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| | | All About Ice Cream Inclusions Apr 29, 2005 | |
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Decisions, decisions. For many, a trip to the local ice cream shop requires the intense consideration of a corporate takeover. Regular or low fat? One scoop, two, or -- dare I -- three? And should it be rocky road, cookies and cream or triple berry jamboree?
The International Ice Cream Association (IICA), Washington D.C., estimates that the United States produced 1.5 billion gallons of ice cream and related frozen dessert last year. While vanilla remains the most popular flavor (approximately 28%) ice cream varieties containing various inclusions make up a sizable portion of the market. Additionally, most of the growth has been in the high-end products, affording product designers the opportunity to flex their creativity by developing varieties that tempt the consumer.
Ice cream inclusions can come in two different forms: pieces or variegates. Pieces range from small flecks of vanilla bean to partial or whole bite-size pieces of material like fruits and nuts. Variegates often are used instead of, or in addition to, pieces. In the finished ice cream, variegates appear as a ribbon. This effect is achieved by swirling or injecting the sauce-like ingredient through the ice cream while it is still semisoft, but before it is hardened.
It should come as no surprise, however, that there is more to the process than merely dumping standard ingredients into an ice cream base. Not only does the freezing process change the ingredient, but often the ingredient impacts the ice cream itself. Because of this, the products added to frozen dairy desserts often must be modified to produce a suitable finished product.
"There are a lot of people who just want to add standard products, especially candy bars, to ice cream," observes David Holderman, group leader, R&D, Fantasy-BlankeBaer, Carol Stream, IL. "Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. You can't rule anything out, but often you need to reformulate to get the proper characteristics."
Cold consideration
A number of factors come into play when working with ingredients for ice cream. The first step is defining the target and deciding what contribution the inclusion gives to the product. This is no different than with any other food product: how should the product look, taste and eat? Visibility/Appearance. Because ice cream inclusions promote a value-added image, most should appear in high contrast to the ice cream itself. With a chunk-type piece, this often means bigger is better. But looking at it on a weight basis: the bigger the piece, the fewer their number on a volume basis.
Ideally, the consumer should find a piece in every bite or at least several per scoop. The piece size often becomes a matter of economics since the inclusions usually cost more than the mix. The higher the grade (premium, super premium) the more likely the economic feasibility of adding bigger pieces, or greater numbers of smaller pieces.
Another appearance factor to consider is the integrity of the piece itself. A sandwich cookie piece should contain both creme and basecake. A candy bar piece should contain the filling as well as the chocolate coating.
"Often when you grind a candy bar, you'll lose the continuity of the chocolate and whatever is inside," warns Gordon Kivi, Fantasy-BlankeBaer's operation manager. "Look at something like a Butterfinger. There's a kind of honeycomb structure, so it produces a lot of fines and the chocolate tends to go off by itself into another piece. In a case like that, we feel to do it right you have to reinvent the wheel: make a center that matches the mouth feel and taste of the bar, then coat it with a chocolate formulated to protect the center and melt in your mouth without waxiness."
Color bleed or smearing also affects the appearance. Depending on the manufacturer's requirements, however, this may not necessarily come across as a negative.
"We have two types of cherries -- bleeding and non-bleeding," explains Robert Anderson, frozen dessert industry manager, Fantasy BlankeBaer. "Some people like the bleeding effect, some don't. Likewise with variegates, if you want to form a ribbon without any bleeding into the ice cream you have to consider the formulation and processing parameters. There are ways to overcome or at least reduce it. If the base is colored it is certainly less of a problem."
Flavor. The degree to which an inclusion flavors the ice cream varies. Sometimes -- as in the case of some fruit purees, or other ingredients added to the mix -- the inclusion acts as the source of flavor for the entire product. Other times, it must blend together with other ingredients to give the illusion of a particular product such as "pecan pie." And often, while blending with the other flavors, it creates a specific flavor impact of its own. The ingredient used needs to deliver the correct flavor intensity for its intended purpose.
"Normally we prefer to add some background flavor to the mix," says Holderman. "If you just flavor the fruit prep, the flavor may be too intense in the fruit pieces, so we try to balance it by adding the same flavor to the ice cream. It's not like an unfrozen yogurt; once ice cream is frozen, any flavor migration is very slow."
On the other hand, a product not formulated expressly for ice cream may not deliver the impact required once it is mixed in.
"Things in ice cream often need to be more highly flavored," Kivi remarks. "There are a limited number of pieces, so when you get one, you need a burst of flavor. Whereas, if you're eating a candy bar and have the same flavor intensity, you would be burnt out after a few bites."
Texture. This often represents one of the biggest challenges when working with ice cream inclusions. The target texture varies as widely as the number of ingredients and the number of ice cream manufacturers. Whatever the target, the piece must exhibit and maintain an acceptable texture under frozen conditions.
