Sugar in the ice cream

Together with water, sugar is a primary ingredient for making ice cream. If, in fact, it is possible to obtain a good product excluding milk and fat from the mixture, it is unthinkable to formulate an ice cream without sugar.

The purpose of sugar in ice cream goes far beyond its sweetening capacity: this important raw material, in fact, is also exploited for its surprising anti-freezing capacity. In other words, the addition of sugars in an ice cream mixture reduces the freezing capacity of the water present, preventing it from appearing as a hard and crystalline mass once subjected to the freezing process. Therefore, between two mixtures (with the same cold), the one with more sugars tends to remain softer and spreadable precisely because the intrinsic ability to freeze is poorer. In general, the amount of sugar in an ice cream mixture should be between 16 and 30%.

What are the most used sugars in an ice cream mixture?

The most used sugar in ice cream mixtures is Saccharose because, being totally made up of dry residue, it is the major solids-bringing ingredient. Often, however, in the formulation of ice cream mixes, it is usual to mix sucrose with a "secondary sugar" - which must not in any case be more than 20% of sucrose - to avoid getting too sweet ice-creams or to further lower the mass freezing point.
Among the secondary sugars, a note of merit undoubtedly belongs to DESTROSIO (also called glucose or grape sugar). It is a monosaccharide with a lower sweetening power than sucrose (about 70%) but with an equal energy value. However, in the formulation of an ice cream, what matters about dextrose is not so much the sweetening capacity, but rather its excellent anti-freezing power and preservative qualities. Suffice it to say that dextrose is able to so much lower the freezing point of water (contained in the mixture) that it would not be possible to use it alone or as a total substitute for sucrose. This important secondary sugar is also used to enhance the aromas contained in ice cream. Dextrose is used in the mixture in concentrations equal to 15-20% of the quantity of sucrose.
GLUCOSE SYRUP : it is a mixture of various sugars (glucose, maltose, maltodextrin etc.) and water, with a liquid-dense consistency and a shiny and transparent appearance. Clearly, there are various types of glucose syrups, which differ according to the type of sugars that compose them. The dry matter present in glucose syrups is variable, ranging between 80% and 85%. A glucose syrup should be chosen based on the percentage of dextrose present, expressed by the abbreviation "DE". Specifically, the aforementioned acronym stands for " Dextrose Equivalent " and indicates the quantity (percentage) of reducing sugar calculated on the dry substance, expressed precisely in dextrose. In simple terms, this means that a low ED syrup contains a low amount of dextrose and will give rise to a slightly sweet and harder ice cream. Conversely, when a high DE glucose syrup is used, it will be possible to obtain a sweeter and better spreadable ice cream. A low DE glucose syrup is indicated, for example, for the preparation of ice lollies. The marketed glucose syrups possess a DE between the values 38 and 60.
INVERTED SUGAR : it is nothing more than sucrose split - partially or totally - into glucose and fructose. It is a secondary sugar obtained by enzymatic or chemical sucrose hydrolysis. The name "inverted" refers to the behavior held by polarized light when it is passed through an aqueous solution composed of glucose and fructose: in the case of sucrose, polarized light rotates to the right (dextrorotation compound), while inverted sugar rotates the plane to the left (levogyric compound). The (irreversible) transformation of sucrose into inverted sugar gives the latter properties that deviate entirely from the molecule of origin. If 100 corresponds to the sweetening power of sucrose (reference sugar), that of invert sugar corresponds to 125-130: it can therefore be understood that the sweetening capacity of invert sugar is very high. This feature can be exploited when you want to prepare a very sweet mixture, without increasing the amount of total solids. In addition, invert sugar has an extraordinary anti-freeze / anti-crystallising capacity, a characteristic that is not always positive because an incorrect and excessive dosage would produce an ice cream that is too soft, with a tendency to melt easily. Invert sugar is used in concentrations between 10 and 15% of total sugars.
HONEY : despite being an interesting food due to its innumerable nutritional qualities, honey is not widely used in ice cream for at least two reasons. First of all, it is a strongly aromatic product and its use in the mixture would risk masking the flavor of the main ingredients. Furthermore, honey exerts an anti-freezing power so high that it is necessary to limit its percentage in the formulation of the mixture. In ice cream it is mostly used as a flavoring agent and for the production of specific "honey ice creams". This bee product has the same composition as invert sugar, being in fact composed of glucose and levulose (fructose).
MALTOSIUM : it is a reducing disaccharide composed of 2 molecules of glucose. Although it has a sweetening power of about 1/3 compared to sucrose, it is not particularly used in ice-cream making since it does not substantially affect the mixture's freezing point.
MALTITOLUS and SORBITOL : they are polyalcohols typical of fruit, used in general to make low-calorie or acariogenic products (not surprisingly, polyalcohols are part of the formulation of chewingum and candy). Due to their plasticizing and humectant characteristics, they are also used in confectionery, for the production of nougats, crisps, meringues and diet products. In ice cream, the most commonly used polyol seems to be maltitol: when substituted for a small part of sucrose, maltitol favors the reduction of the freezing point without however bringing a high sweetening power (as instead happens when using honey or invert sugar). In an ice cream mixture, the recommended dose of sorbitol or maltitol should not exceed 5% of the total weight of sugars. Furthermore, sorbitol is used in ice cream shops due to its interesting potential: besides being a mild sweetener, sorbitol is also considered a stabilizer, a thickener and a support to enhance the flavors of ice cream. An excess of polyhydric alcohols in ice cream could produce laxative effects.

The table shows the main sugars used for the formulation of a mixture, specifying the respective freezing points and their anti-freezing capacity, expressed as a value. The reference sugar is sucrose, which has a sweetening power of 100 and an anti-freezing capacity of 100.