This vanilla bean gelato recipe uses the science behind gelato production to produce exceptionally creamy gelato with an extremely smooth mouthfeel. The volatile flavour molecules in the vanilla extract give the gelato an immediate burst of flavour that is followed by the sweet, creamy, rich, full bodied, and somewhat woody, flavour of grade A (or ‘black’) Bourbon vanilla beans.
You might also like to read:
• Lello 4080 Musso Lussino Ice Cream Maker – A Comprehensive Review
• Cuisinart ICE-100 Ice Cream Maker – A Comprehensive Review
• Fibre in ice cream
• The role of fat in ice cream
• Why is corn syrup used in ice cream?
PREP TIME
About 10 minutes
HEATING TIME
30 minutes at 77°C (170°F)
EQUIPMENT
Food thermometer
Ice cubes
Zip-lock freezer bag
INGREDIENTS
Cream
Milk
Sugar
Skimmed milk powder
Inulin
Egg yolks
1 large grade A (or ‘black’) Bourbon vanilla bean.
Produces 800 ml (0.85 quarts) of gelato mix
PART 1: QUICK-READ RECIPE
- To start, enter the fat content of your cream in cell B2, and the fat content of your milk in cell B3 in the mix composition spreadsheet. Press enter to update the spreadsheet. Cells B6 to B11 (in green) display the amount of each ingredient, expressed in grams, that you’ll be using for this recipe.
- Fill a large bowl with cubes of ice. Place a zip-lock bag next to the bowl ready for later.
- Run a sharp knife down the vanilla pod to separate it into two. Scrape out the sticky material containing the small black beans into a small bowl. Dice the two vanilla pod halves into small pieces or, preferably, grind in a coffee or spice grinder. Add to the bowl containing the sticky material and set aside for later.
- Before you combine your ingredients, weigh your pan and note down its weight.
- In your pan, combine the sugar and egg yolks. Add the cream, milk, skimmed milk powder, and inulin. Stir well.
- Over a medium heat, bring your mix up to 75°C (167°F) whilst constantly stirring; this usually takes me between 13 and 15 minutes.
- Once the temperature reaches 75°C (167°F), turn the heat down to low, move your pan about 1/4 of the way off the heat, and continue heating and stirring until the temperature slowly reaches 77°C (170°F), which should take another 2-3 minutes.
- Keep the mix at 77°C (170°F) for 30 minutes, stirring constantly and adjusting the position of your pan to help regulate the temperature. Don’t worry if you go slightly over 77°C (170°F); just try and keep the temperature as close to 77°C (170°F) as you can.
- After 30 minutes at 77°C (170°F), take the pan off the heat and weigh it. Subtract the weight of your pan, which you wrote down earlier, from the total weight displayed on your scales to get the weight of your mix post-heating. If your post-heating mix weight is greater than 871g, place the pan back on the heat and continue stirring until you get it to 871g.
- Once you get the mix weight down to 871g, add the blended vanilla powder/diced pieces and sticky material. Put the pan back onto the heat and, whilst stirring, keep the temperature above 72°C (162°F) for 15 seconds to pasteurise the vanilla pod.
- Carefully pour your mix into the zip lock bag that you placed next to your ice bath. Seal the bag and place it in your ice bath.
- Once your mix has cooled to 7.2°C (45°F), which should take no more than 1.5 hours, place the zip-lock bag in the fridge and leave it overnight. To improve the extraction efficiency of the beans, I’d recommend sloshing the mix around the bag every few hours. This will give your gelato a stronger vanilla flavour.
- The next day, carefully sieve your mix into a large bowl or jug using a clean wooden spoon to press down on the vanilla powder/pieces to extract as much of the flavour as possible. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to the mix and pour it into your ice cream or gelato freezer.
- When your gelato reaches between -10°C and -12°C (14°F and 10.4°F) (a cheap infra-red thermometer does the job nicely), quickly extract it from your machine and into a container. Place in the freezer to harden to a serving temperature of around -14°C (7°F), which should take 1 to 2 hours.
PART 2: LONG-READ RECIPE
Table of Contents
1. Mix composition spreadsheet
Don’t worry if the spreadsheet below looks confusing, I’m going to walk you through it step by step. You just need to pay attention to the cells in yellow, green, and blue.
