Although they are important for the preparation of cream, cream and sometimes fruit ice creams, fats are not so essential (as sugars are).
The fats - like all the other components of the mixture - must be added in precise quantities: an excess of fat in the mixture would produce an excessively greasy, cloying and heavy ice cream, while a deficiency could make the ice cream devoid of body (especially in creamy ice creams). Generally, fats are used in a percentage between 6 and 10% (of the weight of the mixture).
Fats are mainly found in the following ingredients:
- MILK: the term "milk" refers to the only cow's milk, obtained from the complete and uninterrupted milking of animals in good health and nutrition. And it is cow's milk that is most used to prepare "yellow base" (egg) and "white base" (egg-free) ice creams. Milk from other types of mammals is not particularly interesting in artisan ice cream making. Due to the richness of its constituents, milk is considered a complete food, capable of raising the nutritional value of ice cream. Like all the components of an ice cream, milk must also be handled (and chosen) with care, in full respect of hygiene rules. Different types of milk can be used in the ice cream parlor, depending on the final product you intend to make: whole milk, semi-skimmed milk, whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, condensed milk (sweetened or not).
The table shows the various types of milk used in ice cream; the average nutritional values of each type are also specified.
- CREAM: in ice cream parlors, cream is considered the "queen" of cream ice creams due to its delicate flavor and excellent whipping capacity. Generally, to make the mixture of an ice cream, we tend to prefer fresh cream, which provides about 35% of fats. To contain calories, it is however possible to use a lower calorie cream, such as cooking cream (20% fat).
- EGG (yolk): if, in cream-flavored ice creams, milk is the major contributor of water and sugar contributes to giving sweetness and body to the ice cream, egg is considered an excellent thickening, emulsifying, whipping and structuring agent. In the past, the egg could not be missing in the formulation of ice cream precisely because it was considered an essential emulsifying ingredient, capable of "binding" the water to the fats contained in the mixture. With the improvement of the art of ice cream making, the egg (or rather, the egg yolk) was partially or totally replaced by mono / diglycerides of fatty acids for a series of hygienic, cost and efficiency reasons. Many ice cream makers-artisans moderns, however, are extensively re-evaluating the presence of the egg in the production of quality ice creams, not only for the known emulsifying and binding properties, but also for the probable moderately anti-freezing capacity attributed to the proteins contained in the yolk. In fact, a mixture for ice cream enriched with egg tends to freeze at lower temperatures than another mixture, equally formulated but without egg.
It was also discovered that the appropriate heating of the mixture represents an indispensable operation to fully exploit the emulsifying, binding and thickening capacities of the egg proteins for the production of ice creams.
Attention!
An excess of eggs in the mixture can negatively modulate the flavor of the ice cream, hiding the other ingredients. Also, too many eggs can cause foam to form during the defrosting phase of the ice cream.
- FLAVORING PASTES: there are different types of flavoring pastes on the market, such as hazelnut, cocoa or pistachio paste. These are concentrated noble pastes capable of speeding up the ice cream maker's work, thus obtaining quality ice creams in a short time. Even noble pastas must be properly balanced before preparing the mixture: each flavoring paste, in fact, is distinguished by its own sugar and fat content.
- BUTTER (animal fat) and MARGARINA (vegetable fat): butter is an ideal fat material for the preparation of full-bodied and relatively heavy ice cream. However, the tendency towards rancidity and the not negligible cost limit the use of butter to some special artisanal ice cream. The butter, which undoubtedly weighs down the ice cream mixture, is sometimes replaced by hydrogenated vegetable fats, which are more easily preserved. The butter and margarines - like all the other fats in the mixture - must be properly balanced to obtain a product with an optimal flavor and structure: an excess of fats in the ice cream, in fact, can disturb the palatability of the product and lower the " overrun (quantity of air incorporated into the mixture during the ice cream freezing phase).
Chocolate Ice Cream Without Eggs
Problems with playing the video? Reload the video from youtube.
- Go to the Video Page
- Go to the Video Recipes Section
- Watch the video on youtube
Other articles on "Fat in Gelato"
- Sugar in Ice Cream
- Ice-cream
- Artisan Ice Cream - Non-Fat Solids and Dry Residue
- Types of Ice Cream
- Preparation of the Gelato - Balancing the mixture
- Preparation of Ice Cream - Pasteurization, Maturation, Creaming
- Making homemade ice cream
- Calories of ice cream
