Interesting info about the xylitol cooling things down.
Xylitol has an endothermic heat of solution; that is, it requires heat in order to dissolve, so it cools things down by a degree or two when it dissolves in them. So does Erythritol.
Have you tried using Stevia at all?
Not in my ice-cream making, no, though I have used it in my coffee. 8-)
The reason I'm using Xylitol and Erythritol in my ice-cream making is because of chemistry, not taste. What most people don't realize is that sugar (sucrose) has two roles in ice-cream making, and only one of them is sweetening. The other role is lower the freezing-temperature of the mixture. Other things that lower the freezing-temperature in classic ice-creams and sorbets are fat (in the cream) and alcohol. Of the three, alcohol affects the mixture the most, hence most recipes with alcohol only have a few tablespoons, while with sugar it tends to be a cup or more of sugar (which is why they tend to have a cup of sugar and then add lemon juice to cut the sweetness). Xylitol and Erythritol are in the class of molecules known as "sugar alcohols" and they also have an effect on the freezing temperature of the mixture. They have a stronger effect than sugar does, so I don't need to add as much of them as I would if I were using sugar.
Splenda (sucralose + maltodextrin) and Stevia, on the other hand, have no effect on the freezing temperature of the mixture, so when I use them, I use them purely for their sweetness. The reason I'm considering using Splenda next time is to try to improve the flavour, since the flavour was odd this time, and I'm hoping that the Splenda will be able to mask the flavour of the Xylitol. Xylitol has a sort of menthol-y aftertaste, which is fine in small quantities but seemingly not so good when in larger quantities as used in my ice-cream. In my experience, Stevia has a slight bitter aftertaste - only a slight one, it's a lot better than Saccharine in that regard - but Splenda has no aftertaste at all, so I like it better.
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Xylitol has an endothermic heat of solution; that is, it requires heat in order to dissolve, so it cools things down by a degree or two when it dissolves in them. So does Erythritol.
Have you tried using Stevia at all?
Not in my ice-cream making, no, though I have used it in my coffee. 8-)
The reason I'm using Xylitol and Erythritol in my ice-cream making is because of chemistry, not taste. What most people don't realize is that sugar (sucrose) has two roles in ice-cream making, and only one of them is sweetening. The other role is lower the freezing-temperature of the mixture. Other things that lower the freezing-temperature in classic ice-creams and sorbets are fat (in the cream) and alcohol. Of the three, alcohol affects the mixture the most, hence most recipes with alcohol only have a few tablespoons, while with sugar it tends to be a cup or more of sugar (which is why they tend to have a cup of sugar and then add lemon juice to cut the sweetness). Xylitol and Erythritol are in the class of molecules known as "sugar alcohols" and they also have an effect on the freezing temperature of the mixture. They have a stronger effect than sugar does, so I don't need to add as much of them as I would if I were using sugar.
Splenda (sucralose + maltodextrin) and Stevia, on the other hand, have no effect on the freezing temperature of the mixture, so when I use them, I use them purely for their sweetness. The reason I'm considering using Splenda next time is to try to improve the flavour, since the flavour was odd this time, and I'm hoping that the Splenda will be able to mask the flavour of the Xylitol. Xylitol has a sort of menthol-y aftertaste, which is fine in small quantities but seemingly not so good when in larger quantities as used in my ice-cream.
In my experience, Stevia has a slight bitter aftertaste - only a slight one, it's a lot better than Saccharine in that regard - but Splenda has no aftertaste at all, so I like it better.