Let’s start with the fat content of your milk and cream. For gelato production, you can use any kind of cream (US: light, whipping, heavy; Australia: light, thickened, single, double; Canada: half and half, table, whipping; UK: singe, double) and milk as long as you know the fat content of both. Here in the UK, the fresh double cream I use contains 47.5g of fat per 100ml, which equates to 47.5% fat, and the whole milk 3.7g of fat per 100ml, or 3.7% fat.
To start, enter the fat content of your cream in cell B2, and the fat content of your milk in cell B3. Press enter to update the spreadsheet. Cells B6 to B11 (in green) display the amount of each ingredient, in grams, that you’ll be using for this recipe.
That’s all that we need to do to the spreadsheet for now; we’ll come back to it later after the heating stage.
2. Inulin
Inulin is a dietary fiber found in a variety of plant foods such as bananas, barley, chicory, and onions. It’s an ingredient that I’ve only just recently become extremely interested in not only because of its association with a wide range of health benefits, which include improved bowel habits (1), increased calcium absorption with positive effects for bone health (2), and a reduced risk of heart disease (3), but also because it significantly improves texture; I’ve discussed the texture enhancement abilities of dietary fiber in my post on fiber in ice cream.
3. Prepare an ice bath
The next step is to prepare an ice bath. An ice bath is a mixture of ice and water that you’ll use to cool your mix as quickly as possible to no more than 7.2°C (45°F) within a maximum of 1.5 hours. This minimises the time the mix spends in the ‘danger zone’, between 5°C (41°F) and 65°C (149°F), where bacteria likes to multiply.
Fill a fairly large bowl about 2/3 of the way with ice cubes and place a large zip-lock freezer bag next to the bowl ready for later.
4. Vanilla beans
I’ve tested Tahitian, Indian, Bourbon, and Ugandan vanilla beans, and have found that grade A (or ‘black’) Bourbon beans have the best flavour and aroma. Bourbon vanilla is the term used collectively for beans from Madagascar, Reunion, Comoro Islands, and the Seychelles. The aroma is sweet, creamy, rich, full bodied, tobacco-like, somewhat woody, deep balsamic, and has sweet spicy back notes (4).
The only downside to grade A Bourbon beans is that they are ridiculously expensive. You can use lower grade B Bourbon, or Tahitian, Mexican, Indonesian, Indian, or Ugandan beans that are, generally, cheaper and will still give fairly decent results.
4.1. How to choose vanilla beans
When choosing vanilla beans, a high vanillin (>0.20%), high moisture (>20%) bean is the most likely to deliver the best quality flavour.
4.1.1. A high vanillin content
Vanillin is the most abundant of the vanilla flavour constituents, varying considerably from trace quantities to almost 3% by weight of cured vanilla beans, and is generally used as a prime indicator of flavour quality. The lower the vanillin content, the lower the quality of the bean, not just because of the vanillin itself, but also due to the other flavour notes that develop along with vanillin during curing.
4.1.2. A high moisture content
The moisture content of commercial vanilla beans varies from 10% for poor quality lower grade beans to 35% for gourmet beans (5). Drier beans are less aromatic than high moisture beans and flavour notes, such as pruney, woody, floral, fruity, and rummy, which develop along with vanillin during curing, do not develop and/or are lost, in over-dried (low moisture) beans (6).
4.1.3. Bean length
The length of the bean is also a good indicator of quality with Grade A beans usually measuring over 15 cm (5.9″) in length.
4.2. Preparing your bean
Vanilla’s flavour is contained in two different parts of the pod (commonly referred to as the bean): the sticky material that contains the small black beans, and the pod wall.
On a chopping board, run the tip of a sharp knife down the pod to separate it into two. Using the back of the knife, scrape out the sticky material into a small bowl.
If you have a coffee or spice grinder, grind the two halves of the pod into a fine powder. Studies has shown that vanillin yield increases with decreasing pod particle sizes: powdered pods have a higher vanillin yield than 2mm and 5mm chopped beans (7). If you don’t have a coffee grinder, dice the two pod halves into small pieces; the smaller you can get them, the better.
