An Ice Cream Sweetened with a Fructan-Rich Minimally Processed Syrup: Blue Agave Nectar

• Other Authors: Farmer, Tammye E. (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Nutrition; Food; Exercise; Dietetics
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-4822

The consumption of whole foods has shown to offer more synergistic health benefits as compared to foods made with highly processed ingredients. The American food industry has a variety of food products that consist of refined, isolated or artificial ingredients (e.g. bread, beverages, snack foods and others). Although the sensory properties of several products are satisfactory, many consumers desire products made with minimally processed ingredients. The primary goal of the project was to develop a satisfactory alternative ice cream for an existing brand name ice cream using minimally processed sweetener, blue agave nectar, instead of sucrose that is commonly used in the brand name ice cream. The rheological properties for consistency, melting, texture (firmness) and surface appearance (color) were compared between the experimental and the control ice cream formulae. Five sets of data were collected for 2 different batches (10 data sets) of both formulae. The paired results indicated no significant difference in the melting rate (p = .25) between the experimental (16.15 ± 2.75) and controlled formulae (17.55 ± 1.28). The average rate of flow (consistency) was also similar (p = .95) between the experimental (4.48 ± 0.92) and the controlled (4.50 ± 0.65). However, there was a significant difference (p = .001) in the exertion of force. The experimental samples averaged to be softer in texture with a Mean force of 0.30 (± 0.16) as compared to the control samples (0.63 ± 0.20) with distance and time being constant. Also, the experimental samples, on an average, were more yellow (Y glossy = 1.09) than the control (Y glossy = 0.96) as determined by the reflectometer readings. Based on the rheological tests, the experimental ice cream appears to be of comparable quality to that of the same qualities of the control. Overall, the experimental ice cream may provide an acceptable alternative to the ice cream sweetened with sucrose. However, a human sensory analysis should be conducted to determine the overall desirability of the product. KEY WORDS: Ice cream, texture, color, rheological properties, agave === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science. === Fall Semester, 2011. === November 3, 2011. === agave, color, ice cream, rheological properties, texture === Includes bibliographical references. === Shridhar K. Sathe, Professor Directing Thesis; Penny A. Ralston, Committee Member; Doris Abood, Committee Member.