The

Effectiveness of Fat Replacers on Ice Cream’s Physical and Sensory Properties

Kaitlyn Richardson
Madonna University

ABSTRACT RESULTS CONCLUSION

The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of different fat
replacers on the physical and sensory properties of ice cream. The fat replacers
that were used were inulin and maltodextrin. Viscosities of the control,
maltodextrin, and inulin ice cream mixes were obtained by conducting a line
spread test. A sensory analysis was conducted on seven participants testing for
the favorability of the texture, appearance, and flavor of all three ice cream
samples. The samples were also assessed for smoothness and grittiness. The
participants raked the samples from least preferred to most preferred for
overall texture and overall preference. The experimental mixes were more
viscous than the control sample and therefore spread the least on the line
spread test. Overall the texture, appearance, and flavor sensory analysis and
overall preference obtained from the sensory evaluations indicated that the
inulin and maltodextrin ice creams did not produce favorable sensory qualities
and are therefore ineffective in their use as fat replacers in ice cream.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1. To determine the viscosity of ice cream samples made with the fat replacers
inulin and maltodextrin by performing a line spread test.
2. To determine the sensory preferences of the three samples of ice cream
(control, inulin, and maltodextrin) by evaluating texture.
3. To determine the sensory preferences of the three samples of ice cream
(control, inulin, and maltodextrin) by evaluating appearance.
4. To determine the sensory preferences of the three samples of ice cream
(control, inulin, and maltodextrin) by evaluating flavor.
Objective Testing
To test the viscosity of the ice cream mixes, a line spread test was conducted on the liquid mixes before
they were churned. The control sample had an average line spread of 18.5 cm. The inulin sample had an
average line spread of 8 cm. Lastly, the maltodextrin sample had an average line spread of 15.6 cm. The
control sample spread the farthest indicating that it had the most tendency to spread and is therefore the
least viscous. The ice cream made from inulin spread the least and therefore had the least tendency to
spread indicating that this sample was the most viscous.
Sensory Testing
The participants were instructed to rate each ice cream sample based on texture, appearance, and flavor.
The results showed that most people liked the texture, appearance, and flavor of the control ice cream. The
majority of the participants either somewhat disliked or disliked the texture of the inulin ice cream and
either somewhat liked or neither liked nor disliked the appearance and flavor of the inulin ice cream. The
rating of the texture of the maltodextrin ice cream varied. The rating of the flavor of the maltodextrin ice
cream also varied but more of the participants either somewhat disliked or disliked the ice cream than
either liked or somewhat liked the ice cream. The results indicated that the majority of the participants
chose the control ice cream as the creamiest and the inulin ice cream as having the most-gritty mouthfeel.
The results for texture preference showed that most people chose the maltodextrin as having the least
preferred texture although the results were very close with the inulin ice cream (four votes for maltodextrin
and three votes for inulin). Most chose the inulin sample as the second most preferred texture. This result
was close with the maltodextrin sample (four votes for inulin and three votes for maltodextrin). All of the
participants chose the control sample for most preferred texture. For overall preference, the majority of the
participants chose the maltodextrin ice cream as the least preferred ice cream, the inulin ice cream as the
second preferred ice cream and the control ice cream as the most preferred ice cream.
It can be concluded that inulin and maltodextrin have an effect on the physical and sensory properties of ice
cream. The experimental mixes were overall more viscous and did not spread as well as the control mix with
the inulin mix spreading the least and having the highest viscosity. Their increased viscosity caused the
experimental mixes to be slightly too thick and goopy and therefore did not churn or freeze as well as the
control. It can be concluded that inulin and maltodextrin do not produce the same physical properties as the
control ice cream with 100% heavy cream.
From the sensory evaluation, it can be determined that the experimental ice cream did not produce a favorable
texture. Most panelists enjoyed the texture of the control ice cream over the ice creams made with fat replacers
and most panelist said the control ice cream had the creamiest/smoothest texture. The experimental ice creams
had a grittier texture than the control ice cream with inulin producing the grittiest ice cream. This concludes
that inulin and maltodextrin are not effective fat replacers to use in ice cream and in producing a creamy
texture.
The sensory evaluation for flavor was varied which could be due to the fact that all of the ice creams were
flavored with vanilla producing the same taste in all samples.
Most panelists did not like the appearance of the maltodextrin sample most likely due to the fact that it did not
produce an opaque color seen in typical ice cream; therefore maltodextrin is not effective as a fat replacer in
producing a similar appearance to the control ice cream. Inulin produced a somewhat acceptable or neutral
appearance.
Overall it can be determined that the fat replacers inulin and maltodextrin are not acceptable fat replacers to use
in ice cream and that they do not produce favorable sensory or physical qualities that are similar to the control
ice cream. According to original research, many fat replacers were successful in producing low fat ice cream
samples with similar physical and sensory properties to control ice cream. However this study used a simplified
recipe with only four ingredients which could have contributed to the unfavorable qualities produced in the
experimental samples. Different ratios of cream to fat replacers may produce more favorable qualities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The effects of fat replacers on ice cream was tested using the fat replacers inulin and
maltodextrin. To do this the heavy cream was replaced with the fat replacer in a 10% cream
and 90% fat replacer ratio. The ice cream mix was made by mixing the milk and heavy cream
together with 236 rotations. The sugar was added and whisked for 236 rotations (about 3
minutes) until it was dissolved and the vanilla extract was stirred in for 10 rotations. The
mixture was chilled in a large bowl filled half way with 50 ice cubes and 750 ml of water for
30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, the mixture was removed from the ice water and covered
with a piece of plastic wrap and refrigerated for 3 hours. Then the mixture was churned in the
LINE SPREAD TEST
Cuisinart ice cream maker for 25 minutes. Prior to churning the 4 quart freezer bowl was PREFERENCE RESULTS
Axis 1 (cm) Axis 2 (cm) Axis 3 (cm) Axis 4 (cm) Average (cm)
placed in the freezer for 24 hours. The process was repeated for all of the samples replacing 512 301 864

