Lubrication of ice cream: Effect of different structural elements

Abstract

The lubrication properties of food are considered to be closely related to complex sensorial attributes such as creaminess and mouthcoating. In ice cream, these properties can be presumed to be partly linked to the product's melting. It is still unclear how to measure the lubrication properties of ice cream during the melting process and which ice cream characteristics affect lubrication. In this study, a new method was developed to measure the lubrication properties of ice cream both during melting and in a molten state. Different structural elements, including fat content, ice fraction, fat aggregation, viscosity and overrun, were modified to identify the main factors influencing lubrication. Representative tribological parameters were extracted from the tribological curves and were related to ice cream characteristics. Using a tribometer with adjustable probe height, lubrication properties throughout the entire melting process could be measured. The results showed that lubrication behavior of ice cream were mainly positively influenced by the ice fraction and overrun, while the fat content mainly affected the lubrication behavior of molten ice cream. Fat aggregation and serum phase viscosity did not appear to have a significant effect on the lubrication properties during melting. In addition, the penetration distance of the probe into the ice cream samples was measured during the melting process, providing an alternative method to characterize the melting profile of ice cream. This distance was related to changes in the hardness, which were mostly influenced by the ice fraction and overrun. This study indicates that different structural features determine the lubrication properties of ice cream in different melting regimes, and the proposed methodology may provide new possibilities for measuring melting behavior or hardness during the melting process.