Add your ground/diced pod halves to the same bowl containing the small sticky material and set aside for later.
4.3. Why use vanilla extract?
Rob Linforth, Principal Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Faculty of Science, notes that as we eat, what we register most intensely is the rate of change of flavour: that is, we perceive a quick, powerful burst of flavour more intensely than a slow, gradual build up of flavour (8).
Flavour can be best defined as a combination of taste, aroma, texture, temperature, sight (and even sound) experienced by an individual when eating or drinking. Flavour results from two types of molecules: those that are volatile (i.e. small and light enough to evaporate from their source), which are responsible for aromas; and those that are non-volatile (i.e. don’t easily evaporate at room temperature), which are responsible for taste. It is generally believed that aroma is more important than taste in determining overall flavour, a generalisation that can be easily demonstrated by observing the difficulty in distinguishing between an apple and a pear if our nose is blocked by a cold or pinching fingers. Alcohol (vanilla extract is made up of alcohol, water, vanilla pods, and sometimes sugar), being volatile, releases aroma compounds relatively quickly, giving a quick burst of vanilla aroma as soon as it is eaten.
5. Heating the mix
Before you combine your ingredients, weigh your pan and write down its weight. You’ll use this measurement later at the end of the heating stage.
Add the sugar to your pan, followed by the egg yolks. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, mix these two ingredients well. The dissolved sugar will help prevent the yolks from curdling. Add the cream, milk, skim milk powder, and inulin and stir well.
For the next step, you’ll need a food thermometer and a timer.
Over a medium heat, bring your mix up to 75°C (167°F) whilst constantly stirring (this step usually takes me between 13 and 15 minutes). Once the temperature reaches 75°C (167°F), turn the heat down to low, move your pan about 1/4 of the way off the heat, and continue heating and stirring until the temperature slowly reaches 77°C (170°F), which should take another 2-3 minutes.
Whilst stirring, keep the mix at 77°C (170°F) for 30 minutes, adjusting the position of your pan to help regulate the temperature. Don’t worry if you go slightly over 77°C (170°F); just try and keep the temperature as close to 77°C (170°F) as you can.
5.1. Why heat the mix to 77°C (170°F) for 30 minutes?
I know that keeping the mix at 77°C (170°F) for 30 minutes is quite cumbersome, but it’s essential for two reasons: 1. to pasteurise the mix, and 2. to significantly enhance smoothness of texture by promoting reversible protein denaturation.
5.1.1. To pasteurise the mix
Ice cream needs to be pasteurised to destroy all pathogens and the enzyme phosphatase that may be harmful to health. Pasteurised ice cream can be obtained by the mixture being heated:
- to a temperature of not less than 65.6°C (150.1°F) and retained at that temperature for not less than 30 minutes;
- to a temperature of not less than 71.1°C (160°F) and retained at that temperature for not less than 10 minutes; or
- to a temperature of not less than 79.4°C (174.9°F) and retained at that temperature for not less than 15 seconds (9).
5.1.2. To promote reversible protein denaturation
Milk proteins are classified in two major categories. The first and most abundant is the casein family, and the second the whey proteins. When milk proteins are subjected to heat treatment, the whey proteins may undergo structural changes, commonly known as denaturation. Protein denaturation involves 2 steps: an unfolding step at 70 to 78°C (158 to 172°F), and an aggregation step at 78 to 82.5°C (172 to 180°F), that mostly follows unfolding (10).
Heating milk so that the whey proteins undergo partial protein unfolding yields a more voluminous and more stable foam, improves the emulsifying characteristics of the proteins, imparts beneficial body and smoothness of texture, increases the meltdown time of the ice cream, and contributes to reduced iciness (11 12 13 14). Foaming and emulsifying characteristics, however, may be impaired if protein undergoes aggregation (15). Studies have shown a greater degree of protein denaturation with longer heating times (10 16).
6. Mix weight after heating
After 30 minutes at 77°C (170°F), the next step is to weigh your mix. This step is a bit cumbersome but I’ll go through it step-by-step with an example.
Here we go.
