
How is this possible for a large ice cream producer? Surely with shelf life and texture they would need something to help out? The only ingredient I know very little about is the tapioca syrup? will that contribute?
I’m just curious what someone with your knowledge thinks of this.
Thanks,
Anna
Hey Anna!
Thanks for getting in touch. Yes I’ve heard some good things about Jeni’s ice cream. The tapioca syrup, a glucose syrup, along with a probable high fat content from the cream, is the key ingredient. Have a read through my post on corn syrup in ice cream if you haven’t already done so.
Hope that helps.
Ruben
Hello. I want to run a small ice cream business but with no stabilizers or additives in it. How can I replace their effects, and how long will a non additive ice cream last? Thank you!
Hi there Mercedes,
Thanks for getting in touch. You can denature the protein in your mix by heating to somewhere between 72°C and 75°C and keeping the mix there for between 30 and 60 minutes (the longer you keep your mix at elevated temperatures, the better), which will give you similar results to added stabilisers. You can also use egg yolks, which will give you similar results to emulsifiers, although this will add quite a bit of cost to your mix.
How long your ice cream lasts will depend on the storage temperature and the amount of fat and solids in your mix: the higher the fat and solids content, and the lower the storage temperature, the longer your ice cream will last.
Hope that helps.
Ruben
hi ..please help how can i prevent my ice cream from fast melting? i dont use stabilizers.only cream,condesed milk and evaporated milk.
Hi there,
To reduce meltdown, you could try incorporating more air into your ice cream by increasing the dasher speed on your machine (if you can). You could also increase the amount of fat in your mix as ice cream containing a lot of fat tends to melt more slowly. I would also recommend using egg yolks as these will also help reduce meltdown. Also age your mix overnight in the fridge before you freeze it in your machine.
I’d also recommend reading my post on Why does ice cream melt?
Hope that helps.
All the best,
Ruben
Hi Reuben , nice piece of information , have you got a way of making homemade ice cream without eggs and does not have icecrystals in them?
Hi there,
You can use glucose syrup instead of egg yolks, which helps to reduce ice crystal size and maintain smooth and creamy texture. I haven’t yet tested a recipe with glucose syrup and without egg yolks but will try to do this in the future. I know that Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream use glucose syrup and omit egg yolks so I’d recommend trying one of their recipes. Their book is also quite good.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
All the best,
Ruben
Hiii Ruben
I’m an amateur Paleta maker
I’ve been trying to make fruit popsicles.
But everytime my popsicles end up having a gummy sticky texture. I don’t know where am I going wrong.
The stabilisers I use are e407, 412,415, 466,471
Looking forward to receiving a solution to my problem
Hi there Shruti,
Thanks for getting in touch. Do you use corn syrup in your popsicles? Too much corn syrup tends to lead to gummy texture. My guess is that you are also using too much stabiliser, which causes gumminess. I’d recommend reducing the amount of stabiliser, and corn syrup if you use it, in your recipe.
Hope that helps.
Ruben
Hey Ruben
I’m not using corn syrup at all.
I’m assuming it’s the excessive sugar that’s causing the stickiness.
Today I’m going to replace the sugar with a little bit of dextrose.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Hope this is the solution to my sticky paletas!!!!
Will keep you posted 🙂
Hey again Shruti,
I don’t think it’s the sugar in your recipe that’s causing the stickiness. Excess sugar will lower the freezing point, which will mean your popsicles will melt quicker and be more prone to recrystallisation during storage. My advice would be to reduce the amount of stabiliser in your mix.
Hope that helps.
Ruben
Hey there Ruben
I tried using 2 GM’s but unsuccessfully. I will try with just 1 GM of stabilizer as the fruits already have pectin so the base may require a little less maybe. Cross my fingers!!!!
Will keep you posted….
Thank you
Shruti
Hi Ruben,,,
It is a very informative article helped me to easy understanding. Can you please explain the ratio for mix of guargum and CMC?
Hi there Fathima,
Thanks for getting in touch. That’s a good question. CMC is a strong stabiliser so only 0.1-0.2% of mix weight is needed. The rest of your stabiliser content will then be made up of guar gum. So if you’re using CMC and guar gum in a superpremium ice cream recipe, you would use about 0.1% mix weight of CMC and about 0.1% mix weight of guar gum. Stabilisers usually come pre-mixed so it’s best to follow the blend manufacturer’s instructions.
Hope that makes sense. Let me know if you need a hand with anything else.
All the best,
Ruben
Ruben, can you tell me exactly how much stabilizer to use per cup of cream? I need an actual amount, say a teaspoon rather than a percentage. A quick recipe would also be helpful. Thanks in advance.
