{"id":37,"date":"2016-05-30T22:34:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-30T22:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/under-belly.org\/?p=37"},"modified":"2023-02-03T17:01:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T17:01:40","slug":"sugars-in-ice-cream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/under-belly.org\/sugars-in-ice-cream\/","title":{"rendered":"Sugars in Ice Cream"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sugars: they\u2019re sweet, and they keep the ice cream soft<\/strong>. If you\u2019ve had homemade ice cream with the consistency of concrete, it\u2019s because the level of solids\u2014especially sugars\u2014was too low.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some bloggers and cookbook authors tell you to soften the ice cream by adding alcohol. This works, but you can do better. While alcohol depresses the freezing point, it does so at the expense of smoothness. By increasing the unfrozen portion of water in the ice cream, while doing nothing to help control that water, it will encourage ice crystals to grow larger. You\u2019ll end up with a softer but icier texture.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dextrose, fructose (and \u00a0possibly invert syrup) can be especially helpful with flavors that require adding non-dairy fats, like cocoa butter (chocolate) and nut oils (nut butters). These fats tend to freeze harder milk fat, and give ice cream a dry, stiff, crumbly texture. Increasing the proportion of these monosaccharides can help preserve a smooth texture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Other Important Structural Sugars<\/b> Atomized glucose is a pantry staple for some pastry chefs, especially in Europe. It leads to some confusion, since some chefs don’t know the difference between it and dextrose, and some recipes don’t specify which to use. It also has the glycemic index (and associated health effects) of pure sugar. And its gotten expensive over the years. I avoid it except in sorbets and non-dairy ice creams, where its combination of solids and low sweetness can be ideal for creating a balanced formula.<\/p>\n Maltodexrin<\/b><\/p>\n Maltodextrin is a bit like atomized glucose minus the glucose. It’s got the same glycemic health concerns as atomized glucose. It\u00a0<\/b>adds solids and bulk with minimal effect on sweetness or freezing point. It’s a bit of an anti-sugar in this sense. It can be useful in particular sorbet flavors which by their nature are low on solids, and so need something to combat their innate wateriness\u2014ones like lemon and watermelon. These flavors are built from fruit juices that are mostly water.It can also be useful in non-dairy ice creams. In ice cream, skim milk powder works better than maltodextrin. And the latter does all the bad things to your body that sugar does, without the benefit of tasting like anything. But milk solids are generally not an option in sorbets, which everyone expects to be dairy-free.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Inulin<\/strong> is technically a starch (derived from plants like chicory and Jerusalem artichokes), but we’re including it here because it offers some sugar-like behavior (some sweetness, some freezing point depression). It’s mostly used as a non-caloric fat replacer, since it has textural qualities similar to fats (this use is outside our purview; if you’re on some kind of diet, you’ve walked into the wrong room). It is, however, pure magic in sorbets, used at around 3.5% the water weight of the formula. It’s slightly exothermic, so it produces a mild warming effect when it melts in your mouth. This can counter the (usually undesirable) cooling effect of ingredients like erythritol.\u00a0Inulin is interesting to us for cases where we need high solids without a lot of sweetness or freezing point depression. Nominally it doesn’t look as good as maltodextrin for this purpose, but inulin’s textural properties allow it to behave like a much larger dose of solids. You can think of it almost as a specialty stabilizer that also adds POD and PAC. As a bonus, it doesn’t have the lousy health impact of maltodextrin, and is non-dairy\u2014which makes it an ideal choice for adding bulk and creaminess to sorbets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trehalose<\/strong> is a naturally occurring disaccharide composed of two glucose molecules stuck together. It’s much less sweet than sucrose, but has the same freezing point depression factor. Its properties are very close to those of lactose. But since the source of lactose is milk solids, it’s not useful in sorbets. Sorbets are the ideal application for trehalose, where it’s often a battle for getting the solids and freezing point correct without creating a cloying sugar-bomb. Trehalose does have a some disadvantages compared with lactose. It’s much less soluble, so we usually limit quantities to a few percent. Relatedly, it does not offer the incredible water control of lactose. It’s also an uncommon ingredient, in many cases leading us to special orders and jacked-up prices, so it’s good that we don’t need piles of it.