Properties of frozen dairy desserts processed by microfluidization of their mixes

Sensory properties and rate of meltdown of nonfat (0% fat) and low-fat (2% fat) vanilla ice creams processed either by conventional valve homogenization or microfluidization of their mixes were compared with each other and to ice cream (10% fat) processed by conventional valve homogenization. Mixes for frozen dairy desserts containing 0, 2, and 10% fat were manufactured. Some of the nonfat and low-fat ice cream mixes were processed by microfluidization at 50, 100, 150, and 200 MPa, and the remaining nonfat and low-fat ice cream mixes and all of the ice cream mix were processed by conventional valve homogenization at 13.8 MPa, first stage, and 3.4 MPa, second stage. The finished frozen and hardened products were evaluated at d 1 and 45 for meltdown rate and for flavor and body and texture by preference testing. Nonfat and low-fat ice creams that usually had a slower meltdown were produced when processing their mixes by microfluidization instead of by conventional valve homogenization. Sensory scores for the ice cream were significantly higher than sensory scores for the nonfat and low-fat ice creams, but the sensory scores for the conventional valve homogenized controls for the nonfat ice cream and low-fat ice cream were not significantly different from the sensory scores for the nonfat ice cream and low-fat ice cream processed by microfluidization of the mixes, respectively. Microfluidization produced nonfat and low-fat ice creams that usually had a slower meltdown without affecting sensory properties.