Hi there Louise,
Thanks for getting in touch. Stabilisers are added as a proportion of your ice cream mix, not just the cream. Usually 0.2-0.5% of a stabilizer/emulsifier blend is used in the ice cream mix. If your mix weighs 700g, I would add around 2g of a stabilisers/emulsifier blend; not too sure what that is in teaspoons.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
All the best,
Ruben
Hi Ruben
I was in Italy last month and was chatting with a gelato-maker/chef; he uses Inulin in his gelato…
Do you know or have tried with Inulin?
Paul
Hi there Paul,
Thanks for getting in touch. I haven’t used inulin myself but it is something that I want to research when I have the time. I’ll post my findings on the blog when I finish. If you haven’t already done so, I’d recommend having a look at using chia seed and flaxseed oil as these have the same effects on texture as inulin.
All the best,
Ruben
Hi Ruben,
Thanks for the nice post very helpfull. But i was wondering why you didnt mention gelatine?
Thanks.
Kind regads,
Bouke
Hi there Bouke,
Glad the post helps. I didn’t mention gelatine because it’s no longer commonly used in ice cream production.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you need a hand with anything else.
All the best,
Ruben
Thanks Ruben.
That was what i wanted to know. Here where i work there is some discussion about gelatine.
So this clears it up in my opinion.
Great read/update! I’m just a home ice cream maker, but outside of commercial applications I don’t really see the need for stabilizers. I understand why they are used, but with my experimentation — mostly with higher quality milk, cream, heating the ingredients etc. — I’ve found that I don’t need any additives. As you said above, it’s likely just that I’m adding more and more milk fat which is creating a smoother texture.
And even for commercial applications, maybe that stabilizers are a necessary crutch to keep prices under control and the product viable, but I won’t buy anything that uses any gums, etc. And I’d urge any producers to avoid carrageenan as the material seems like on more and more people’s radars as something that’s better to simply avoid.
Ruben,
Does the fact that you are continuing work on this article mean that you are contemplating a change in your formulations?
Hey Jim!
Definitely no plans to change my formulation to include stabilisers. The previous post wasn’t very good and needed updating.
All the best,
Ruben
Great blog and I really like what I’ve seen so far Ruben!
However, on this case I’m afraid I’ll side with those questioning the outright banning of stabilisers. As with everything in life, there are stabilisers and stabilisers. Some are just chemicals used indeed to cut corners as you say, but others are completely natural and an integral part of home cooking recipes.
Let me elaborate. I am fanatic for gelato and have been tinkering with producing it at home for a while. The first time I heard of stabilisers I also thought, ‘you know what, no such weird chemicals will get into the my gelato!’. My first home making trials were utterly disappointing. The texture and structure (your nr. 1 reason to use stabilisers) we’re nowhere near what I remembered from my gelato hunting forays in Italy.
A bit of research and a trip to Italy where I had the opportunity to chat with genuine ‘gelatiere artigianale’ made me realise that there is a world of difference between stabilisers used to cut corners (in industrial production and commercial pre-mixes) and natural stabilisers. They told me about carob powder, for example, which is made by grinding the seed of a mediterranean tree (which I was lucky enough to stumble upon during my trip and brought some pods home as memento) and is as natural as the sugar you add to your ice cream recipe (actually, depending on the provider, possibly even more natural!).
Upon my return I managed to get my hands on the specific stabilisers these gentlemen told me they used and I can’t praise enough how much they improved the final result. It was like night and day.
So for me, making gelato without stabilisers would be like baking bread without yeast. Possible, but not my cup of tea 🙂
p.s. in any case, your denaturing technique got me intrigued and i will definitely give it a try!
Hi there Sandro!
Thanks for getting in touch. I’m actually researching polysaccharide stabilisers at the moment with a view of updating this post in the next few weeks or so. I’m impressed so far with locust bean (also known as carob gum) and guar gum so my views on naturally derived polysaccharide use in ice cream making, at least for commercial ice cream production, may change. I also want to spend a bit of time testing these two in my recipes; I’ll try and post my results when I do.
If you do try the denaturing the proteins technique, I’d love to get your feedback on how it compares to your recipes with carob gum.
All the best,
Ruben
Great blog and I really like what I’ve seen so far Ruben!
However, on this case I’m afraid I’ll side with those questioning the outright banning of stabilisers. As with everything in life, there are stabilisers and stabilisers. Some are just chemicals used indeed to cut corners as you say, but others are completely natural and an integral part of home cooking recipes.
Let me elaborate. I am fanatic for gelato and have been tankering with producing it at home for a while now. The first time I heard of stabilisers I also thought, ‘you know what, no such weird chemicals will get into the my gelato!’. My first home making trials were utterly disappointing. The texture and structure (your nr. 1 reason to use stabilisers) were nowhere near what I remembered from my gelato hunting forays in Italy.
