As we approach the warmer months (and yes, we remain very hopeful for a scorching summer!) we will see more and more customers visiting your ice cream business, whether you run a gelateria, van, parlour or anything in between.
Of course, hotter temperatures will mean that the delicious ice cream that your customers are purchasing, be it in a cone, tub, or even on top of a waffle or crepe, face the dreaded meltdown. You may not realise it, but the speed at which your product melts is key to its enjoyment.
We’ve all been there, when we buy an ice cream, it melts too quickly, runs down your hand and creates a sticky mess (and ultimately, you’ve been able to enjoy less of the product than you would have liked).
So, if we want our customers to get the best possible enjoyment from your well-crafted ice cream, we need to beat the drip and reduce the speed at which it will melt.
Reducing the melt
Melting is the process of something turning from a solid into a liquid. And when we look at making ice cream, we are doing the opposite, turning liquid into a solid. We do this by freezing your mixture whilst whipping air in. The key part of this is that the water within an ice cream mix is being bound and held between our bond of fats and protein.
Therefore, when we look at why ice cream melts, it is doing so because any warmth is heating this ice and turning it back into water; this is the drip!
So, the key to beating the drip is to hold water within your ice cream for as long as possible. We obviously can’t hold this indefinitely, but there are certainly tactics we can use to slow this down.
The process
Our first consideration is to look at the process of making your ice cream. The best way to hold water between fat and protein globules is to have a high level of pasteurisation and emulsification. Having truly great pasteurisation and emulsification means that our fat globules are smaller, making it easier for our protein to bind this fat and thereby trapping H₂O (water) into the chemical bond. The stronger this bond, the longer it will take to break and ultimately the longer it will take to start dripping.
Ageing your mixture is also a really important part of the process; without this the stabilisers will be unable to provide this strong bond between the fats and proteins. Make sure you follow the recommended ageing time for your stabilisers (typically 4-6 hours minimum but different times may apply).
The ingredients
Once we’ve perfected our process, we should then look at the ingredients themselves.
To beat the drip, you must have a good ratio of fat to protein; here at Antonelli we aim for a range between 5 to 10% total fats and 3.5 to 5% protein. Please note, however, that this is based on dairy fats and proteins from dairy, plant-based recipes may vary.
The danger at this stage lies in putting too much protein into your mixture thinking that it will give you a stronger bond and less drip. In reality, if you go over 5% protein, from our experience, the mix will over-emulsify, leading to an unusual, spongy texture.
We then need to look at our sugars, in particular hygroscopic sugars.
These sugars attract and bond to water; what we find is that they reduce the chance of water crystallising into ice within your cabinet. And even better, once scooped onto a cone and the ice starts to melt, the hygroscopic sugars continue to bind the water.
But what exactly is a hygroscopic sugar we hear you ask? Well, you will already be well acquainted with them, examples of these include glucose, fructose and dextrose (with glucose being the most commonly used).
Typically, with a glucose powder it will have a dextrose equivalent, for example 38% of glucose powder will have the same anti-freeze and sweetness point as its dextrose counterpart. When we are looking to reduce the drip however, it is the sugar starch maltose that is really the true champion as it will absorb the water.
Emulsifiers are next up, for example mono diglycerides of fatty acids, these are the most common emulsifier we find in an ice cream. They allow for the binding of water and fat together whilst trapping air, which again will slow the drip.
The serving temperature
An obvious yet crucial component to beating the drip is to serve your ice cream at a colder temperature during hotter periods.
If you know that a particular day is going to be hotter, simply adjust the temperature of your cabinet to accommodate. Colder temperatures are a must anyway during the warmer months, and let’s face it, your customers are actively seeking a cold product.
And that’s it! How to beat the drip as we approach the summer months. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Antonelli team.
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