Flavourings for ice-cream

Organic ice cream remains a small proportion of the dairy market. With many upmarket ice creams available for consumers, organic ice cream must be of a premium quality. Ice cream in its basic form is milk, cream, sugar and flavour. Premium ice creams contain many novelties, from ribbons of caramel to chunks of fruit, and conventional ice cream manufacturers use many emulsifiers (which are prohibited in organic production) to create a smooth texture. 

In the USA a standard of identity exists for ice-cream vanilla flavours. This standard of identity contains three categories. Category 1 vanilla-flavoured ice-cream can contain only all natural vanilla flavour. Category 2 can contain a blend of natural vanilla flavour plus an equal fold of artificial vanillin per gallon. A fold of vanillin is equal to 1 oz of vanillin per gallon of natural vanilla flavour. Category 3 is the general realm of artificial vanilla flavours. 

Milk proteins have two important functions in ice cream. Firstly, they can stabilize water-continuous emulsions and foams because they are surface active. We will see in Chapter 4 that this has important consequences for the formation and stability of the air bubbles in ice cream. Secondly, they contribute to the characteristic dairy flavour. Milk proteins for ice cream manufacture are obtained from several different raw materials ... 

Flavour enhancers and suppressers are used in low concentrations to enhance or suppress other flavours. Examples include maltol and ethylmaltol, which have a low caramel taste and enhance the sugary feeling of products furaneol, which is used with red fruits or wild fruit flavours and vanillin, which softens bitter chocolate and fruit flavours and can also enhance the perception of sweetness. In general, sucrose suppresses bitter, sour and salty tastes, for example in chocolate, and enhances fruit flavours. A further important point for ice cream is that the perception of flavour is affected by temperature flavours are less intense at low temperatures. For this reason, ice cream and water ices are generally more strongly flavoured than products consumed at warmer temperatures, such as soft drinks (Experiment 17 in Chapter 8 demonstrates this). 

The most important role of the fat in ice cream is to stabilize the air bubbles. This is discussed in the next section. Fat also has several other functions. Firstly, it has a major effect on the sensory properties such as thickness and mouth-coating. This is why premium ice creams contain more fat than standard ones. Secondly, some flavour molecules are soluble in oil but not in water. Thirdly, the solid fat particles increase the matrix viscosity, and hence reduce the rate of meltdown. The greater the fat content and the extent of partial coalescence, the slower the meltdown. Figure 7.13 shows meltdown curves for ice creams with... 

The predominant commercial use of vanilla is for its flavour compound, vanillin. It finds use not only as a flavouring agent in ice creams, bakery products and puddings, etc., but is also important in the perfumery and cosmetic industry. A few studies on its medicinal properties have also been reported, which are detailed in a subsequent section on culinary and medicinal uses. 

Sometimes chemists analyze a compound that is found in nature to learn how to produce it more cheaply in a laboratory. For example, consider the flavour used in vanilla ice cream, which may come from natural or artificial vanilla extract. Natural vanilla extract is made from vanilla seed pods, shown on the left. The seed pods must be harvested and processed before being sold as vanilla extract. The scent and flavour of synthetic vanilla come from a compound called vanillin, which can be produced chemically in bulk. Therefore its production is much cheaper. Similarly, many medicinal chemicals that are found in nature can be produced more cheaply and efficiently in a laboratory. 

The first aldehyde is vanillin which comes from the vanilla pod and gives the characteristic vanilla flavour in, for example, ice cream. Vanilla is the seed pod of a South American orchid. Vanilla essence is made with synthetic vanillin and tastes slightly different because the vanilla pod contains otherflavour components in small quantities. The second aldehyde is retinal. As you lookatthis structure your eyes use the light reaching them to interconvert cis and trans retinal in your retina to create nervous impulses. (See also Chapter 31.)... 

Whereas the importance placed on the respective trend attributes varies considerably in different regions, the general tendencies are ubiquitous. Moreover, today s consumer focuses on an interesting, pleasurable, exiting or completely new taste experience. Within the flavour sectors, the developments for beverages took the lead in 2004 with 17% new introductions, followed by bakery products (12%), confectionery (11%), dairy (9%), sauces and seasonings (8%), snacks (8%), meals and meal centres (7%), processed fish, meat and egg products (6%), desserts and ice-creams (6%), side dishes (3%), fruits and vegetables (3%) [ 14]. 

Flavourings for Confectioneries, Baked Goods, Ice-cream and Dairy Products... 

So-called handicraft ice, made in ice shops, hotel kitchens etc. use less concentrated standardized flavourings for smaller batches with or without fruit and/or colouring agents. The basic flavouring substances for the different categories of ice-cream are the same. 

