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Ice Cream Facts: Not All Ice Cream Are EqualMmm ice cream. The ice cream facts will help you choose a quality product. My fondest memories of my youth include this treat. My sister and I would get a dollar from Dad on a Sunday afternoon and then go and get a chocolate dipped ice cream cone. Today, your choices of product range from budget to premium. The differences are in the quality and the ingredients. Let me explain... There are key ingredients to making ice cream. They include by weight: 10% to 16% milkfat - premium brands would have a higher milkfat content. 9% to 12% milk solids - this has the milk proteins and milk carbohydrates (lactose) in it. 12% to 16% sweeteners - a combination of sucrose and glucose based corn syrup. 55% to 64% water - this comes from the milk or other ingredients. 0.2% to 0.5% stabilizers and emulsifers. About half of the volume of ice cream comes from air. Emulsifiers are needed to get the mixture to blend together and stay that way. Most commonly used are mono- and diglycerides and Polysorbate 80. Both are rated as 'generally regarded as safe' or GRAS from the FDA. Then you need the stabilizers. These act to prevent icy crystals from forming. This also would then add shelf life to the product. Have you ever purchased ice cream and taken off the lid to see tiny icy crystals? Well, the stabilizers act to prevent this. The common stabilizers are plant based and include: Carob Bean Gum (also known as Locust Bean Gum) Guar Gum Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) Xanthan Gum Sodium Alginate Carageenan Often you will see more than one stabilizer on the label. These can show synergistic effect making the combination more effective than each individually. The premium ice creams would get the flavoring from the fruit itself. So you would see fruit on the label. The budget products would have just flavoring or even artificial flavoring. The quality of ice cream can vary greatly. Usually the higher the fat content, the better the taste. You will also notice that the lower priced products have a lower quality. The ingredients list goes on and on. From chemical flavors and sweetener to even the lowest permitted amount of milk fats and milk solids. How To Use Ice Cream Facts To Pick Your Ice Cream 1. Avoid the ice cream products with chemical flavor. Look for real fruit as an ingredient. 2. Avoid modified milk ingredients. These are not the same as the milk solids, which are the proteins and carbohydrates of milk. 3. Look for the fewest stabilizers and emulzifiers. 4. Since 50% of the ice cream can be air, consider not buying the double churned. 5. Buy organic ice cream whenever you can. The ingredients are simple and the list short. No doubt, you will taste the difference. With the ice cream facts you can enjoy the treat without ingesting artificial cheap chemicals.
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