Artisanal Italian ice cream (called gelato) is one of the most appreciated
Italian food specialties. Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids represent the most used
emulsifiers for gelato but the demand for “clean label” products containing lower
amount or no additives or stabilizers is continuously increasing among consumers. In
this work, the impact of three phospholipid emulsifiers (soy, milk and rice phospholipids)
was evaluated on physicochemical, thermal and flavour characteristics of a basic
Italian gelato formulation in comparison to those of mono- and diglycerides of fatty
acids, used as control. Control sample showed the highest overrun and unfreezable
water values but also the lowest fat destabilization percentages. On the contrary,
gelato added with soy phospholipids exhibited the greatest resistance to melt and
high fat destabilization ratio being also harder than the others. Sample with rice
phospholipids revealed a richer volatile profile with herbal and green notes. The
lowest performances were displayed from gelato where milk phospholipids were
added as emulsifier as this sample showed higher mix viscosity, green colour notes,
lower overrun, hardness and stickiness values. During a 4-week storage in a
domestic freezer, all samples hardened and became more yellow, showing a decrease
of volatiles except for samples with rice phospholipids added. These findings may
encourage further research on the use of soy and rice phospholipids as emulsifiers to
improve their performances in gelato making, by testing their use alone or in
combination at different levels.
Keywords Italian gelato . Emulsifiers . Physical properties .