A bit of research and a trip to Italy and chats with genuine ‘gelatiere artigianale’ made me realise that there is a world of difference between stabilisers used to cut corners (in industrial production and commercial pre-mixes) and natural stabilisers. They told me about carob powder, for example, which is made by grinding the seed of a mediterranean tree (which I was lucky enough to stumble upon during my trip and brought some pods home as memento) and is as natural as the sugar you add to your ice cream recipe (actually, depending on the provider, possibly even more natural!). Upon my return I managed to get my hands on that and other natural stabilisers these gentlemen told me they used and I can’t praise enough how much they improved the final result. It was like night and day!
So for me, making gelato without stabilisers would be like baking bread without yeast. Possible, but not my cup of tea 🙂
Hi Ruben,
Thanks for the great site. I really appreciate the ice cream reviews you put up, they have helped me purchase a few machines.
I have a question that has been bothering me for a few months. Why is denaturing proteins better using stabillizers? When you denature proteins, you are changing their chemical makeup so they are no longer a natural product. How do you know that they are still safe? Has there been empirical studies on whether denatured milk proteins are safe for human consumption like there has been for stabilizers?
Keep up the great work,
Shayne
Hi there Shayne!
Thanks for getting in touch! That’s a very good question. I don’t know whether there have been studies on the effect of denatured proteins on human health; please do let me know if you find any. The Dairy Products (Hygiene) Regulations 1995 stipulate pasteurisation times and temperatures for ice cream mix here in the U.K. Because these are in the range where reversible protein unfolding is likely to occur, I think it reasonable to infer that reversibly unfolded proteins are safe for human consumption.
I think there is a premium in omitting stabilisers and emulsifiers in gourmet ice cream. I also don’t think stabilisers are necessary for ice cream that is not intended for prolonged periods of storage.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
All the best,
Ruben
Hi,
Most food proteins that we eat are denatured by the very nature of the cooking process (particularly through heating or curing methods), so essentially any cooked food you eat contains denatured proteins.
The denaturation doesn’t change the chemical make up of the proteins, but it does change their shape and stops them from carrying out their normal function in living things. This is important in pasteurisation for example, as this change in shape stops the proteins in bacteria for example from keeping the bacteria alive, so can make foods safer to eat. This change in shape can also make them easier to digest. They are still very much a natural product, in the same way that a piece of fried fish or a steamed carrot is still a natural product, and totally safe to eat!
🙂
Hi Ruben, very informative and well studied article. It has helped me understand some essentials.Thanks for that. Can you please guide me on how much to add alginates or guar gum as stabilisers?
Cheers,
Makarnd
Hi there Makarnd!
Thanks for getting in touch! The amount of stabilisers you add will depend on the amount of fat and total solids in your mix: a higher milk fat and total solids content usually requires less added stabiliser. For mixes containing 10 to 13% milk fat, try around 0.3% stabiliser. For a 14% fat mix, try 0.25%, for 15% try about 0.2%, and for a 16% fat mix try about 0.15% stabiliser.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
All the best,
Ruben 🙂
Thank you very much Ruben. This was really helpful.
Cheers,
Makarnd
🙂
Hi there,
Im investigating making gelato with out having to add commercial pre-mix bases and stabilisers/ emulsifiers and am interested what the shelf life would be?
I have a small dairy milking goats and sheep and although I want a really natural, small batch, hand made product I have local health stores etc that would need some shelf life. Any advice greatly appreciated. I am also going to be making yogurt. I have access to good goat milk powder and have my small creamery setup with the equipment… did my first trial run using new equipment yesterday. I did use a commercial pre-mix supplied by the people I purchase from for training purposes.
Kind regards,
Alison
Hi there Alison!
Thanks for getting in touch! Shelf life of ice cream and gelato depends very much on ice crystal growth. All ice creams and gelato will develop coarse texture as the crystals grow during storage. The quicker these ice crystals grow, the coarser the texture and the shorter the shelf life/acceptability of the product.
Ice crystal growth during storage is primarily dependent on storage temperature but also on mix composition and temperature fluctuations. Minimal ice crystal growth occurs at storage temperatures of -25°C or lower, ideally around -30°c, which should give you a good few months of shelf life depending on mix composition. Also bear in mind that the longer you store your gelato, the more of the added flavour will be lost. Basically, just store your gelato in the coldest freezer you have and try to keep the temperature constant (don’t keep removing it and putting it back in the freezer).
I hope that helps. I’ll hopefully be posting something about shelf life up on the blog sometime soon. Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck with your gelato making!
All the best,
Ruben
I’m really enjoying your site, Ruben, although I take issue with some of your conclusions in this post. Stabilizers aren’t just used to cut corners in manufactured ice cream. The best pastry chefs in the world use stabilizers in their ice creams. I think you’d be hard pressed to find ones who don’t (not counting ones who use paco-jet, which generally makes stabilization optional).
