Classification

The classification of ice cream may be based on commercial terms commonly agreed upon or on regulatory requirements, or on flavour labeling standards

i. Classification according to commercial grouping of ice cream and related products

Plain ice cream : It is made from various dairy products to obtain a composition which ranges widely. Here, the total amount of colour and flavouring ingredients are less than 5% of the volume of the unfrozen ice cream, for example, vanilla, coffee,caramel and caramel ice cream.

Chocolate ice cream : Ice cream flavoured with cocoa or chocolate.

Fruit ice cream : Fruit ice cream is made by adding various fruits at the time of freezing with or without additional fruit flavouring or colour. The fruit, such as pineapple, apricot, strawberry, etc. may be fresh, frozen, canned or preserved.

Nut ice cream: Nut ice cream is made from the same mixes as plain ice cream with the addition of various nuts such as almonds, pistachio or walnuts etc. with or without additional flavouring or colour. Generally nuts are used in conjunction with flavours mentioned under plain ice cream e.g. pistachio nuts are generally used in connection with mint flavour.

Frozen custard - French ice cream, French Custard ice cream : One or more of the optional egg ingredients permitted are used in such a quantity that the total weight of egg yolk solids content is not less than 1.4% of the weight of the finished frozen custard or less than 1.2% for bulky flavoured products.

Confection: Ice cream with appropriate flavouring and particles of candy such as peppermint stick, butter crunch, chocolate chip.

Bisque: Ice cream with appropriate flavouring and particles of grapenuts,macaroons, ginger snaps, sponge cake, or other bakery products.

Puddings: Ice cream containing a generous amount of mixed fruits, nut meats, and raisins, with or without liquor, spices or eggs e.g. plum puddings.

Mousse: Mousse is made from whipped cream. Sugar, colour, fruits and flavouring extract are generally stirred into the “whipped cream”. The mixture is then set into the hardening room or in a freezing mixture of ice and salt before freezing if required.Sometimes condensed milk is added to give it a better consistency.

Variegated ice cream: A plain vanilla ice cream combined with a syrup such as chocolate, butterscotch, etc., so as to produce a marble effect in the hardened ice cream.

Fanciful name ice cream : These products do not contain a single flavour, but the flavour is due to a mixture of several flavouring ingredients.

Neapolitan: Two or more distinct flavours in the same packages or in a brick form.

Ice milk or Milk ice: An ice cream like product with a lower fat content, it usually contains 2-7% fat, 12-15% MSNF and is sweetened, flavoured and frozen like ice cream.

Ices: Ices are made from fruit juices, sugar and stabilizer, with or without additional colour, flavouring, or water and frozen to the consistency of ice cream. It usually contains 28-30% sugar, 20-25% overrun and no dairy products.

Sherbets: Sherbets are made from the same ingredients as ices with the exception that milk, cream, or ice cream mix is used in place of part or all of the water used to dilute the fruit juice in ices. In order to prevent the curdling of casein in the milk products used in sherbets acid fruit juices and citric acid are not added until the rest of the mixture has been frozen almost to the proper consistency. A sherbet made with the use of sour milk is known as “Lacto”. A sherbet containing egg yolk or whole eggs is known as “Souffle”.

Soft serve ice cream: Also known as “softy ice cream”. These products are sold as drawn from the freezer without hardening. The term “softy” has been applied largely because these products are marketed in the soft form and are ready for consumption shortly after they are drawn from the freezer.

Novelties: These constitute quiescently frozen dairy confections and frozen confections. Novelty items have different shapes, sizes, and colours. Some novelty items are Eskimo pies and candy or chocolate coated ice cream bars with or without sticks; ice cream sandwiches, slabs of ice cream pressed between biscuits or cookies and wrapped in wax paper and hardened; fudge and other ice-like mixture frozen on sticks.

Frappe: An ice, made from a mixture of fruit juices and frozen to a slushy consistency is served as a drink.

Granite: Water ice frozen with very little agitation.

Frozen Yoghurt: Prepared from mix which is cultured with Yoghurt bacteria. Fruits,nuts, and other flavouring materials are added before or after the mix is pasteurized and cultured.

Fruit salad: A mixture of whipped cream and large pieces of fruits are frozen and served as a salad. Mayonnaise may be added if desired.

Fancy moulded ice cream: Includes ice creams, ices, and sherbets moulded in fancy shapes and composed either of one colour and flavour of ice cream or a combination of colours and flavours, or specially decorated.

This group includes: a. Brick ice cream in two or more layers, or with fancy centres;b. Cake pies, log rolls; c. Cake roll: ice cream on a moist cake, rolled like a jelly roll; d. Moulds representing fruits, flowers, animals and other objects and designs, and e. Aufait: Two or more layers of ice cream with pectinized fruits spread thinly between the layers; or the fruits may be stirred gently into the ice cream as it comes from the freezer to give a marbled appearance.

Mellorine type products: It is similar to ice cream, except that the butterfat has been replaced by a suitable vegetable or animal fat.

Artificially sweetened frozen dairy products: These products are made by replacing sweeteners with non sugar, non nutritive artificial sweeteners.

Non Dairy Frozen Dessert – Paravine type products: These do not have any dairy ingredients. The composition may be similar to that for oce crea,/

ii. Classification According to Labeling Requirements:

The International Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers (IAICM) has grouped ice cream and related products into three categories, depending on the nature of the flavours as follows:

Category 1: Those which contain no artificial flavour.

Category 2: Those which contain both natural and artificial flavour and in which the natural flavour predominate.

Category 3: Those which are flavoured exclusively with artificial flavour or with a combination of natural and artificial flavour in which the artificial flavour predominates.

The IAICM presented a further grouping of products in determining predominance of flavour as follows: (i) Vanilla; (ii) Fruit; (a) citrus, (b) berry and cherry, (c) other fruits; (iii) Nuts, (iv) Two or more distant flavours in the same package; (v) Neapolitan; (vi) Fanciful name ice cream; (vii) Variegated product; (viii) Cherry Vanilla, and (ix) Confectionery.

The standards provide that ice cream may be flavoured with any one of the nice classes of optional flavouring ingredients specified for the above grouping of products.These grouping is necessary to provide information necessary to meet flavour-labeling standards.

iii. Regulatory type of classification

The legal specifications for ice cream usually include the (i) minimum percentage of fat, (2) a minimum weight per liter and (3) a maximum percentage of stabilizer. In addition, one or more of the following may also be included such as: a minimum perentage of milk solids, a minimum weight of food solids per liter, a minimum percentage of total solids, a minimum percentage of MSNF. In fruit and nut ice cream, a reduction is usually allowed in the fat and milk solids. So classification based on methods of processing, kind of ingredients used or the shape of the product is not much useful from the legal point of view. Classification of frozen dairy foods based upon the concentration of certain constituents is given in Table  below

                                                          Classification of Frozen Dairy Products based upon

concentration of certain constituents