Browsing by Author "Ylitalo, Anna"

People are eating a lot of ice cream all over the world and new products must be developed to create new options for consumers. Unilever, for whom this thesis has been made, is interested in developing new ice cream structures. The objective of the thesis was to explore different possibilities of ice cream structures and create two new interesting structures to the ice cream market; one with long, stretchy and chewy texture and one with high overrun (HOR) and light mouthfeel. The idea was to change the amounts, types and mixes of emulsifiers and stabilizers from the recipe. Additionally, process parameters, homogenisation and overrun, were changed from the current values. Hence, the purpose was to influence the size and amount of air bubbles and fat globules. The study was conducted at Unilever Sipoo, Ingman ice cream factory at their pilot plant. In the experimental part of the study, various versions of new ice cream structures were tested and compared to the reference product. After sensory analysis, it was decided to proceed with three versions of the HOR structure and two versions of the stretchy structure. At the end there were five versions of two new structures produced and analyzed with various tests. The analytical methods suitable and available for this study were viscosity measurement, shelf-life test, chemical test and melting test. Furthermore, there were small sensory analysis done during the study and comprehensive, final sensory analysis was done at the end of the study, for the final products. In conclusion, both of the new structures succeeded well. The “HOR E NAS 4” proved to be the best version of the structures. The melting profile of “HOR E NAS 4” ice cream corresponded the reference product. The results of the shelf-life test were positive: all the new structures survived better than the reference product. Sensory evaluation showed that the structures differed statistically significantly from each other and especially from the traditional ice cream, which was the aim of the study. The “HOR E NAS 4 “ was evaluated to be more firm and not so creamy as the reference product, which have to take in consideration in further investigations. “HOR E NAS 4” will be published on the ice cream market next year, as a new product.