After 30 minutes at 77°C (170°F), take your pan off the heat and place it on a set of digital scales. Subtract the weight of your pan, which you wrote down earlier, from the weight displayed on the scales and write this post-heating mix weight down on sheet of paper; you’ll need this figure to update the mix composition spreadsheet later.
If your post-heating mix weight is greater than 871g, place the pan back on the heat and continue stirring until you get a post-heating mix weight of 871g; don’t worry if the temperature doesn’t rise back up to 77°C (170°F) during this extra heating time. If your post-heating mix weight is considerably lower than 871g (below around 771g) after 30 minutes, you can still go ahead and freeze your in your ice cream or gelato machine, but it will likely be too sweet.
After 30 minutes at 77°C (170°F), I take my pan off the heat and weigh it on my digital scales. The scales display a total weight of 1950g. I know that my pan weighs 1060g (I weighed the empty pan before I added all the ingredients) so I subtract 1060g (the weight of my pan) from 1950g (the weight of the pan and post-heating mix), which gives me 890g. I know that my target post-heating mix weight (cell E5) should be 871g so I will put the pan back on the heat and continue heating and stirring for another 2 – 3 minutes. After 3 more minutes, I take my pan back off the heat and weigh it again. This time the scales display 1931g. I subtract 1060g (the weight of my pan) from 1931g (the weight of the pan and post-heating mix), which gives me 871g.
7. Cooling the mix
Once you get your post-heating mix weight down to 871g, add the blended vanilla powder/diced pieces and sticky material and put the pan back onto the heat. Whilst stirring, keep the temperature above 72°C (162°F) for 15 seconds to pasteurise the vanilla pod.
Switch the heat off and carefully pour your mix into the zip lock bag that you placed next to your ice bath, making sure that you scrape out as much of the vanilla powder/pieces as possible. Seal the bag and place it in your ice bath, which should, by now, contain a little melted water. If it doesn’t, add just a little bit of tap water.
Once your mix has cooled to 7.2°C (45°F), which should take no more than 1.5 hours, place the zip-lock bag in the fridge and leave it overnight. To improve the extraction efficiency of the beans, I’d recommend sloshing the mix around the bag every few hours. This will give your gelato a stronger vanilla flavour.
8. Freezing your mix in your ice cream or gelato machine
The next day, carefully sieve the mix into a large bowl or jug, using a clean wooden spoon to press down on the vanilla powder/pieces to extract as much of the flavour as possible. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and pour your mix into your ice cream or gelato machine. I’d recommend reading my review of either the Lello 5030 Musso Pola, or the Cuisinart ICE-100, where I discuss the key principles of the freezing stage.
8.1. How do I know when the gelato is ready?
Draw temperature (the temperature at which gelato is extracted from the machine) significantly influences texture, with lower draw temperatures producing smoother texture. In my tests, I’ve found that gelato extracted at between -10°C and -12°C (14°F and 10.4°F) is perceived smoother and creamier than that extracted at conventional draw temperatures of around -6°C (21.2°F). I’d recommend getting a cheap infra-red thermometer to read the draw temperature.
Quickly scoop your gelato into a pre-chilled container and place it in the freezer to harden. It will take between 1 and 2 hours to get your gelato to a serving temperature of around -14°C (7°F).
9. Mix composition spreadsheet adjustment
When I make this recipe, my mix weight usually decreases from a pre-heating mix weight of 1050g (cell E4) to a post-heating mix weight of 871g (cell E5), a result of the reduction of water through evaporation. It’s unlikely, however, that you’ll get exactly the same post-heating mix weight as I do because of a host of factors, including the size of your pan, rate of stirring, and room temperature, that affect the rate of evaporation.
If you don’t achieve a post-heating mix weight of 871g after 30 minutes of heating, I’d strongly recommend adjusting my Excel mix composition spreadsheet so that the next time you make this recipe, you’ll end up with the correct mix composition after exactly 30 minutes of heating.
