Study on the Influence of Ultrasound Homogenisation on the Physical Properties of Vegan Ice Cream Mixes

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of ultrasound homogenisation on the physical properties of vegan ice cream mixes. Samples were prepared based on vegan recipes with different sorts of stabilisers such as iota carrageenan and iota carrageenan’s acid and enzymatic hydrolysates. Ice cream mixes were compared for stability, particle size distribution, rheological properties and morphological structure. All mentioned analyses were conducted before and after 24 h of maturation at 4 °C. It was found that the ultrasound treatment decreased the size of particles and, in conjunction with the maturation stage, a significant reduction was visible (the lowest value was at 9.76 µm). The addition of the hydrolysates of iota carrageenan had a considerably better effect in reducing the size of particles than iota carrageenan. The range of TSI values was from 1.7 to 4.2. Additionally, two sorts of destabilisation occurred: sedimentation and coalescence, during the maturation of ice cream mixes, which was also visible in the images. According to the rheological properties, ice cream mixes, with the addition of stabilisers, showed non-Newtonian shear-thinning (pseudoplastic) behaviour. Moreover, the effect of ultrasound treatment on the consistency index was only pivotal for ice cream mixes with an addition of iota carrageenan and with enzymatic β-galactosidase hydrolysates of iota carrageenan.