The Effects of Blackthorn (Prunus Spinosa L.) Addition on Certain Quality Characteristics of Ice Cream

The aim of this study was to determine the certain physicochemical properties, color values, total phenolic content (TPC) and flavonoid content (TFC), glass transition (Tg′), melting (Tₘ′), freezing point (Tf) and melting point (Tₘ) temperatures, and sensory characteristics of ice cream produced with minced blackthorn (BT) (Prunus spinosa L.) at different concentrations. The increment of BT concentration caused an increase in the titratable acidity, viscosity, overrun, first dripping and complete melting times and a* color value, while decreasing the total solid, ash, fat, protein contents, pH, L* and b* color values. TPC and TFC values of samples showed a variation from 42.22 to 84.85 and from 27.40 to 39.03 μg QE/mg extract, respectively, whereas Tg′, Tₘ′, Tf and Tₘ values showed a significant decrease with the increment of BT concentration. On the sensory evaluation, only color scores of the samples showed differences from each other at P < 0.05 level. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Ice cream is an important dairy product produced with milk, cream, water, fruits, flavoring agents and other ingredients. The acceptability of the ice cream by consumers is affected by some factors, including quality characteristics, ingredients, sensory properties and storage conditions. In recent years, the use of natural and organic additives such as fruits for ice cream production showed an increase. The Prunus spinosa L. (blackthorn [BT]) is a natural fruit and locally grows in some parts of the world. BT contains high amount of antioxidant and polyphenolic compounds, vitamins and minerals. The use of BT at different concentrations for ice cream production caused an acceptable effect on some physicochemical, thermal and sensory properties of ice cream. On the contrary, the concentration increase of BT allowed important effects on most of the observed quality parameters of ice cream samples.