To start, download the spreadsheet by clicking on the ‘download’ icon that’s four icons in from the right of the black bar under the spreadsheet; you won’t be able to save any changes you make to without downloading the spreadsheet. Enter your post-heating mix weight, which you wrote down earlier, in cell E5. Changing the post-heating mix weight will alter the mix composition so you will also need to adjust the data in cells B4, B5, E1, E2, and E3, so that the data in row 13 (in blue) is as follows:
• Total solids (cell A13): 46%
• NFMS (cell B13): 12%
• Fat (cell D13): 8%
• Sugar (cell E13): 17%
• Egg (cell F13): 4%
• Inulin (cell G13): 5%
The spreadsheet will then update the weight of each ingredient in cells B8 to B11. The cream (cell B2) and milk (cell B3) fat content will be set to my default when you download the spreadsheet so make sure that you also update these to your cream and milk fat contents. Save the changes you make to the spreadsheet.
The downloaded mix composition spreadsheet will then be good to go the next time you make this recipe.
10. References
1. Marteau, P., Jacobs, H., Cazaubiel, M., Signoret, C., Prevel, J. M., and Housez, B., 2011. Effects of chicory inulin in constipated elderly people: a double-blind controlled trial. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 62.164-170.
2. Meyer, D., and Stasse-Wolthuis, M., 2006. Inulin and bone health. Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research. 4. 211-226.
3. Brighenti, F., 2007. Dietary fructans and serum triacylglycerols: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Nutrition. 11.2552-2556.
4. Ranadive, A. S. Quality Control of Vanilla Beans and Extracts. In: Havkin-Frenkel, D., and Belanger, F. C. ed. 2011. Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
5. Ranadive, A. S. Quality Control of Vanilla Beans and Extracts. In: Havkin-Frenkel, D., and Belanger, F. C. ed. 2011. Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
6. Gillette, M., and Hoffman, P., 2000. Vanilla extract. In: Francis, F.J. ed. 2000. Encyclopedia of Food Science and Technology. 2nd Edn. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 2383–2399.
7. Dong, Z., Gu, F., Xu, F., and Wang, Q., 2014. Comparison of four kinds of extraction techniques and kinetics of microwave-assisted extraction of vanillin from Vanilla planifolia Andrews. Food Chemistry. 149. 54-61.
8. Linforth, R. The Impact of a Droplet of Flavour. In: Blumenthal, H. (ed). 2009. The Fat Duck Cookbook. Bloomsbury.
9. Dairy Products (Hygiene) Regulations 1995, Schedule 6, part v 1 (a).
10. Sava, N., Van der Plancken, V, Claeys, W., Hendrickx, M., 2005. The Kinetics of Heat-Induced Structural Changes of B-Lactoglobulin. J. Dairy. Sci. 88:1646-1653.
11. Schmidt, K., Lundy, A., Reynolds, J., and Yee, L. N., 1993. Carbohydrate or protein based fat mimicker effects on ice milk properties. Journal of Food Science. 58(761–763):779.
12. Alvarez, V. B., Wolters, C. L., Vodovotz, Y., and Ji, T., 2005. Physical properties of ice cream containing milk protein concentrates. Journal of Dairy Science. 88:862–871.
13. Patel, M. R., Baer, R. J., Acharya, M. R., 2006. Increasing the protein content of ice cream. Journal of Dairy Science. 89:1400–1406.
14. Goff, H. D., 2008. 65 Years of ice cream science. International Dairy Journal. 18(7).
15. Phillips, L. G., Schulman, W. and Kinsella, J. E., 1990. pH and heat treatment effects on foaming of whey protein isolate. Journal of Food Science. 55:1116–1119.
16. McKenna, B. M., and O’Sullivan, A. C., 1971. Whey protein denaturation in concentrated skimmilks. Journal of Dairy Science. 54.1075-1077.
Hi!
I have tried everything to make gelato without noticeable ice crystals, but it seems impossible without a blast freezer…
My recipes has roughly 10% fat, 0.2% stabilizers, 0.3% emulsifiers, 10-11 % MSNF, and 18% sugar. Usual mix weight is 570 g pre heating. I follow Rubens heating method of 30 minutes. I have also tried sous vide closed and open bag, which actually made the ice cream more icy. I think due to the fact there are no or minimal evaporation.
