When stepping into a local homemade ice cream shop chances are ice cream is being made in a small commercial batch freezer, adding items and filling containers by hand. When you purchase a big brand name ice cream from your favorite grocery, although the category of product can be the same, the process to get there is very different.
Let’s look at small-batch making compared to larger commercially made.
Step 1: Base mix (white or chocolate)
The local shop will purchase a neutral (un-flavored) base ice cream mix ranging in butterfat from 10% to 16%, made by a dairy and sold through a national or regional distributor.
A commercial dairy makes its base mix using fresh cream and milk from local and regional dairy farms. Other dairy ingredients in the base mix include skim milk powder, and sometimes whey powder to produce smooth-textured ice cream. Sucrose is added for sweetness and added texture by increasing the number of solids. Some will include liquid glucose to help soften the ice cream while adding a slight ‘chewy” texture. Lastly, stabilizers like guar or carob bean gum and sometimes emulsifiers such as egg yolk or soy lecithin are included to help break up the milk fat and contribute to the texture.
For chocolate base mix, cocoa powder is added along with stabilizers like guar or carob bean gum and sometimes emulsifiers like egg yolk or soy lecithin are included to help break up the milk fat in the cream and spread it evenly throughout the mix.
The base mix ingredients are then pasteurized to kill any bacteria that may be in the cream or other raw materials as well as co-mingle ingredients using heat. The pasteurized mix is also homogenized to help break up the milk fat into many small bubbles, ensuring a consistent base for our ice cream. Note: in some fluid milk, the homogenization step is eliminated, producing what some see as a healthier, richer product and can be recognized where the milk fat is separated and at the top of the bottle. Shake before drinking. There are several recognized and accepted types of legal pasteurization including VAT, HTST, and UHT.
Step 2: Age the base mix
Post pasteurization and homogenization, the ice cream mix is held in a chilled aging tank, 38°F – 40°F to mature and further settle, allowing time to check for the correct amount of total fat and solids, and verify that it contains no harmful bacteria. Hold time can range from 8 – 10 hours to allow the base to rest offering the best result when the mix is whipped and frozen.
Step 3: Adding flavor & color
Post hold, liquid or concentrated flavors and/or colors are added in the mix tank such as vanilla, orange, or peppermint. Both flavors and colors can be natural such as beet to provide a reddish color. Once thoroughly blended, the flavored/colored mix is pumped to the production line, continuous freezer.
The local shop will add liquid flavor and/or color in the batch freezer just after the base is poured in, this allows the dasher blades to thoroughly mix everything just as the barrel begins to freeze.
Step 4: Freezing mix to make ice cream
For large manufacturers, the flavored mix is pumped into a continuous freezer, where it is churned to add whip (overrun), naturally incorporating air during the freezing process. The amount of air “whipped in” will depend on the specific ice cream ingredients and use level. The freezing process provides the texture while looking similar to “soft serve”.
The local shop will use a batch freezer that offers the same freezing process and “soft serve” look, but totally a manual process, pre, and post-freezing. Batches are timed and samples can be weighed to achieve a specific over-run target, but will not be as consistent as the continuous freezer.
Step 5: Adding inclusions – think chunks & nuts
For the large manufacturer, inclusions such as chips, chunks, cookie dough pieces, and nuts are dropped into a frozen stream of ice cream that proceeds from the freezer to the filling station that dispenses the finished product into containers. Ripples or ribbons such as caramel or chocolate fudge are pumped into the streamline using a ripple spinner and typically after inclusions are added.
The local shop will add inclusions and ripple by hand as the ice cream is coming out of the gate of the batch freezer. Helpful tip, an additional person will likely be required to properly add both inclusions and ripple into the flow of ice cream as it enters the container.
In this phase of the process and major difference, the local shop has from the commercial is less control and slightly more variation in the total amount of inclusions and ripple added by hand, compared to the commercial manufacturer, where the flavor ingredients are measured and added automatically. Hand filling can contribute to added total container weight by 5% – 15% translating to an added cost of goods.
Step 6: Packaging for large and small manufacturers
Once the ice cream, inclusion pieces, and ripples have been combined, the filling is automated or by hand as earlier indicated, but in either instance, the filling step should take less than 2 minutes, to reduce ice cream melt time.
Step 7: Into the deep freezer to harden
As earlier mentioned, while filling a container, the ice cream is in a soft-serve state, so it is necessary to proceed to blast-freezing temperatures very quickly. For large manufacturers, tunnels and carousels can be part of the walk-in freezer, with temperatures maintained at -30°F. The goal is to freeze the center of any size container in as short of time as possible. The time range goal to reduce the opportunity for moisture molecules (ice crystals) from forming is 2½ to 3½ hours. A blast freezer can be used for storage, but a storage freezer around -10°F is not suggested to harden products. A rule to follow with ice cream, the quicker to the deep freezer, the creamier the product.
For the small shop, upright freezers are available that are designed to achieve the same level of freezer temperature to produce a quality product. Additional articles to read. The smaller shop needs to respect the time from fill to freezer, the same as the larger manufacturer.
Step 8: Test for quality
As part of a quality program, large manufacturers have in place a standard procedure to pull a container during the fill phase and after it hardened, to cut the container in half for visual inspection for even color, inclusions, and ripple. On the line, products are weight tested to be within an acceptable weight range and sent to the lab for bacteria analysis. Small manufacturers rarely conduct either, but as good practice, it is recommended. Cutting a container of frozen product in half to visually inspect the number of inclusions and ripple is acceptable to sell. Cutting is a good measure to take to save money and time by selling products low in nuts and candies resulting in customer complaints. As for testing bacteria, small shops can ask their health inspector or inspection agency where to send a container to test bacteria in their finished products.
Schedule time with Darryl no matter the size of your manufacturing facility, to further examine your manufacturing practices.
- Ethics In Using Madagascar Vanilla - November 21, 2023
- Money To Start Your Business - July 9, 2023
- Top 25 Common Myths About Ice Cream Co-Pack Manufacturers - April 22, 2023