Experiments with Ice Cream

[meganjane]

I'm wanting to make an ice cream that scoops out of the tub easily, like commercial ice cream does. I've been watching a programme on Foxtel that shows the ingredients which go into commercial ice cream and why they're used.

OK, I'm not going to use vegetable fat, but the interesting one was the stabiliser, as they call it. Basically, different varieties of gums.
They're listed as E numbers, but most are actually from plants or produced from sugar. I use them in some of my skin care products.
They stop the product from forming ice crystals when it partially melts and re-freezes. I've developed a recipe based on one that I normally use. They also keep it scoopable.

By using gums, you can reduce the amount of fat in ice cream. So, I'll be using Hi-Lo milk and replacing half the cream with water. I'll report my findings on this post as I experiment.

[obbie]

Megan have you done this yet..

[meganjane]

No obbie, dramas with our dog, so no time today.  Probably not until next week.

[Slice of Health]

I saw this tv show too, it was REALLY interesting. Some E numbers are simply boiled down seaweed or the powder from carob beans - not so bad afterall, mind you I'm sure there are nasty chemical ones out there.  I'd love to hear your results. I googled stablilisers for ice cream and apparently you can also use gelatin and pectin (jam setta)...

[meganjane]

It was fascinating. I understood a lot of the chemical explanations as I use these gums already.

I tried carageenan on the weekend in a simple seafood mousse. Divine! I was making a seafood mornay and just removed some of the seafood and strained it into a little ramekin. Then stick blended some carageenan into the cooking liquid that I'd used to make the white sauce (milk, onion, wakami, bay leaves and peppercorns). Set it in the fridge.

I'll also be trying a 'light' salad dressing with half the oil, replacing it with water and xanthan or locust bean gum. Might find some time on the weekend to play with ice cream.