When frozen foods, such as ice cream and frozen desserts, undergo ice recrystallization over time, they develop a gritty and icy texture. This recrystallization occurs with and without the temperature fluctuations. Currently, several polysaccharide gums, such as guar gum and locust bean gum, are used as stabilizers in ice cream to stabilize the product structure and improve its texture by inhibiting the ice recrystallization. Guar gum and locust bean gum are getting increasingly expensive. For example, the price of LBG has increased sixfold since 2020.
Researchers at the University of Tennessee have developed hemicelluloses derived from corn cobs to replace polysaccharide gums as a stabilizer in ice cream. Hemicelluloses have excellent IRI activity and produce ice cream with desired physicochemical properties. However, most ice cream producers do not produce their own stabilizers and prefer to go through a third party.
Ice cream mixes containing no stabilizer (a), 0.2% guar gum (b), and 0.2% hemicelluloses (c) after 7 days of incubation at -8˚C.
Ice growth kinetics of ice cream mixes containing no stabilizer, 0.2% guar gum, and 0.2% hemicelluloses during 7 days of incubation at -8˚C.
• Demonstrated excellent IRI activity at a concentration of 0.2% w/w.
• Easily available.
Dr. Tao Wu Associate Professor, Department of Food Sciences
Dr. Wu received his PhD in Food Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2007. His research focuses primarily on food carbohydrate chemistry. Recently, he has been working extensively on anti-freeze carbohydrates that can modulate the nucleation, growth, and recrystallization of ice crystals.