the cream with the correct amount of cream to fat replacer ratios. The powder fat replacers LEAST PREFERRED OVERALL
2 4 1
CONTROL
20 cm 20 cm 17 cm 17 cm 18.5 cm
were mixed with water until it made a gel before it would be used. Each ice cream mix MOST PREFERRED OVERALL
0 1 6
produced about 470 ml of ice cream. SECOND PREFERRED OVERALL
INULIN
5 2 0 9 cm 7.5 cm 7.5 cm 7.5 cm 8 cm
Objective testing LEAST PREFERRED TEXTURE
3 4 0
MALTODEXTRIN
To test the viscosity a line spread test was used. After refrigeration, the mixes were placed in MOST PREFERRED TEXTURE
0 0 7
15 cm 18 cm 18 cm 11.5 cm 15.6 cm
the middle of the line spread ring and filled to the top. The ring was removed and the mixture SECOND PREFERRED TEXTURE
4 3 0
was left untouched for one minute and the distance of flow was read at each axis on the
spread test diagram and an average flow in centimeters was obtained.
Subjective testing
Each of the samples were assigned a random 3 digit number- 864 for the control, 512 for the
ice cream made with inulin, and 301 for the ice cream made with maltodextrin. Each sample
Quantities of ingredients
HEAVY FAT REPLACER (%) HEAVY FAT REPLACER (G) MILK SUGAR (G) VANILLA (ML)
REFERENCES
CREAM (%) CREAM (ML) (ML)
was placed in a 3 oz. paper cup labeled with the sample number. Each panelist was given SAMPLE
water to cleanse their palate between tasting each sample. 1. Goff HD, Hartel RW. Chapter 30 Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts. In: Handbook of Frozen Foods .
The sensory evaluation consisted of three sections. The first section was a 5 point hedonic SAMPLE 1: CONTROL 100% 0% 240 mL 0 g 120 mL 96 g 7.4 mL http://www.crcnetbase.com.madonnaezp.liblime.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1201/9780203022009.pt7.
scale that rated the panelist’s preference on texture, appearance, and flavor for each sample. 2. Artz WE, Mahungu SM, Hansen SL. Chapter 17 Fat Replacers: An Overview. In: Lipid Analysis and Lipidomics. ACOS Publishing; 2006:379-
The scale included the following options: like, somewhat like, neither like nor dislike, SAMPLE 2: INULIN 10% 90% 23 mL 213 g 120 mL 96 g 7.4 mL
397.
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panelist to choose the sample that had the creamiest and smoothest texture and the sample SAMPLE 3: MALTODEXTRIN 10% 90% 23 mL 213 g 120 mL 96 g 7.4 mL 4. Aykan V, Sezgin E, Guzel-Seydim ZB. Use of fat replacers in the production of reduced-calorie vanilla ice cream. European Journal of Lipid
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