Comparative study of commercially available (stabilizers/emulsifiers, blends) on the quality of dairy ice cream

Frozen ice cream is an aerated emulsion or foam. It is a frozen food product prepared from a mixture of dairy ingredients, sweeteners, stabilizers, emulsifiers and flavourings. Ice cream is available in many flavours, shapes, sizes and colour. Many ice cream industries are providing two in one packs, which contain two flavours in one pack now a day. Fruit concentrates and essences are quite extensively used to bring variety in the product. The Deluxe ice cream should contain 16.0-20% fat, 5.0-6.0% MSNF, 14.0-17.0% sugar, 0.20-0.40% stabilizer and emulsifiers and approximately 40.0- 41.0% total solids. The quality of ice cream can be greatly enhanced through the use of food grade stabilizers/emulsifiers blends. Stabilizers and emulsifiers are the important ingredients of ice cream, they not only contribute a little to total solids of ice cream but also produce smoothness in body and retard ice crystals growth during storage. In present research air attempt was made to study the effects of different commercially available stabilizers/emulsifiers blends on the quality of dairy ice cream and to determine and select the best one among them. Different stabilizers/ emulsifiers blends available in market were used in ice cream and analyzed for different characteristics such as overrun, moisture, total solids, ash, pH, acidity and fat value. The product was then analyzed for sensory evaluation by a panel of live judges for appearance/color, taste, flavour, body & texture and overall acceptability at 0, 10, 20 and 30 days intervals. The results of physico-chemical analysis revealed that overrun, pH, total solids decreased while acidity, moisture increased during storage period. Fat contents remained constant throughout the storage period. Highly significant results were obtained for overrun, moisture, pH, acidity in regard to both of the treatments and storage period. For total solids effect of treatment was highly significant, while that of storage was found to be nor significant. In case of fat and ash the effects of both treatment and storage were non- significant. The results of sensory evaluation revealed that the appearance/colour, taste, flavour, body/texture and overall acceptability were affected significantly due to the use of different stabilizers/emulsifiers blends. There were also significant effects of storage period on these characteristics. However, it was noted that with the passage of time there was a decreasing trends of scores for flavour, taste, body & texture and overall acceptability in general. On the basis of physico-chemical analysis it was concluded that Cremodon was found to be the most suitable stabilizer at 0.05% dosage for the preparation of ice cream. The sensory evaluation revealed that the ice cream prepared with Cremodon was the best ice cream. This treatment was also prepared by using 0.05% Cremodon. It is concluded that among all blends used in research Cremodon is the best one for producing good quality ice cream.