It’s important to recognize that you do indeed use stabilizers in your recipes. Egg custard is both a stabilizer and an emulsifier. Denatured milk proteins are both a stabilizer and an emulsifier. The former is added purely for these textural duties; the latter are there anyhow, but you are greatly increasing their proportions with your methodology.
The objective question is: what is the best way to achieve the desired textural qualities? All methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Egg custard gives a wonderful texture, but it also gives the flavor of eggs (which you may or may not want) and it has much stronger flavor masking properties than many of the alternatives. I can’t speak to the pros and cons of high concentrations of altered milk proteins (although I believe this is similar to the method used by Haagen Dazs).
Personally, I like the results I get with a very small quantity of egg custard and a small quantity of hydrocolloids. The latter has the advantage of working in minute quantities, of having perfect flavor release qualities, and zero detectable flavor of its own. There are no downsides, besides marketing ones. People reading labels are prone to thinking these ingredients are artificial or unhealthy (they’re not, and they’re not). But I am interested in using science to improve the ice cream, not to pander to unscientific views.
Hi Paul!
Many thanks for getting in touch. I do think that stabilisers are used in ice cream to cut corners and keep costs down as it is easier to add stabilisers than it is to heat a mix for a longer period of time or increase the total solids count. I don’t see the need for the addition of artificial or excessively processed stabilisers in homemade ice cream.
Yes you are right that denatured whey proteins play a similar role as stabilisers. I don’t object to the beneficial role that denatured whey proteins play but I do object to the use of artificial or excessively processed stabilisers in my ice cream. I’ve chosen not to include any artificial ingredients in the ice cream that I sell and certainly think there is a premium in doing so.
I have found that heating my mix to 72°C for 25 minutes produces excellent ice cream with smooth and creamy texture. I’d be interested to get your feedback on how my recipes compare to the ones you have tried that include stabilisers.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
All the best,
Ruben
I’m a gelato maker. Wouldn’t cooking the ice cream at that temperature be
Ike re-pasteurizing the ice cream, destroying the protein content, fruit flavors?
Thanks for the reply! I’ll definitely try it next time, and I can’t wait for your new recipe 🙂
Awesome post! I’ve been trying to understand the role of stabilizers for a while and your post was very helpful 🙂 You mentioned heating the mixture for 60 min @ 71.4C. I live in the US so that translated to about 160F.This might sound dumb, but I’m wondering if that high of a temp would scramble the eggs in the mixture? Unless you don’t add eggs in your mix?
Hi Stacy!
Hope the post helped. I haven’t had an issue with curdling the egg yolks at around 72°C as long as the mix is constantly stirred. The sugar, milkfat, and non-fat milk solids also protect the yolks from curdling in that it takes a bit more heat for them to curdle. Mixing the sugar with the yolks before adding the milk and cream also helps.
I’m experimenting with skim milk powder at the moment to bring down the 60 minutes heating time to around 35 minutes as I know that standing in front of your cooker for 60 minutes isn’t the most interesting thing to do. I will try and post that recipe soon.
Hope that helps.
All the best,
Ruben
Great post about stabilizers — very interesting.
I agree that there’s rarely a need for it when making ice cream at home, although it can occasionally help compensate for extra water when using fruit or making sorbets — but even then, other ingredients can be used such as alcohol.
One place where I think it’s (unfortunately) essential is in gelato. A homemade batch of ice cream with a recipe that’s around 18-19% butterfat doesn’t really need stabilizers, but gelato made from 3.5% milk needs something to help with your first bullet point: “increase mix viscosity”. Commercial gelato mixes are loaded with multiple stabilizers, and I think it’s about impossible to make gelato at home unless you do the same — or increase the butterfat to the point that it’s really just ice cream and not gelato anymore.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Thanks,
Russell
Hi Russell!
Good to hear from a fellow ice cream geek. I agree that you do need something in gelato to compensate for the reduction in milk fat but I don’t think that something should be stabilisers. You can increase mix viscosity by adding skim milk powder, which also increases the protein content. You can also increase mix viscosity by heating the gelato mix for 60 minutes; this denatures proteins and also concentrates the mix, thereby increasing non-fat milk solids.
I haven’t actually made gelato myself but it is on my to-do list for this month. I will let you know how I get along.
Do you make and sell your own gelato?
All the best, Ruben
I think additives like stabilizers shouldn´t be used in icecream shops/parlors. That would be a uge benefit for all customers.
-You only get icecream when the season is there. Business would be back in the hands of those who really care about what they do.
– you recognize old icecream. Shop owners are forced to sell like a bakery this is kind of difficult due to changing weather,ha. Ageing the mix would be an issue too. But then again who tastes the difference and if the weather is fine you are out of icecream at the end of the day anyway