What is Ice Cream?
Ice cream is defined in New Zealand as a frozen dairy product consisting of not less than 10% milk-fat. If the fat content of the product is less than this or the fat comes from another source such as coconut oil, then the product is called a frozen dessert. Generally the more milk-fat in the icecream the better it is. Most supermarket ice cream is 10% fat while Chateau standard is 12% and some products for export go as high as 16%. All this talk of fat usually gives people a bad impression and icecream does contain about 200 calories per 100g serving, but ice cream is rich in vitamins, particularly A and D, and of course is a good supply of protein, calcium and phosphorus. Check out the products pages for nutritional information.

The History of Ice Cream
It is thought that water ice products (a frozen combination of water, fruit and sugar) originated in Asia.

Marco Polo brought these water ices to Europe in the 13th century. It is also recorded that Alexander the Great was fond of iced beverages in 4 BC and the Roman Emperor Nero, sent slaves into the Apenines to get ice which was flavoured with nectar, fruit pulp and honey in 62 AD.

The Europeans continued to develop these water ice products over the centuries. By the Middle Ages some of these products were thought to contain dairy products (now called milk ices). The Queen of France, Catherine de Medici bought sherbet recipes from her native Italy in 1533.

It was really the Americans in the 1800's who popularised ice cream, ice cream sodas, milkshakes and the like.

At this time ice cream was made using one bowl inside another larger bowl. The large bowl contained salted, crushed ice. The smaller bowl contained the ingredients. The ingredients (cream, sugar, eggs and fruit) would be mixed together and then beaten to whip air in. The mixture would then be allowed to sit and freeze for a while and then it would be whipped again. This process would continue until suitable consistency and texture was achieved.

The first hand cranked ice cream churn was invented by Nancy Johnson in 1846. She did not patent the machine, but Mr Young did in 1848.

The first commercial plant was establish in Baltimore in 1851. The first continuous churn was made by Clarence Vogt in 1926. The first ice cream cone was made in 1896. Other ice cream bars, products on sticks, etc were developed in the 1920's.

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How is Ice Cream Manufactured?
Below is a schematic of an ice cream factory. It consists of four main areas: the raw material store, the mix making department, the production department, and the freezer/despatch area.

The first step in making ice cream is to make the base mix. The basic raw materials include cream, sugar, skim milk powder and stabilisers, but many other ingredients such as cocoa, chocolate, honey, etc can be used. Chateau has over 60 different ingredients that can be used.

These raw materials (1 to 8) are blended together in accordance with a computer generated recipe sheet. This mix is then homogenised (12) at high pressure to improve the dispersion of the ingredients and improve the consistency of the final product. The mix is then pasteurised (11) to ensure that no harmful bacteria are in the ice cream.

At this point the Quality Assurance Dept test the mix for bacteria, fat and total solids. The mix is aged in Aging Tanks (14) at 4 degrees Celsius for a minimum of 4 hours to allow the fats to crystallise and the proteins and stabilisers to bind to water. All of this contributes to consistency of the ice cream.

The mix may then be flavoured and coloured prior to churning into ice cream. Chateau has three continuous ice cream churns (15), which whip a measured amount of air into the mix and freeze the mix/air mixture into a semi-frozen product at -5 degrees.

The ice cream can then have fruit or confectionery sauces or other ingredients added prior to being packed (16 to 19) into the various forms. The ice cream is tested again for bacteria prior to being blast frozen at -35 degrees and stored in our freezer (18) at -25 degrees.

Chateau has over 100 different flavours and food colourings imported from around the world and we use over 100 different ingredients and ripples. There are currently 14 different pack sizes from 100ml to 16 litres.

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Here are two recipes you can try at home:

Vanilla Ice Cream

	2 large eggs
	3/4 cup sugar
	2 cups whipping cream
	1 cup milk
	2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the sugar slowly. Whisk in the cream, milk and vanilla until completely blended.
2. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and churn it until you have a suitable consistancy. If you do not have an ice cream maker, place the mixture in the freezer for ten minutes and bring out and whisk air into the mixture. Repeat this until you have a suitable texture.

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

	60 g unsweetened chocolate
	1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
	1 1/2 cups milk
	2 large eggs
	1 cup sugar
	1 cup of whipping cream
	1 teaspoon vanilla essence
	3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water. Gradually whisk in cocoa, stirring until smooth. Whisk in the milk slowly and heat until completely blended. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the sugar slowly until completely blended. Pour in the cream and vanilla and whisk to blend.
3. Pour the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture and blend. Cover and refrigerate until cold for about 1 to 3 hours.
4. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and churn it until you have a suitable consistancy. Add chocolate chips before the ice cream is too stiff.

Interesting Flavours

Most flavours available in New Zealand are based on fruit or confectionery products or combinations of these. Ice cream can be just flavoured and coloured to obtain the desired result. Colours and flavours can be extracted naturally and manufactured artificially.

Fruit jams and chocolate or caramel sauces can be rippled into the ice cream. Pieces of fruit, nuts or sweets called "inclusions" can be added to the ice cream.

Every country has it's own particular ice cream flavours.

In New Zealand, these might include Hokey Pokey (small pieces of toffee are added), Boysenberry Ripple, Kiwifruit ripple or Gum Drops (small soft jellies).

Some countries have flavours that we might find unusual.

Vegetables are often used. For example:

Vanilla Ice Cream

Vanilla flavoured ice cream is often dismissed as a boring flavour, a non-event. Vanilla ice cream is in fact the most popular ice cream flavour in the world.

Vanilla essense comes from the bean of the vanilla plant, which is a climbing, tropical orchid. It is native to tropical America, but is now mainly cultivated in Madagascar, Mexico, Tahiti and Indonesia.The most commonly used species used is Vanilla Planiflora.

Once the plant is two years old it is capable of producing vanilla beans. The beans take 6 - 9 months to mature. At harvest time the beans are 10 - 25 cm long and 5 - 15 mm in diameter. They are green and have absolutely no vanilla flavour. The timing of harvest is critical to ensure superior flavour in the final product.

The flavour is produced during the curing of the harvested beans. The purpose of the curing is to stop the natural vegetavie processes and accelerate flavour formation. There are many different techiniques from country to country. Basically, some of the enzyme are killed by blanching in hot water. The beans are then alternatively sweated between blankets at night and dried in the sun by day for a few weeks. The beans are then conditioned in a coolroon for 6 - 8 months. During this process the beans loose 80 - 90% of their weight. Vanillin is the main flavouring componant and is formed from a glucoside. The vanillin produced totals about 1 - 3% of the weight of the cured beans or 0.1 - 0.3% of the green beans. The characteristic flavour is a result of the vanillin and another 150 - 200 other flavour componants.

After curing, the beans are graded and sent to flavour manufacturers to be processed. The flavours are extracted by alcoholic solvent extraction. Combinations of different vanilla flavours are used for different purposes. For instance, for superpremium brands, Madagascar Bourbon and Indonesuan Pure Vanilla blends may be used. The higher fat content of superpremium ice cream tends to mask the sweet, creamy, smooth Madagascan flavour.The Indonesian Vanilla, which has a harsher flavour, is used to deliver the intial taste, while the Bourban vanilla carries it through to the back of the mouth.

So as you can see Vanilla ice cream is far from a simple plain flavour.