Two main aspects drive the texture requirements: what texture the inclusion shows under frozen conditions, and what happens over extended storage as an ice cream component. These vary with the ingredient and this feature story will explore some specifics further on. There are, nevertheless, some general considerations:
Fat characteristics. The melt point of the fat greatly impacts its texture in ice cream. Fats that have a higher melt point, such as cocoa butter, often produce a waxy or brittle texture under frozen conditions. Lowering the melt point of a fat produces a softer, more creamy mouthfeel. The type and amount of fat influence the texture of everything from high-fat products such as chocolate, to fats used in baked products, or as an oil for nut roasting.
Sweetener system. The sweetener used in the inclusion affects the texture by depressing the freezing point. Disaccharides like sugar tend to produce ice crystals. Using corn sweeteners that contain a high level of monosaccharides, on the other hand, results in a less icy product. This is true for both the initial freezing process as well as any subsequent freeze/thaw cycles. While the product should be soft enough to provide a desirable eating texture, if the solids are too high, the ingredient will not freeze. A high level of solids creates other problems as well: The inclusion, including variegates, can fall to the bottom of the carton before the ice cream freezes solidly.
Stabilizers. The stabilizer system must be appropriate for a frozen system. It not only must exhibit the desired characteristics under frozen conditions, but it must not break down or significantly change when it undergoes freeze/thaw cycling. The target texture also influences the selection. Chocolate fudge is somewhat chewy, a fruit variegate typically is not.
According to Joseph Kuo, R&D manager, frozen applications, Ramsey Laboratories, Inc., Cleveland, OH, ice cream manufacturers often want to use the same type of stabilizers in the inclusions as the ice cream mix or specify particular ones for labeling or functional purposes.
"You often use pectin as a stabilizer in fruit products because it gives the product a 'natural' connotation," Kuo remarks. "Other times they wish to keep the list of ingredients, especially those the consumer may not understand, as short as possible. Many like carrageenan because it reacts with the milk proteins."
Moisture. When water freezes, it becomes ice. Consequently, high moisture, low-solids inclusions such as natural fruit become rock hard in ice cream. On the other hand, because of the dissolved solids in ice cream, a significant portion of the water in ice cream remains unfrozen and can migrate into ingredients like nuts and cookie crumbs. Surrounding the piece with a moisture barrier such as a fat helps to retard this process so the inclusion remains crisp.
Effect on the ice cream. What goes into the ice cream becomes a part of the whole, so a product designer needs to gauge the effect on the entire product. While changes in color due to bleeding and moisture migration fit into this category, several other potential problems can arise.
Stabilizer synergy. While stabilizer synergies often provide significant advantages, in the case of ice cream they can ruin the product. Particularly if the inclusion is dispersed throughout the mix as in the case of a fruit prep, the wrong stabilizing system can create a hard, gummy, unacceptable product.
"This is a frequent problem in developing these products. Under ideal situations, we would like to have the customer's mix to work with in order to make certain the two are completely compatible, especially for fruit feeder products," observes Anderson. "Variegates are not as important, because they stand alone. But things like locust bean gum and xanthan gum are synergistic and together they would give you far more viscosity than either would alone."
Shelf life. Moisture migration is one phenomenon that influences shelf life. Rancidity also causes problems, particularly in high-fat ingredients such as nuts. This tends to be more of a raw material storage and handling issue. And while oxidative rancidity progresses rather slowly under frozen conditions, a high moisture, aerated environment like ice cream certainly will not improve the overall situation.
Ice cream processing limitations. Often the process puts constraints on the inclusion specifications and properties. For products incorporated through a fruit feeder, the manufacturer can use as large a piece as practically feasible. If the product goes through a variegating pump, it restricts the size of any chunks.
"Some manufacturers may have large enough tubes to handle a piece up to about 3/8 inch," notes Holderman. "Others can't handle much more than a puree." The size of the auger in the fruit feeder may restrict the size of the piece, but in practical terms, is not the limiting factor according to Kuo. The size of the feeder and auger correlate to the speed of the freezer. Therefore, with an exceptionally large piece, you could not feed a high enough volume to produce an acceptable distribution of pieces through the ice cream. Even if it were possible, the cost of the finished product would probably be unacceptable.
If the auger speed, and consequently the feed rate, are relatively high it may have a negative effect of the more fragile inclusions by increasing the amount of fines, causing the chocolate to flake off, etc.
The viscosity of the variegating sauces needs to be tailored to the system. A sauce that is too thick will not pump properly. One that is too thin will result in smeared or runny deposits instead of a clean, discrete ribbon through the ice cream.
The temperature of the inclusion is another important consideration. If the pieces or variegating sauce are too warm, the ice cream may melt. Subsequent refreezing causes a decline in quality of the ice cream. The composition of the inclusion also affects the temperature at which they are added. In the case of low melting point fats, for example, lower temperatures keep the pieces from sticking together during the operation. This results in better distribution in the finished product.
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