Ice Cream - Summer, where I'm from, is a wonderful thing. When the weather warms up, people head outdoors. Days are long and hot—perfect conditions for canoeing, biking, and having picnics by the lake. Best of all, a sweaty brow is a great excuse to gather your friends and go out for a drippy cone of ice cream.
It's cold. It's sweet. It's creamy. And that burst of fruit-filled, nutty, or chocolate-chunky flavor can be incredibly refreshing when the steamy heat of midday starts to weigh you down. As far as I'm concerned, ice cream is summer's most delightful treat.
Not all ice cream, however, is perfect ice cream. Texture matters as much as flavor. Nothing's worse than an icy scoop, or one that tastes grainy, syrupy, or artificial.
So, what's the secret to decadent ice cream that tastes like a dream and feels like a silky cloud melting in your mouth? High-quality ingredients, for one, are essential, plus fine-tuned techniques that combine ingredients in just the right proportions with a perfect amount of air whipped in.
"There's a lot of science behind it," says David Smith. He's a food scientist at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
For ice-cream manufacturers, the science of ice cream matters a lot. According to the International Ice Cream Association, people in the United States spend more than $20 billion on cold, creamy treats each year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that, in 2004, each person ate an average of about 21.5 quarts of ice cream.
To satisfy the population's unceasing demand for the sweet stuff, companies are constantly on the lookout for ways to make better-tasting ice cream that lasts longer, costs less, and is more nutritious than current varieties.
Besides cream, ice cream has just a few essential ingredients: mainly sugar, milk solids, ice crystals, air, and flavorings. Sugar makes the dessert sweet, but it also serves another important purpose. In the freezer, plain cream turns into a solid that's hard as a rock. Sugar lowers the mixture's freezing temperature, making it much softer.
The highest quality ice creams have the fewest ingredients. From vanilla extract to fresh strawberries, each component is topnotch.
The best ice cream varieties also tend to have the least air in them, which makes them denser. A cheap brand may be half air, Smith says. Gourmet brands are more like 15 to 20 percent air. In other words, the better the ice cream, the more of it you actually get in each bite.
"Pick up a half gallon of economy brand and a quart of super-premium," Smith says. Even though the half-gallon is much bigger when it comes to volume, there's not much difference in the amount of the frozen stuff that you get.
Air is pumped into ice cream near the end of the manufacturing process, after the basic ingredients have been mixed together and cooled down, but before fillings, chunks, and other flavorings go in.
As the concoction freezes in a huge container, large blades spin the creamy goo around and scrape ice crystals off the sides of the container. For high-end brands with lots of butterfat, the process is enough to prevent iciness. Some companies churn their ice cream slowly and for a long time. This process helps fat globules stick together and produces a creamy, somewhat greasy texture.
Economy brands that skimp on richness and are churned more quickly, however, have to add extra ingredients. Emulsifiers, for example, keep fat suspended throughout the final product. And stabilizers control the growth of ice crystals.
Some companies don't use stabilizers. Left in the freezer for too long, a carton of this sort of ice cream ends up with an icy beard on top. Ice cream that melts and refreezes often has the same problem. (sciencenewsforkids)
See also : soto, sour sally
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