Milkfat is an ingredient of major importance in ice-cream in order to balance the mix properly. The main sources are fresh cream, butter and butterfat. In regions where the use of milkfat is not feasible, coconut or other vegetable fats with similar melting points have been substituted. In many cases a butter or cream flavour is added to these products to compensate for the absence of milkfat. The use of condensed milk can result in a cooked note. The milkfat has no influence on the freezing point. A high content limits the consumption, a low content reduces the rate of whipping. 

Artificial sweeteners are used for diabetic or calorie-reduced ice-cream. These may include sweeteners used singly or in combination for a synergistic effect. The impression of sweetness on the tongue may last longer or fall off when compared to a traditional sugar-sweetened product and flavouring systems may also be introduced to diminish this effect ]9]. 

The USA is the largest producer of ice cream (about 6 billion 1 per annum) and has a per capita annual consumption of about 22 1 only New Zealanders eat more, with an average consumption of 261. Some 9% of all the milk produced in USA is used to make ice cream, and more than 90% of US households buy it. It is often eaten as a snack, much as biscuits are eaten in the UK. Sales of ice cream in the US in 2000 were about 20 billion ( 13 billion). Approximately two-thirds of this was sold in scoop shops, restaurants, retail outlets etc. and eaten out of the home. One-third was sold in supermarkets, grocery shops etc., mostly as half-gallon (2.21) tubs. More than half of the sales were premium ice cream low-fat ice cream, frozen yoghurt, and sherbet account for smaller (< 10%) but significant proportions of the market. Vanilla is the most popular flavour, accounting for about a quarter of... 

The UK falls roughly in the middle of the list of European countries, with a per capita consumption of about 71, and annual sales of about 1.5 billion. A small number of large companies, such as Wall s (Unilever), Mars and Richmond Foods (which produces ice cream for Nestle, and several supermarkets own brands) have substantial market shares, but about half is taken by the several hundred small independent companies. These mostly employ fewer than ten people, and sell only locally. The most popular flavours in the UK are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, and, like the US, ice cream often contains inclusions to provide greater interest and variety for the consumer. Magnum is the largest single brand - 41% of adults in the UK have bought one. ... 

In other parts of the world, the market is very different. For example, in southeast Asia the largest demand is for refreshing products, such as water ices. Ice cream comes in flavours that seem very strange and exotic to Western palates - for example green tea and red bean ice cream in Japan, sweet corn ice cream in Malaysia, chilli ice cream in Indonesia and sesame seed ice cream in Korea. 

The distinction between fats and oils is that the former are solid at room temperature, and the latter are liquid. Ice cream typically has a fat content of 8-10% by weight, though in premium ice creams it can be as high as 15-20%. Fat performs several functions in ice cream it helps to stabilize the foam, it is largely responsible for the creamy texture, it slows down the rate at which ice cream melts and it is necessary to deliver flavour molecules that are soluble in fat but not water. The major sources of fat used in industrial ice cream production are butterfat, cream and vegetable fat. 

The colour of ice cream has a significant influence on the consumer s perception of its flavour and quality. Colours are added to ice cream for several reasons ... 

Nut pieces are added to ice cream products to provide texture contrast, flavour and visual appeal. Several types of nuts are used, for example almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios and walnuts. Walnuts and pecans are often candied to create a crisper texture and darker colour. In the candying process, the nuts are mixed with sugar and then cooked at about 115 C. Nut pastes can be used as flavourings. Nut ingredients are generally expensive. Since some people are allergic to nuts control systems must be put in place to ensure that nuts cannot enter products on which they are not declared as ingredients. 

A simple vanilla ice cream is often used when evaluating texture in order not to complicate the assessment with other flavours. If the appearanee of the samples is different, for example one is white whereas another is yellow, then the lighting can be arranged so that the samples appear similar. This prevents the appearance unconsciously affecting the perception of texture. A series of samples should be presented in balanced random order so that the panellists do not know which to expect. The ice cream is usually expectorated after each sample, and the mouth rinsed with room temperature water to cleanse the palate and to prevent it from becoming too cold. Each sample is usually evaluated several times by all panellists to check that scoring is consistent. 

Some terms that are commonly used by consumers are not suitable as sensory attributes since they are really combinations of a number of different attributes. For example, creaminess is a combination of smoothness, thickness and creamy flavour. Experiment 16 in Chapter 8 gives some suggestions for comparing the sensory attributes of ice cream samples. 

In addition to flavour and texture measurements, the appearance of ice cream can be assessed, for example, with respect to the colour, and evenness, either by eye, or by using a camera in controlled lighting followed by image analysis. 

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