Glycerin: tip for creamy ice cream

Homemade ice cream can hard if you store it in the freezer. To avoid this, in the ice cream recipes we put various sugars and natural binders or eggs a. If you would like to read through the background to this, I recommend my articles "Ingredients for ice cream: where to buy?" and "The basics of ice cream production".

Nevertheless, depending on the Freezer and ice cream recipe (nut ice cream, for example, is usually harder) can cause the ice cream to be too hard. Remedy here can be a Secret ingredient deliver: Glycerin.

I myself then usually help myself by making the ice cream for about 20 minutes in the refrigerator to put. Then it is spherical and wonderfully soft.

However, if you want to have an ice cream that is directly from the freezer soft is, then glycerin could help you with it. Let's take a closer look at what this substance is, because at first it sounds very chemical and unhealthy. But I can already give you the all-clear, because it is also here about a natural ingredient.

What is glycerin?

Glycerin, also known as Glycerol, is a Sugar alcohol. But do not worry, it is not an alcohol that has an intoxicating effect. Also the sugar substitutes Erythritol and xylitol are sugar alcohols, for example.

It is used in many areas, including the Food industry, medicine or cosmetics. It is found in ice cream, baked goods, chewing gum, desserts, chocolates and dairy products. As a rule purely vegetable and as E422 known. It is used as a humectant.

It is produced by Fats split are split. Nowadays, mostly vegetable fats are split, but in the past animal fats were also split. This results in a transparent, sweetish and viscous Substance that has the property of retaining moisture, but also has a freeze inhibition.

Glycerol has a 60%ige sweetening power of table sugar and is considered completely harmless.

How do I use it for ice cream production?

In ice cream production, there are different dosage recommendations from 0.2 g to 20 g per 1000g of ice cream mass depending on the source.

You should have at least 2.5 g glycerin per 500 g ice cream mass use. It is even better if you 10g per 500 g ice cream mass takes.

Dosage: 10 g glycerine per 500 g ice cream mass

Due to the addition of glycerine, the ice remains still very easy to portion even at low temperatures. Domestic freezers have temperatures below -20°C in some places. So if you want your ice cream to remain spherical even at these temperatures, you can try this secret ingredient.

However, it is first put into the ice cream maker, When the ice cream mass begins to solidify. Before that, it would only unnecessarily delay the freezing process and cause the air impact in your ice cream to decrease. This would again be at the expense of texture and creaminess.

The sweetening power of glycerol at these ratios are negligible.

Which glycerin should I use?

You should make sure that it is food grade or pharmaceutical grade. It is available in different purities and should be 99.8% or 99.5% for use in ice cream.

Where can I buy it?

It is in Pharmacies available or in various Online stores. On Amazon, for example, I can recommend these two products:

• Glycerol 99.5% from € 7.95 (€ 31.80 / l)* 
• 500ml BIO glycerin/glycerol 99.7% - pure from € 13.89 (€ 27.78 / l)* 

Is glycerin vegan?

Nowadays almost only from purely vegetable starting products produced. On most products or in the descriptions, the starting material is deposited, so you can be sure that you get a vegetarian or vegan glycerin.

Is glycerin safe?

In food grade, it has no maximum quantity restriction and is considered a harmless. It is safe for consumption. Through a 2022 study on the safety of glycerol commissioned by the European Commission, this assessment was confirmed once again. However, it should be noted that impurities with elements such as mercury or cadmium may occur. An addition of limit values was recommended.

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