Producing ice cream using a substantial amount of juice from kiwifruit with green, gold or red flesh

Ice cream prepared using a substantial amount of juice from kiwifruit with green, gold or red flesh may have consumer appeal, through the combination of kiwifruit's unique color, natural flavor and health-promoting constituents. The aqueous fractions from purees of kiwifruit with green, gold and red flesh (AFKWs) were added at 49% v/v to a basic low-fat ice cream mix that contained no commercial flavoring and coloring agents. The resultant ice creams were subjected to comparative product evaluation (e.g. overrun, melting behavior and rheological properties) and chemical analyses of bioactives (e.g. total extractable polyphenol content (TEPC), vitamin C, antioxidant capacity, polyphenol (PP) and carotenoid composition). Results revealed that both the pH pre-adjustment and pre-heating of the AFKW played critical roles in ice cream making. The ice creams retained the PP and vitamin C contents as well as natural color flavor of the kiwifruit used. The rheological properties of all ice creams showed non-Newtonian flow behavior, and the storage modulus G′ decreased in the same pattern following the order of green > gold > red. The melting rate, overrun and vitamin C content of the ice cream with green AFKW were the fastest, lowest and least, respectively. The TEPC and antioxidant capacity in the ice cream with red AFKW were the highest. The amounts of PPs and vitamin C were encouragingly high. Health beneficial compounds, dimethyl-caffeic acid hexoside, caffeic acid derivatives, protocatechuic acid, syringic acid, salicylic acid/ο-coumaric acid, lutein and beta-carotene, were detected in the final products. Thus, there are commercial possibilities for using AFKW which should be further evaluated.

Research highlights► Ice cream is prepared using a substantial amount of juice from different kiwifruits. ► The ice creams made from green, gold or red fleshed kiwifruit had an overrun > 90%. ► The ice creams had kiwifruit's natural colors, vitamin C, phenolics and carotenoids.