Ma. Lila Therese I.

Atienza VII-A 2/6/19 Portfolio Entry 3

What is the chemistry of ice cream?

I. Introduction

If you think about it, an ice cream is actually quite a complex and multi-
faceted composition – it should be solid, yet soft, and should preferably stay that way
while melting slowly. If you would simply put a batch of cream in the freezer, you
would not end up with ice cream, but with a block of hard-frozen, solid cream. The
reasons for the delicate and mesmerizing nature of ice cream is ultimately a matter of
food chemistry!

Ice cream is made from three main ingredients: milk, cream and sugar.
However, you need to do more than just mix and freeze them to create the perfect
dessert. Behind this seemingly simple summer treat, there is some complicated
chemistry at play. Ice creams are an example of an emulsion; a combination of two
liquids that would normally not mix together and are dispersed throughout each other.

II.A. Basic Components of Ice Cream

Ice Crystals: Created when the water-content in the base starts to freeze; they put the
“ice” in “ice cream”, giving solidity and body. The size of the ice crystals largely
determines how fine, or grainy, the ice cream eventually turns out.

Fat: Often in the form of butter (milk) fat; adds richness, stabilises the base mix,
improves density and the smoothness of texture and generally increase flavors.

Sweeteners: Generally different sugars, honey or syrups. Adds sweetness but also
improves texture and body. Also lowers the freezing point of the mix, ensuring that the
ice cream does not freeze rock-solid.

Air: The invisible (and cheapest) ingredient in ice cream. The tiny air cells whipped into
the base mix are largely responsible for the general consistency of ice cream, and
greatly affect texture and volume.

Other Solids: Usually so-called non-fat milk solids, such as proteins and mineral salts,
and flavorings such as cookie-crumbles. While adding flavor and (possibly) sweetness,
they also contribute to the body, texture and smoothness.
II.B. More About Ice Cream/Facts
Composition: The chemical composition of ice cream means that the tiny fat droplets
are suspended in the water to create a smooth texture and evenly dispersed
ingredients.
Fat Droplet: each droplet is surrounded by milk, proteins and emulsifiers, which
improve the mixing of the water and fat.
Air and Overrun: Overrun is the percentage by which ice cream has expanded from
having air introduced into it during the freezing process.
Texture: the lower percentage of overrun the thicker and denser the final product,
while the higher the percentage the lighter and fluffier the final product. More
expansive brands tend to have lower overrun.
Brain Freeze: When ice cream touches the roof of your mouth, it may trigger a cold
headache. The cause is a dilation of blood vessels in your head located above the roof
of your mouth. When this nerve center gets cold, it seems to overreact and tries to heat
your brain.

III. Building the Ice Cream

Looking at these base components highlights what is truly fascinating with
making ice cream: It is mainly a matter of making a successful emulsion – the process
of combining different substances which under normal circumstances would separate
from each other (like oil and vinegar) and instead turn them into a smooth, lightly
thickened mixture – the ice cream base!
To bring about this emulsion, emulsifiers are usually added to the ice cream
base – one or more ingredients that help the other “unwilling” ingredients to combine.
“Emulsifiers” may give frightful associations to various strange artificial chemical
products, but in your kitchen they probably most often come in the mundane form of
egg yolk. In commercial ice cream production, the emulsifiers are often various
extractions from oils.
Stabilisers likewise improve the structure, but also the texture (by keeping
down the growth-rate of the ice crystals; see above) of ice cream, and reduce the melt-
down speed of the ice cream. Their effect is, roughly speaking, very much like that of
sponges: they both absorb and immobilise the liquid in ice cream. A traditionally well-
known stabiliser for ice cream, also readily available for home production is Gelatin
(derived from animal products). Starch is another one
IV. Basic Steps of Ice Cream Making
Preparing the (liquid) ice cream base, using appropriate proportion of ingredients to aid
the rest of the process.
Pasteurisation: heating the ice cream base so that dangerous bacteria are destroyed.
Homogenisation: essentially the breaking up of, and better dispersing of, fat droplets in
order to enhance the emulsion of fat into the ice cream base.
Ageing/Maturing: While ageing, the chemical ingredients of the base “settle”, which will
greatly improve the texture, smoothness and stability of the final ice cream.
Freezing: If you have an ice cream maker, this is the stage where you will use it. During
the churning, the base is being frozen whilst air simultaneously is whipped into it by the
dasher and “trapped”, and certain flavoring solids are added.
Hardening: After the freezing, you have created ice cream! However, fresh out of the
churning-step, ice cream is actually only about half-frozen and may need some further
time in a freezer to gain more stability (the “dryness” of the ice cream).
V. Kinds of Ice Cream

Sources: (CTTO)
https://www.howitworksdaily.com/the-chemistry-behind-ice-cream/
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/past
-issues/archive-2013-2014/ice-cream-chemistry.html
https://www.icecreamnation.org/science-of-ice-cream/