The effect of different percentages of butterfat on the physical properties of ice cream
Authors:   , Nelson Daniel Horace 
Published: December 2024

"Ice cream has long been a favorite frozen product served for desserts and delicacies. Many years ago the nobles used frozen delicacies at banquets and important feasts. The French were always very fond of frozen dishes but in those days, the early infancy of the present ice cream industry, there was no means of obtaining the much desired delicacies except by the use of natural ice in those seasons of the year when natural ice was available. They had no means of storing ice or of producing artificial cold. For these reasons ice cream was for several centuries considered as a luxury to be had only at the time of festivals or on holidays. As civilization progressed, with the development of this country and with the invention of the first refrigeration machines, it was possible not only to store natural ice thru the summer months but also to produce an artificial cold. It was then possible to manufacture frozen dishes thruout the year. The consumption of ice cream soon began to increase rapidly. As science has advanced, the food value of milk and other dairy products has been made known thruout the civilized world. This has resulted in a keen appreciation of the food value of ice cream and has brought about a marked increase in the demand for the different classes of this frozen product. A rapid development of the ice cream industry has resulted until the manufacture of ice cream has now become one of the most important industries. Its rapid progress during the past decade excels that of butter and cheese. Leading authorities have criticized the ice cream industry for the absence of definite standards pertaining to the methods employed in its manufacture and for the lack of uniformity in composition of the frozen product. The progress attained has been difficult to appreciate. The inability of the manufacturers of ice cream to arrive at definite standards has been partially due to the perishability of ice cream and to the varying standards enacted by the different states. An analysis of these state laws defining the fat and total milk solids required in commercial ice cream clearly indicates that these defects will remain until a Federal ruling definitely specifies the fat and total milk solids to be contained in ice cream. A more important reason for the absence of a defnite standard and the lack of a uniform product is that the manufacturer does not possess a practical knowledge of the factors involved, which are of vital importance in the process of manufacturing ice cream. Considerable attention has been given to the experimental study of various phases of the ice cream industry. The work completed by various investigators has, however, dealt largely with the factors affecting the yield of ice cream, pasteurization and emulsifying of mixtures, and with bacteriological analysis of the mixture and of the frozen ice cream, special attention having been given to the types of bacteria that were able to survive when exposed to low temperatures for periods of time varying from one to seventy-two days. These studies have not resulted in conclusive evidence of a character that would tend to materially assist the ice cream manufacturer in standardizing his methods. The need for such uniformity prompted this investigation. During the year of 1919 The Missouri Experiment Station outline a project entitled "The Effect of Each Ingredient in the Manufacture of Ice Cream". The primary object of this investigation was to give to the manufacturer of commercial ice cream information that would prove of value to him in standardizing his methods. The experimental work here submitted is a part of this project, but is limited to a study of the effect of different percentages of butterfat upon the physical properties of commercial ice cream. It will be noted that the apparatus designed and used in this investigation compares favorably with the type of equipment utilized under commercial conditions. This was considered of importance in making the results of the investigation directly applicable to commercial conditions."--Introduction.