I have tried almost every combination of stabilizer without any bigger difference on ice crystals growth. I have started to include K-karragenan a while back, which has made a slight difference together with a primary stabilizer, roughly 1:9 ratio. I have also laborated with soy lecithin and mono & diglycerids. The latter actually has made quite an impact on texture, with a bit less ice crystals. Unfortunately they are definitely still noticeable when biting the ice cream.
I have elaborated with different types of sugars, in different amounts. Now I include ca. 12 % cane sugar, 2% coconut syrup, 1,5-2 % glucose syrup, and roughly 5 % being lactose sugar from Skim milk powder, milk and cream.
I have also tested dextrose in small amounts. However, as I understand it dextrose lowers the freezing point a lot, which tends to grow bigger ice crystals after the gelato has hardened in the freezer. I read somewhere that dextrose can help preventing ice crystals as it is good at binding water. So maybe it can be a good crystal preventer in some amount or combination?
I have also tried inulin (ca 2 % of mix weight), with no or slight influence on ice crystals.
I have a Musso Mini. Churning takes ca. 8-10 minutes. I have a pre chilled small glass jar which i store the finished gelato in. It takes about 1.5-2 hours to harden at the very back of the freezer, on the lowest shelf where the measured temperature was the coldest, around -22 degrees c.
Sorry for the massive amount of information. But I would love to solve this issue. Is there anyone who has any advice on what I can do?
Thanks in advance!
Hey Jacob, this is puzzling…I have the Lello Musso and I follow Ruben’s vanilla bean ice cream base to the gram, but with dextrose as the only sugar (though I sometimes reduce the dextrose by 150g and replace with honey). I do the 30 minute rest at 169F on a heated stir plate. The Musso is a 2L machine but I never freeze more than 1L at a time, and get it nice and frosty before adding the mix. Mix is chilled with ice cubes down below 40F. No stabilizers, on egg yolks. I draw when the machine begins to struggle and slow. Churning rarely takes longer than 11 minutes. Using this method, I’ve never gotten any noticeable ice crystals. I had one batch go “sandy” after 6 months in the freezer, but other than that, there hasn’t been any issues with crystals forming in the deep freeze. Hope this helps!
Cheers, Amahl
Hi Amahl,
Thanks for your reply.
Do you refer to Rubens ice cream recipe or this gelato recipe?
The thing is that fat masks ice crystals. When making ice cream with equal parts cream and milk or more cream than milk the ice cream has no detectable crystals. But when I make gelato, which consist of maybe 3/4 milk, then it is impossible to get it completely Smooth. At least for me…
Best regards
Jacob
Ah, got it. Yeah, I was using the ice cream recipe. I will try using 3/4 milk and see…maybe a small addition of cornstarch? I did do a pistachio gelato that came out very well, but then again, there was fat from the nuts…
I also customize the amount of milk in relation to other fats in the recipe.
I actually made a pistachio gelato today. In this recipe I have reduced the amount of cream due to the fats in the nuts.
This is the recipe. Maybe you or anyone else notice something that seems off here.
305 g milk (4,5 % fat)
58 g cream (40 % fat)
25 g skim milk powder
18 g inulin
63 g sugar
14 g coconut syrup (78 g sugar/100 g)
9 glucose syrup (23 g sugar/100 g)
a pinch of salt
0,5 g locust bean gum
0,5 g sodium alginate
0.07 g k-karragenan
1 eggyolk
2 g soy lechitin
60 g pistacchio paste
All the best
/Jacob
Hi Jacob did you manage to fix this issue ? I am facing the same.
Hey Ruben
what is the role of the milk powder in the mix?
We produce gelato in Israel and we have difficulties finding good skimmed milk powder
Is there any importance what kind of skimed milk powder I use??
Appreciate your reply
Avi
Hi Ruben, Let me first say that these guides, posts, and recipes have been an incredible resource into my wife and I’s journey into making delicious Gelato. Thank you very much for posting all of this in depth knowledge for everyone to use. And I will also add that we tried this recipe and it came out amazing!
I do have one question though: in the spreadsheet calculator you use here, I notice that the yolks don’t show any fat content. From my understanding, yolks have about 2.7g fat per 10g. Wouldn’t this affect the overall fat content of the final product, making it just above 10% rather than 8%?