<\/p>\n Erythritol<\/strong> is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that provides sweetness with virtually no caloric value. We mammals don’t have the enzymes needed to break it down. Many sugar alcohols are, however, highly digestible to our gut bacteria, which can lead to gas and bloating. Erythritol is much less problematic in this regard. It’s primary drawback is its high price. It’s also endothermic, meaning that it that pulls in heat as it dissolves, creating a cooling effect in the mouth. This is refreshing in breath mints, but not so pleasing in an already-cold dessert. This can be combated with an exothermic ingredient (like inulin) or by just limiting the amount you use. The key benefit of erythritol is its very high PAC:POD ratio, making useful for controlling freezing point and sweetness in sorbets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lactose<\/strong> is the sugar that’s already in your milk and cream. Skim milk powder is about 50% lactose by weight\u2014so you might as well just get your lactose from the SMP, which belongs in every recipe anyway. Lactose has the same freezing point depression factor as sucrose, but with sweetness that’s so low it’s barely detectable: highly useful for increasing solids and \u00a0freezing point depression independently of sweetness. Lactose is also a champion in terms of water control. Lactose can absorb roughly six times its weight in water, which gives some stabilization power, and makes it more effective than most other sources of solids.\u00a0<\/p>\n Atomized Glucose\u00a0<\/b>is a powdered sugar blend made by dehydrating glucose syrup, which itself my be derived from corn or wheat or other grains. Its contents and qualities vary widely from one product to another. The actual sugar content is going to be a blend of dextrose, maltodextrin, and a whole lot of other dextrins that fall between these two in terms of sweetness and other qualities. The one clue manufacturers give us is the DE number (for Dextrose Equivalence). This tells us what percentage of the contents is reducing sugars (like dextrose) vs. larger saccharides like maltodextrin. The higher the DE number, the more it will behave like dextrose powder. I like to avoid atomized glucose, because 1) you never know for sure what you’re getting, and 2) maltodextrin is a kind of phantom sugar; it has virtually no sweetness, but has the glycemic index (and associated health effects) of pure sugar. It also does nothing for flavor. It’s also gotten expensive over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n There ARE a few situations where atomized glucose is the best solution to a problem. In sorbets and dairy-free ice creams, it can provide the solids (and free water control) that you can’t get from milk solids. And it does it without excessive sweetness or freezing point depression. I try to use other options first, including trehalose, but often\u00a0<\/p>\n Caramel<\/b> is useful as a flavor ingredient. A little goes a long way, which is convenient\u2014because it’s hard to know how caramel will effect the ice cream’s texture and freezing point. Caramelizing sugar is a gradual process by which some portion of the sucrose molecules break down into smaller molecules, and combine into larger, more complex, more flavorful ones. I like to use a small quantity of caramel, but to cook it to a fairly dark and flavorful degree. This way it will behave less like sugar in the recipe, and will have maximum effect on flavor.<\/p>\n You might also experiment with using caramels browned to different degrees\u2014like a medium caramel, for more traditional toasted flavors, and a dark caramel, for the more complex and bitter burnt sugar flavors.<\/p>\n Caramel is challenging to calculate for. Its sweetness diminishes gradually as cooks darker, and at a certain point gets overtaken by bitterness. Its freezing point depression factor increases in the early stages of cooking, as the sucrose breaks down into monosaccharides. But as cooking progresses, larger molecules form, reducing the freezing point depression. Light-to-medium caramels can probably be treated like invert syrup.\u00a0<\/p>\n Molasses<\/b> is unrefined syrup centrifuged off from sugar cane syrup after it crystalizes. It contains all kinds of stuff, including water, so it’s best to use in small quantities just for flavor. The primary sugar component is sucrose.<\/p>\n Maple syrup<\/b> is also useful as a flavoring. Like molasses, its primary sugar is sucrose (typically 52%), and it contains water (typically 45%) plus around 3% invert syrup.. It’s not easy to know precisely how much water is in there, since syrup is boiled down to whatever level the maker desires. Fortunately, a little goes a long way. Grade B is the most flavorful. The grade signifies darkness and not quality; annoyingly, many grocers don’t know their trade and stock only the inferior Grade A. It’s worth it to find a reliable local source of the good stuff. Maple syrup is so expensive these days, you should get all the flavor you can from every ounce.