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A food produced by freezing while being stirred, ice cream is a mix consisting of one or more milk products, sugar, and flavoring. It may also contain egg products; stabilizers, to achieve a consistent texture; emulsifiers, to keep the ingredients mixed; and other ingredients derived from non-milk substances. Air incorporated during the freezing process and water are other important constituents.

Ice cream is marketed in both soft and hard forms. Soft-serve ice cream has less milk fat and more air incorporated during the churning process. Hard ice cream is frozen at a slightly colder temperature than soft ice cream. Both forms come in a variety of flavors, the most popular being vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate.

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Products related to ice cream include frozen custard, ice milk, frozen yogurt, sherbet, water ices, and mellorine-type products. Frozen custard, or French ice cream, is similar in composition to ice cream except that it must contain egg yolk solids. Ice milk, also called low-fat ice cream, contains less fat and milk solids than does ice cream. Frozen yogurt is a cultured (fermented) frozen product with a mildly sour flavor that contains the same ingredients as ice cream. Sherbets contain fruit juices, fruits, sugars, milk products, and stabilizers. Water ices (called sorbet in French and granita in Italian) are similar to sherbets except they contain no dairy products. Mellorine-type frozen products differ from ice cream in that vegetable fat replaces milk fat. (See also dairy industry.)

Composition of Ice Cream

The legal composition requirements in the United States for ice cream are that it must contain no less than 10 percent milk fat and no less than 20 percent total milk solids. If the percentage of milk fat increases then the percentage of milk solids can decrease. Ice cream must not weigh less than 4.5 pounds (2 kilograms) per gallon (3.8 liters) and contain no less than 1.6 pounds (0.7 kilogram) food solids per gallon. Composition of ice cream varies in different market classes. The market classes are generally separated into economy, standard, premium, and superpremium. Premium and superpremium ice creams have the most milk fat. They also have the least amount of water and, therefore, the smallest ice crystals, leading to a smooth, creamy consistency. Reduced fat, low-fat, light, and nonfat ice cream all have less total fat than regular ice cream.

Making Ice Cream

The commercial manufacture of ice cream is highly automated. The basic ingredients are combined either in a batch operation, in which each ingredient is carefully weighed or measured by hand, or in an automatic operation, in which machines meter precise amounts into the batch.

The most common procedure for manufacturing ice cream is to begin with all the liquid materials (cream, milk, or other liquid milk products) in a mixing vat, or pasteurizer. The liquids are then heated, and the dry solid materials are added to them. The dry materials include nonfat dry milk, dried egg yolk, stabilizer, and emulsifier. Sugar, in either crystalline or liquid form, is added when the mix reaches approximately 120 °F (49 °C).

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After the ingredients are combined and heated, the mix is pasteurized. This destroys harmful bacteria, aids in blending the ingredients, improves flavor and keeping quality of the ice cream, and produces a more uniform product. There are several pasteurizing methods. In one, the mix is heated to 155 °F (68 °C) for at least 30 minutes. In another, the mix is heated to 175 °F (80 °C)for at least 25 seconds. Ultrahigh temperature methods, in which the mix is heated to high temperatures for only a couple of seconds, have also been used.

After pasteurization, or just before, the mix is pumped through a homogenizer. Homogenization reduces the size of the fat globules to less than two microns. (One micron equals about 1/25,000 inch.) Homogenization also serves to blend the ingredients thoroughly, to disperse the fat globules so that the fat will not churn into butter during the freezing process, to improve the texture of the ice cream, and to help produce a more uniform product.

Immediately following the homogenization process, the mix is cooled to a temperature of 40 °F (4 °C). It is then aged for from 4 to 12 hours. Aging generally improves the body and texture of the ice cream. Flavorings are usually added to the mix after the aging process, just before it is frozen.

The freezing process is accomplished as rapidly as possible to ensure the formation of only small ice crystals. Large ice crystals cause coarse texture, reducing the smoothness of the ice cream. When freezing begins, the temperature of the mix is lowered from the aging temperature to the freezing point of the mix, about 27.5 °F (–2.5 °C). It is important for air to be incorporated into the mix during the freezing process to produce a desired additional volume of ice cream and to increase palatability of the finished product. The ice cream is drawn from the freezer at a temperature of about 22 °F (–5.5 °C), when approximately half the water in the mix is frozen. (Soft-serve ice cream is complete at this point; it does not go through a hard freeze.) Any desired fruits, nuts, or candies are added at this time. Then the ice cream is packaged at this temperature and hardened in rooms maintained at temperatures of –20 to –30 °F (–29 to –34 °C). Fast hardening and storage at uniform temperature during market distribution are essential to good body and texture.

Homemade ice cream is often made with a base of boiled custard (a sweetened mixture of milk and eggs). The mix, with flavorings, is poured into a canister surrounded with ice and salt or a refrigerator unit. The salt creates a lower temperature than water alone. The contents of the canister are agitated by means of a hand crank or electric motor until the ice cream is softly frozen. The ice cream is usually allowed to harden further in a freezer.


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Ice cream has a long history. There are legends concerning rulers and royal families and their fondness for iced beverages and water ice that were popular in ancient times. Iced desserts were introduced into Europe from the East. Venetian merchant Marco Polo brought back descriptions of fruit ices from his travels in China. Italian cooks developed recipes and techniques for making both water and milk ices. Italian-born Catherine de’ Medici introduced an iced dessert to the French court in the 16th century. In the late 17th century a Sicilian, Francisco Procopio, opened a café in Paris and began selling ices and sherbets to the general public. These desserts became extremely popular.

Ice cream may have been introduced to North America by the early English colonists. As in other parts of the world, it began as a dessert of the wealthy and elite. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Dolley Madison (wife of James Madison) all served ice cream to guests. Technological advancements in the early 1800s, such as the development of insulated ice houses to store ice, allowed people to make ice cream more easily. Before it was manufactured commercially, people made it in the home by placing metal or pewter bowls in ice and salt. In 1843 Nancy Johnson filed a patent for the first hand-cranked freezer. It had an inner cylinder to hold the cream and other ingredients surrounded by a barrel that could be filled with ice and salt. A crank controlled a paddle that stirred the ingredients. That design, with various improvements, is still used today.

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The first commercial ice-cream factory was established in 1851 by Jacob Fussellin Baltimore, Maryland. The industry grew and developed in all parts of the United States. The ice-cream soda was introduced in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1874, and the ice-cream cone appeared in 1904 at the world’s fair in St. Louis, Missouri.