Thank you!
Eli
Hi Ruben!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I’m learning a lot from your site!
One question, do you take the PAC in consideration for your gelato making? I’m wondering do you make gelato with 300-350PAC, if so, how many types of sugar do you use?
Cheers,
Miki
Hi Reuben
Im a newbie to making ice cream and the only reason I want to try is because the light version that I buy, which normally is awesome, has become sub standard. I think thats due to the handling once it leaves the factory.
Here are the ingredients on the pack:
Reconstituted Low Fat Milk (56%), Glucose Syrup (Wheat), Water, Sugar, Milk Solids, Cream, Maltodextrin, Vegetable Origin Emulsifiers [477, 471 (Soy)], Vegetable Gums (412), Flavours, Colours (160b).
It is very low in saturated fat, 97% fat free and ever so light and creamy.
Are you able to formulate a recipe for me? I can work with percentages.
Ive just purchased a second hand cuisinart ice 30 machine and look forward to having a go at it after reading your review and your tips on making ice cream.
Many thanks
Jane
Hello Ruben. Thank you for all the information on ice cream and making ice cream.
Is there a reason why you put the custard mix into a ziplock bag rather than just leaving it in the pot to put in an ice bath? Is it just a matter of efficiency and not cooling the pot itself?
Thank you
I’ve had success with a variation on this recipe omitting the vanilla bean and adding 2 cups flaked unsweetened coconut to the pureed mix as it is brought up to 70C. You then maintain that temp for 30 minutes keeping the coconut flakes in contact with the mix, and straining them out after chilling and aging. I add vanilla extract and a bit of glycerin-based coconut extract (I use the one from Olive Nation) before freezing. You can also save the pressed, removed flakes and make coconut cookies out of them. I haven’t has any luck using canned coconut milk or coconut cream in ice cream, but this gelato recipe with the above modifications has a strong, natural coconut flavor from the flakes and a pleasant aroma from the extract. I also use dextrose instead of sucrose for the sugar.
I’m enjoying your recipes Ruben, please keep them coming! I’d love a lime sorbetto recipe if you come up with one you like. Thanks!
Cheers,
Amahl
Hi Ruben,
Just wanted to ask, what type of kitchen scale do you use for weighting the hot pan.
Thanks
MB
Hi Ruben,
Just following up on some questions that others had asked above but haven’t been answered yet.
1. Do you plan to use 5% inulin in all of your recipes going forward?
2. How did the 22% fat vanilla ice cream compare to the 8% fat vanilla gelato in the taste test?
Thanks,
Dave
Hi Ruben,
I’ve been reading your very informative blog for a while, want to share my observations regarding heating temp.
Some time before on my sous vide setup I tried to compare side by side 2 batches from same Vanilla ice cream mix. The only difference was heating temp: one batch 72°C, another 82°C (heating time – 1 hour; mix fat 24%; sugar 13%).
Batch #2 showed higher viscosity but muted sweetness and vanilla flavor, in taste testing every tester including me prefered batch #1 (72°C). I liked the texture of second batch and taste was not bad – no heated milk or eggy flavour, it just pales in comparison with first batch.
After reading your recent post I thought I’ll give it another try with 72°C and 77°C vanilla batches (heating time – 1 hour; mix fat 23%; sugar 13%), however my results were similar to previous testing though the differences were not so prominent this time, but still I prefered batch #1 (72°C).
Hope this helps for you further researches.
Best regards,
Alexander
Hey Rueben,
Reading your article I see that you say that to cool off the heated mixture, in the ziplock bag, that it should take no more than 1.5 hours. That seem incredibly long to me, I don’t seem to need more than about 30-40 min to get the mixture down in temp, and I do a double batch in a wide Saute Pan. Due to fluid mechanics and the delta in temp between the ice and the mixture, i have found that if you get the bag and squeeze LIGHTLY every once in a while, less often the cooler it gets, to move the mixture around the equalizes the temperature of the mixture and and allows the hot mixture to get closer to the ice. By repeatedly equalizing the temperature, it is more efficient in cooling vs. trying to cool the mixture when the outside is already cool. When I do this I can get the full mixture temp down much faster than 1.5 hours. I really like that the ziplock process allows that faster cooling and assumed that was one of the reasons you used the ziplock. If you haven’t given haven’t given that a try, if time is a concern, I suggest you give it a try.
