Ultimate Frozen Dessert Guide
Many people don't know the difference between all types of Frozen desserts. Here is the ultimate frozen dessert guide showcasing each dessert and their unique properties.
Ice Cream - The most well known and common dessert on this list. Ice cream is the Frozen dessert with the most milk fat content. The minimal amount of milk fat for it to be ice cream is 10%. Many ice creams go up to 25% and more for extremely creamy constituencies. Sometimes minimal amounts of egg yolk is found in hard ice cream ingredients because it helps the overall consistency. The room for flavoring and toppings is very wide because of how versatile ice cream is, whether in hard or soft serve form. You can use fruity flavors like mixed berry or rich savory flavors like salted caramel. Anything will work!
Frozen Yogurt - Frozen Yogurt or Froyo is usually recognized as the more healthier option compared to Ice Cream because of the lowered fat content. Frozen Yogurt does not use cream and usually has a more tart flavor to set it apart from the other options. Much like ice cream, the possibilities for flavoring and toppings are endless.
Gelato - Originating In Italy, real gelato is made from the finest quality Italian ingredients, but there are alternatives to make it easier to produce. There is no minimum requirements for milk fat content which sets it apart from ice cream. It also has a very dense texture compared to frozen yogurt or ice cream and is recommended to be served slightly warmer than ice cream because it can get too hard when very frozen. Usually Gelato is complimented with fruit flavors like lemon or nutty flavors such as biscotti or pistachio. Typically, Gelato is more enjoyed by older consumers, where as ice cream is more popular with kids.
Sorbet - A complete non-dairy, vegan frozen dessert. Sorbet is made from only fruit and sugar. A lot of the time purees and juice are used to make sorbet in an ice cream churner. Although not creamy, it is incredibly refreshing and a great alternative to people sensitive to dairy. The lowest fat content out of all the frozen desserts. Below is a picture of soft serve Sorbet topped with fruits and nuts.
Sherbert - Almost exactly the same as sorbet, the only difference being dairy is in the product. This gives it a slightly better consistency, but takes away that refreshing factor that Sorbet has. Sherbert and sorbet are both meant for fruit flavors and do not work with savory flavors like vanilla, chocolate, caramel etc.
Frozen Custard - The most creamy out of the bunch, Frozen Custard is made from the exact ingredients as ice cream, but the main difference being the egg yolk ratios are different. What gives Frozen Custard its creamy, thick texture is the amount of egg yolk added in compared to other frozen desserts. Much like Ice Cream and Froyo, Frozen Custard is very versatile in the flavoring department and works well with sweet fruit flavors or calming flavors like butterscotch or caramel. Below is some pictures of old fashioned vanilla and chocolate frozen custards.
Check out our Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt mixes here: Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt
Check out our sorbet mix here: Sorbet/Gelato/Sherbert Mix
