Kathryn A. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kerravonsen) wrote2008-10-11 11:24 pm
kerravonsen) wrote2008-10-11 11:24 pm
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To Cream the Impossible Cream
I have continued my pursuit of the sugar-free sorbet. I have googled, I have perused disputes about the nature of Sucralose and the physical chemistry of ice-cream making, and I have discovered the secret...
The thing about ice-cream is that it needs to be a mix of water that will freeze and some other substance that won't freeze. It's the not-freezing bit that makes it creamy, otherwise one has just got flavoured crushed ice. This page has helpful tips about the substances that work: fat (the classic, from cream), sugar (sucrose), alcohol and gelatin. Now, this thread discussed whether one could use Splenda in ice-cream making rather than sucrose, and one of the posters pointed out that, no, it won't work because, while sucralose will deal with the sweetness, it doesn't have the non-freezing properties of sucrose.
That's when it occurred to me. What about Xylitol? Xylitol is a sugar alcohol with the same level of sweetness as sucrose, but 60% of the calories, with a low GI. And if it is chemically an alcohol, then perhaps it has similar non-freezing properties as ethanol alcohol.
Experiment #5: Green Tea Chai sorbet with Xylitol
Recipe: 2 1/2 cups water, 7 Chai Green Tea bags, 1 cup Xylitol
Result: semi-success! It failed in the opposite direction, to wit, it went all creamy and didn't freeze enough. I ended up with a sort of semi-frozen slush. It was also too sweet and the flavour was too strong. Obviously I had too little water and too much tea and too much Xylitol.
Lesson: Do Not Put Too Much Xylitol in the mix.
I shall try again with less Xylitol.
The thing about ice-cream is that it needs to be a mix of water that will freeze and some other substance that won't freeze. It's the not-freezing bit that makes it creamy, otherwise one has just got flavoured crushed ice. This page has helpful tips about the substances that work: fat (the classic, from cream), sugar (sucrose), alcohol and gelatin. Now, this thread discussed whether one could use Splenda in ice-cream making rather than sucrose, and one of the posters pointed out that, no, it won't work because, while sucralose will deal with the sweetness, it doesn't have the non-freezing properties of sucrose.
That's when it occurred to me. What about Xylitol? Xylitol is a sugar alcohol with the same level of sweetness as sucrose, but 60% of the calories, with a low GI. And if it is chemically an alcohol, then perhaps it has similar non-freezing properties as ethanol alcohol.
Experiment #5: Green Tea Chai sorbet with Xylitol
Recipe: 2 1/2 cups water, 7 Chai Green Tea bags, 1 cup Xylitol
Result: semi-success! It failed in the opposite direction, to wit, it went all creamy and didn't freeze enough. I ended up with a sort of semi-frozen slush. It was also too sweet and the flavour was too strong. Obviously I had too little water and too much tea and too much Xylitol.
Lesson: Do Not Put Too Much Xylitol in the mix.
I shall try again with less Xylitol.