<\/p>\n There are other varieties of glucose, <\/b>including corn syrups (typically around 1\/3 glucose by weight) and various glucose syrups, identified by their DE number for dextrose equivalence<\/i>. The DE number technically refers to the percentage of reducing sugars\u2014in this case meaning either glucose or fructose. The higher the DE number of a glucose syrup, the more glucose it likely contains, and the greater the freezing point suppression. Atomized glucose is just spray-dried glucose syrup. It contains more water than anhydrous dextrose. Here’s all you need to know: Avoid using any of this stuff<\/b>\u00a0unless it’s all you can get your hands on. Pure Dextrose powder and invert syrup are more useful, and make it a lot easier to know what you’re getting. If you need a bulking ingredient, atomized glucose will do the job without adding water.<\/p>\n \n In the next post we’ll explore the dark arts of stabilizers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe Problem<\/b><\/h3>\n
The Solution<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n<\/b>Dextrose<\/b>\u00a0(another name for the monosaccharide d-glucose) is about 3\/4 as sweet as sucrose, but has nearly double the effect on freezing point suppression. Simply by decreasing sucrose and increasing dextrose, you can lower the sweetness while simultaneously softening the texture. Magic! Dextrose is also hygroscopic, meaning that it holds onto water, reducing the formation of both ice crystals and sugar crystals. It’s effectively a stabilizer, although it’s much less powerful than dedicated stabilizers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n<\/b>Atomized Glucose <\/strong>is useful in cases when you need maximum solids, high freezing point depression and minimum sweetness. It contains dextrose, and a whole stew of other mono-, di-, and polysaccharides, including dextrins. This gives it bulk without much sweetness. The trouble with atomized glucose is that it’s not a consistently defined product; you don’t know for sure what you’re getting or what its properties will be. The one clue manufacturers give us is the DE number (for Dextrose Equivalence). This tells us what percentage of the contents is reducing sugars (like dextrose) vs. larger saccharides (like maltodextrin). The higher the DE number, the more it will behave like dextrose powder. The lower the number, the more it will behave like maltodextrin. Lower numbers are more useful in ice cream; as a practical matter, most recipes use a mid-range number, like DE40, because this is most widely available.\u00a0<\/p>\nIn Practice<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n[These guidelines differ somewhat from the formulas you’ll see elswhere in the blog series. We will eventually update those formulas to reflect this more refined approach]<\/div>\nHow to Tweak:<\/h4>\n
\n<\/span><\/span>Is the consistency ok but the sweetness too high? <\/b>Less sucrose, more dextrose. Maintain PAC and decrease POD<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n<\/span><\/span>Are you adding flavor ingredients that have their own sugars?<\/b> Like fruit, chocolate, gianduja, or liqueur? Calculate (or estimate) the amount of added sugar and reduce the sucrose by the same amount.\u00a0<\/span>
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\n<\/span><\/span>With fruit, look up the actual composition of the fruit (it usually contains sucrose, fructose, glucose, and other sugars). You can compensate by reducing the glucose as well. We\u2019ll discuss this in detail in a future post on fruit flavors. Or, as a shortcut, use calculated POD and PAC values for each fruit, and adjust the sugars to compensate.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nMore Sugars<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n<\/b>Honey <\/b>is a useful sugar in some ice cream flavors. It behaves mostly like invert syrup (because it IS mostly invert syrup\u2014around 75% by weight), and tastes rather strongly \u00a0… of honey. Because it adds about 20% water to the recipe, and increases body, it’s generally not a good idea to substitute honey for all the sucrose. But up to 50% works fine. It can be interesting to experiment with some of the more exotic and intense honey varieties, like buckwheat, heather, and chestnut. You’ll probably want to use these honeys in moderation. Mild honeys like clover and alfalfa are most traditional.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Non-Caloric Sweeteners<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\nAppendix 1: Invert Syrup<\/b><\/h3>\n
How to make Invert Syrup<\/b><\/h4>\n