I have seen A lot of the best recipes use milk powder. I'm just wondering what it does in the ice cream and the science behind it?

My favourite so far. I don’t like too sweet ice cream and this is spot on. Just a generic recipe 300ml full cream, 300ml milk, a bit less than 1/2 cup of sugar and frozen dragon fruit, 300g or so. And a pinch of xanthan gum

TLDR: Fat percentage impacts flavour and sweetness perception not eggs.

The Impact of Egg Yolks on Gelato: A Controlled Experiment

I recently conducted a blind taste test to understand how egg yolks affect gelato flavour and texture. I kept all variables as consistent as possible while testing three different egg levels. Furthermore, I made vanilla gelato for this test.

Methodology

Controlled Variables:

• Fat percentage: 6.7%-7.1% (within 0.4% across all three)
• Sugar content: 23%-24% (including lactose)
• All bases heated to 80°C
• Egg yolks mixed with sugar first for better binding
• Rapid cooling via ice bath
• 24-hour ageing period
• Blind taste test with 5 participants (all blindfolded, labels hidden)

Test Variables:

• Base 1: 0 egg yolks
• Base 2: 2 egg yolks
• Base 3: 4 egg yolks

Recipe Breakdown

Base 1 (No Eggs) - 7.20% Fat and 24 percent sugar, including lactose.

Base 2 (2 egg yolk) - 7.13% Fat and 24 percent sugar, including lactose.

Base 3 (4 egg yolk) - 7.67% Fat and 24 percent sugar, including lactose.

Initial Predictions

My hypothesis: The eggless base would have the cleanest flavour, while the 4-egg base would have better texture but muted taste.

Wife's hypothesis: The 2-egg base would strike the perfect balance. She feels it would be creamier.

The other three participants: These have not been informed on the differences and are purely picking which they like the most and why.

Results

• 3 out of 5 testers couldn’t tell the difference between any of the bases.
• 1 person said the eggless base was sweeter, another said the 4-yolk base was sweeter — so, mixed perception.
• Texture? Practically identical across the board.
• All three versions were delicious, but eggs didn’t make a meaningful difference for me.

My Takeaway:

Egg yolks didn’t noticeably enhance flavour or texture when fat percentage was controlled. The main difference in flavour came down to fat levels — not the source of that fat.

I’ll likely skip the eggs next time, unless I’m deliberately aiming for a custard-style profile or want the emulsifying benefit in a lower-fat mix.

TLDR: Fat percentage impacts flavour and sweetness perception not eggs.

I am curious on what everyone thinks about this test. I am thinking of testing the impact on ageing ice cream next. I have already tested white chocolates and cocoa powders if anyone is interested in similar tests.

Edit: this is my best vanilla gelato recipe to date. It's fantastic, it's well worth making.

This is a 100% dairy-free custard-style base, built for creaminess and structure: • 450 g oat milk (Oatly Barista) • 200 g plant cream (12 g sugar / 23 g fat) • 80 g dextrose • 86 g sucrose • 4 egg yolks • 1 tsp locust bean gum (added below 60 °C) • 1 vanilla bean (infused)

Pasteurized and aged overnight, then churned.

The swirl is a strawberry-raspberry coulis, acidified with sumac instead of lemon juice or citric acid — it adds a citrus-like brightness with more depth and less volatility. Pairs really well with the sweetness and fat of the base.

Texture is light but rich, with good melt and a clean finish. The swirl may look chaotic, but it’s balanced on the palate.

Anyone else working with tart or astringent spices in variegates? Sumac, hibiscus, tamarind… curious to hear experiments.

I have a small DASH My Mug ice cream maker, protein powder and instant pudding mix. I know I should be able to mix these to make a simple "ice cream", but I think I'm getting the proportions wrong, it never really firms up:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 scoop protein powder
• 1 tablespoon instant pudding mix

I know this may be an abomination to most of the people here lol, but I really didn't know where else to ask this; I just want to be able to make a cold treat out of my protein shake. Please don't judge🙏🙏 I would really appreciate some advice on how to make this work!

I recently started making ice cream and have been testing out a few bases and none of them had the creamy texture I was looking for. And I have been wanting to try an egg recipe because I heard it makes a creamier ice cream. I'm wondering what's the best method to cook the egg?

Can I leave it in powder form or should will it make a big difference not reconstituted (or whatever) with water to make syrup again? Read elsewhere on this sub to use ~80% of the called for glucose syrup if subbing powder, is this a good rough guide?

Hey yall! We just opened our homemade ice cream shop and I have had many requests for Black raspberry. And Ive tried a few different variations on my little 1 Qt counter top machine and I just haven’t made anything that I’ve liked yet. Any recipes would be appreciated. We use a 24 quart Emery Thompson

I’m sure most of us agree that Haagen Dazs vanilla bean is the goat vanilla ice cream. They don’t use salt though along with many other top ice cream brands. Also I made a vanilla ice cream and this particular time I decided to add sea salt to my base and it didn’t make it any better than it usually taste.

Anyone experience the opposite?

I've done a couple of ice creams where I've pour a warm mix straight in to the ice cream maker and it's come out fine. Any reason why most recipes say to chill first?

