Our Ideal Ice Cream Texture
Texture was also important. Here we looked at the amount of air in each product (called “overrun” in the ice cream industry). There are various reasons why manufacturers add air to ice cream. First, some people prefer the lighter, almost whipped texture of ice cream with a lot of air incorporated. Second, it makes the ice cream more profitable because a product with a lot of overrun has less dairy (dairy can be pretty pricey) and more air (which is free) in each container. A product with 100 percent overrun will be half air. Finally, it’s a common tactic used to produce lower-calorie ice cream. With more air incorporated, there are fewer solids (and therefore fewer calories and less fat) in each scoop. We sent the ice creams in our final lineup to a lab to have their overrun percentages measured, and the products ranged from 21 percent to 117 percent overrun, a huge difference.
Ice creams with low overrun percentages are typically dense, creamy, and silky and associated with premium brands. However, tasters were split over whether they preferred high- or low-overrun ice cream. Our winner had a relatively high overrun (97 percent) but was still praised for its creamy, smooth texture. While texture is a matter of personal preference, our winning ice cream compensates for its high overrun percentage by using corn syrup (instead of sugar) as its main sweetener. Since corn syrup is thicker than sugar, it gives ice cream a smooth, rich texture. Many products, including our winner, have added stabilizers and gelling agents in the form of cellulose products and thickeners such as carrageenan, which can help keep the texture thick and creamy despite a high overrun percentage.
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