Organogels as novel ingredients for low saturated fat ice creams

•Organogels and milk cream led to ice cream mix with similar density and viscosity.•Organogels produced ice cream with better overrun and melting starting time.•Fat amount affected sample density, soluble solids, overrun and melting rate.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of sunflower oil organogels made with phytosterols and γ-oryzanol as milk cream substitutes in artisanal ice creams. Fat amount (4 and 8 g/100 g) and type (milk cream, sunflower oil, and organogels containing two levels of gelators) were considered as factors. The higher fat amount significantly decreased density (1.08 ± 0.01 g/mL vs 1.10 ± 0.01 g/mL) and soluble solid content (27.2 ± 0.3 °Bx vs 30.1 ± 0.3 °Bx) of mixes, as well as ice cream overrun (31.1 ± 0.6% vs 37.3 ± 0.6%) and melting rate (2.5 ± 0.1 g/min vs 2.9 ± 0.1 g/min). The use of organogels with the highest gelator concentration yielded ice creams with quality characteristics comparable to those of the samples containing milk cream, and even better overrun (42.4 ± 0.8% vs 37.1 ± 0.8%) and melting starting time (20 ± 1 min vs 16 ± 1 min). Thus, the application of organogels in artisanal ice creams is a successful approach in order to obtain “low saturated fat” products (saturated fat < 0.9 g/100 g) “with added plant sterols and stanols” intended for people who want to lower their blood cholesterol level.

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