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P. A. RAKES, Main Street Ingredients, 2340 Enterprise Ave., PO Box 1628, La Crosse, WI 54603 The way to properly stabilize, or more accurately, manage water, fat, and air in a frozen dessert application is to start with the accurate and precise definition of the product to be made. This includes its cost parameters, nutritional panel/label, packaging requirements, processing procedures, shelf life conditions/expectations and sensory attributes. By answering the attendant questions with each of these categories one can significantly narrow down the list of possibilities for the hydrocolloid-based stabilization of a frozen dessert formulation. Subsequent to the precise description of the product to be made one has to consider ingredient interactions or lack thereof with the various proteins, fats and carbohydrates that will possibly be present in the formulation. In some cases, mix processing procedures will need to be adjusted to account for the effects of these possible interactions. These interactions can often be tested for at the bench and pilot plant level before going into initial production. Finally, shelf life expectations have to be managed in terms of the storage and transportation conditions that the product will face and the ingredients and processing procedures used to make it. To do a credible job of understanding shelf life issues one must first realize that not all the water present in a frozen dessert is “frozen” or crystalline. There is water mobility (i.e. glass transition/rubber region) present in “frozen “ desserts that must be recognized and accounted for (i.e. freezing point depression, ice crystal size) in understanding the shelf life of a product. The crystalline state of sugars and fats must also be taken into account in formulating an acceptable frozen dessert formulation.
Session 43, Crash course: How to stabilize foods with hydrocolloids
2005 IFT Annual Meeting, July 15-20 - New Orleans, Louisiana |