How to choose sugar to prepare ice cream?

Ice cream makers and pastry chefs tend to combine different types of sugar to prepare ice creams since each one provides different properties that together achieve desserts with the desired hardness, creaminess and sweetness.

What properties does sugar provide to prepare ice cream?

Antifreeze Power - PAC

The antifreeze power explains the ability of sugar to reduce the freezing temperature of water when dissolved in it. For example, when diluted, it freezes at -2°C and not at 0°C, therefore, the freezing process will depend on the amount of sugar dissolved in the water.

Sweetening Power - POD

The sweetener refers to the property of sugar to add a sweet flavor to a food, in this case ice cream. There are natural and synthetic sweeteners.

To achieve the perfect ice cream with the desired hardness, texture and sweetness, sweeteners need to be combined with its various PACs and PODs .

What are the sweeteners or sugars most used to prepare ice cream?

1. It is the sugar found in the juice of many plants and is extracted especially from sweet cane and beets or beets.
2. It is a simple sugar, chemically identical to glucose, which provides 4 kcal per gram and has several uses, especially when preparing ice cream.
3. It is transparent and made up of various sugars. It is obtained by saccharification of starch and is used in confectionery to give consistency to cooked sugars or jam.
4. Invert sugar. It is a type of sweetener that is achieved by combining sucrose with glucose and fructose. It is widely used in ice cream parlors because it makes it difficult for sugar to crystallize, making the textures smoother.

What other sweeteners or sugars are there to prepare ice cream?

Before using a sweetener, it is important to know its PAC and POD value, as well as its maximum recommended dose, in order to avoid unwanted side effects.

1. Fructose is a simple sugar derived from fruits that can be found in powdered or syrup form. It is sweeter than sucrose and more soluble in water than glucose.
2. Bee honey is a natural sweetener made by bees, derived from the nectar they collect from flowers. You can use it in all kinds of pastry preparations.
3. It comes from the plant of the same name and is much sweeter than sucralose and with a caloric intake of zero calories. You can replace sugar in pastry preparations.
4. It is a sugar alcohol that is found naturally in red algae and in fruits such as pears, apples, plums, quinces, peaches, among others.