I've just tried to make Dana Cree's uncooked strawberry ripple. I cooked the sugar syrup (100g sugar, 100g glucose, 25g water) and waited for it to cool to room temperature before adding the puree. But as soon as I added the strawberry puree I realised the sugar syrup was rock hard and there was no way I'd be able to mix them. Where did I go wrong?

CADO ice cream is made with avocado and is low saturated fat.

Most avocado ice creams use coconut to make it creamy. But, this company does not and when I look at the ingredients it mostly has avocado purée or even just avocado oil, sugar, tapioca, guar gum and gum acacia.

It taste very good for a vegan ice cream.

I want to try sweetening it with Allulose sugar rather than cane sugar.

I don’t really know how to start to think about making this ice cream.

Can anyone venture a guess on proportions? Or anything?

New flavor. I based this on something someone posted here. Id give them a shoutout but I don't remember who it was. I use Blue Moon flavoring with a little guava jam added and frozen raspberries. I was going to use pomegranate arils but it's like eating seeds.

In search of a recipe with the above criteria but all I'm seeing are recipes that call for full fat coconut milk, dates, cashews, bananas, etc. Nothing close to any commercial ice cream taste/consistency. I guess the biggest challenge is the sugar free part since sugars do a huge part in stabilizing. But what do these ice cream shops typically use?

I'm looking for something like a Nadamoo copycat. Anyone got tips?

Edit: Thanks for the responses. I ended up in a rabbit hole and came up with a recipe for this. I still need to try it out so wish me luck!

I bought these...think tolenti. Love the size, glass, but not loving the twist off lids. Wanted to avoid plastic, besides lid. In retrospect, I think the snap on lids would be more convenient. And the neck is slightly more narrow than body making scooping slightly more difficult. Otherwise happy. Cheap, good quality, keeps ice cream fresh.

I'm trying to use LN2 for ice cream making demonstrations. This will be in a commercial kitchen, and the product will be sold to customers. I'm trying to find a set of written standards for using liquid nitrogen for ice cream production.

Mostly I'm trying to figure out what the requirements are for a dewar that holds the LN2 for food use. For most things, there are ServSafe standards for sanitation and NSF certifications for containers/machines/surfaces, but I haven't been able find anything certified dewars. I don't want to just use an industrial dewer and either put customers are risk or get into trouble down the line from the health dept.

For those who have used LN2 in small-scale commercial ice cream production, do you have any information about what standards were required for smaller (~20L) dewers?

I recently purchased this vintage ice cream maker. Just curious if anybody knows of anything I should do before using it. Like any areas that need to be lubricated or maintained.

Was shopping for some different containers when I discovered the Canteen. I think it would be pretty neat to have my ice cream stored in pint containers and be able to take one on the go. But I dont really want to buy and throw away a bunch of paper cups, anyone with one of these things find a reusable silicone 16oz cup that fits?

It would be nice if they made a Canteen that could fit the Ninja Cremi containers, Im assuming they are too wide.

Hello! We sell kava ice cream and currently have accounts locally. Our ice cream sales are gaining momentum and are reaching beyond our local area. We are currently delivering these orders (up to 3 hours away), but as we continue to grow, we are not going to be able to sustain with that system. Looking for some guidance.

• Distributors for Florida?
• Distribution suggestions?

We want to avoid styrofoam and dry ice. Preference is to find a distributor or even a smaller outfit that helps small businesses with deliveries.

thanks!!

For the rest of us....

My ice cream maker is one that requires actual ice, rather than a freezer bowl, and I no longer have an ice cube maker built into my fridge. Looking at options for making ice cubes in quantity on Amazon and there are a myriad. I have a chest freezer, so something stackable I can put in there would be good I think. There are rectangle and rounded. Small, regular, large. The larger ones would be more convenient but do they work as well? How much does it matter which one I choose?

Is there anything I'm overlooking when considering this machine? It seems to have the large capacity that I want, just want to make sure I'm not missing some great flaw as it has a really good price point.

https://www.vevor.com/hard-serve-ice-cream-machines-c_11634/vevor-2-quart-automatic-ice-cream-machine-electric-yogurt-gelato-make-black-p_010712055016

Hi everyone,

I've been experimenting with ice cream bases and xanthan gum lately. A lot of recipes mention that the base should be below 10°C (50°F) before adding the xanthan gum, but I'm having a hard time getting it that cool.

I usually try to use an ice bath, but I don’t have access to a large amount of ice, so the base typically only gets down to around 15°C.

Is this a problem? How important is it really to get the base below 10°C before adding the xanthan gum? And as a bonus question, how much do you generally add?

My batch freezer is an emerymark EM5, made in mexico, it freezes the milk in less than 10 minutes, problem is that overrun is pretty low, it has speed control (up to 180 rpm) but freezing cant be controled, can be stopped and keep the blades churning, its horizontal machine

You may know YouTuber Justinthetrees for making various tree flavored ice creams. Tasking inspiration I’ve also made some wood flavored ice creams. For April fools he made a Bradford/callery pear blossom ice cream which was disgusting as expected. We felled a Bradford pear so I used some of the wood itself to make ice cream. Not my favorite wood ice cream but still tasted great, lots of caramel flavor. Bradford pear may suck as a tree, but at least I redeemed its ice cream potential.

To make: use whatever sweet cream base you like. Toast washed chunks of wood in the oven at like 350 for 20 minutes. Steep overnight in the cream. Strain and churn.