Hi Ruben. I’ve been using your recipes for several years now and have had great success turning out delicious ice cream. I notice with this recipe as well as the egg-free vanilla recipe just posted, you are heating the mix at a higher temperature and a bit longer than in your older recipes. Have you altered temperatures and time because of the inulin or have you determined these changes improve all your recipes?
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for getting in touch. Very glad to hear that you’ve had some success with the recipes. Yes I’ve recently found that heating to 77°C as opposed to 72°C increases mix viscosity (produces a thicker mix), which is better for texture. I also came across some research on how increasing the total solids content in a mix decreases the rate of protein denaturation, which means that you have to increase the temperature slightly. I also don’t get a negative heated milk or eggy flavour at 77°C.
Yes I also increased the heating time by 5 minutes to try and promote more protein denaturation. I haven’t actually tested these new recipes with 25 minutes heating but I don’t think there will be much of a difference, if any, in terms of texture between the two times.
I will be updating all my recipes over the next few months with the new temperature and time combination. Give these a go the next time you make one of the recipes and see whether you can notice any difference in texture.
Hope that helps.
Ruben
Thanks for the advice Ruben. One other question about your recipes…are you using the inulin fiber in all your ice cream recipes now or just certain ones like the two vanilla recipes just posted?
Hi Ruben
Im planning to buy a home use gelato machine. Do you have any idea about the NEMOX NXT1?
Do you have any idea about a home machine who can produce about 5 kg. on average a day easy
without heaing up or other technical problems?
thanks for all you posts and information
Avi
Hi Ruben, I’ve read and enjoyed all the articles, though some of the technical details are beyond me.
A couple of questions. For those of us with sous vide setups, if the purpose of the heating is pasteurisation (less of an issue for home consumption) and protein denaturation, what is the effect of time/temperature on denaturation ie would longer time be beneficial, or maybe longer time at slightly lower temp?
The weight loss is a consequence of the open pan method, I think in the past you’ve provided me/us with an alternative sheet for sous vide method do you have one for this gelato recipe?
Thanks
TonyB
Hi Tony,
Longer heating times promote a higher rate of protein denaturation so if you’re heating sous vide, I’d recommend doing so at 77°C for 60 minutes.
You can download the spreadsheet that I’ve uploading in this recipe by clicking on the download button that is 4 buttons in from the right in the black bar at the bottom of the spreadsheet. You’ll then need to change the weight post-heat figure so that it’s the same as the weight pre-heat figure. You’ll also need to change cell B4, B5, E1, E2, and E3 so that the mix composition figures in the blue column at the bottom are the same as the ones that are currently displayed on the spreadsheet. Does that waffle make sense?
Let me know if you need a hand with it. I’m going to try and get hold of a sous vide machine sometime soon to give it a go.
All the best,
Ruben
Thanks Ruben. Yes I understand the need to change the B4 etc cells by trial and error.
I’ve posted on the new ice cream recipe and seems our messages to Kelsey crossed apologies for that. There’s also the issue I raised there about an error downloading to LibreOffice.
Cheers
Another great article on ice cream. Thank you. When I’m in Scotland next year I hope to try your creations.
🙂
Hi Ruben!
How do you feel this version compares to your other vanilla recipes? Curious if the fat/inulin combination vs. full fat version will have different mouthfeels and one is more craveable than others?
I’ve found that in purely comparing vanilla recipes with higher vs. lower fat, people preferred the higher fat version when the vanilla content was constant.
David
Hey David,
That’s a very good question. I’m going to do a side-by-side comparison next week so will reserve a detailed judgement till then. This gelato isn’t as thick and doesn’t have the same ‘chew’ as my higher fat ice cream mix, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thin.
Yes I’ve read a research paper that also showed that people preferred a higher fat vanilla recipe (I think it was around 14% fat) to a lower fat one.
I’ll let you know when I do my comparison.
All the best,
Ruben