Freezer pop technology

[tashirosgt]

To make homemade freezer pops, it would nice to add some ingredient that would keep them from freezing rock hard. I notice that commercial freezer pops have ingredients that seem to keep them from freezing as hard as the type of pop you make by freezing just Koolaid and sugar. What are some edible additives that would make a freezer pop slushy instead of hard?

[Nowhere Man]

The Fla-Vor-Ice ingredients list:

WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, FRUIT JUICE (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: APPLE, GRAPE OR PEAR JUICE FROM CONCENTRATE), CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF THE FOLLOWING: CITRIC AND/OR FUMARIC ACID, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, SODIUM BENZOATE AND POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVES), RED 40, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, BLUE 1

Looks like it's not just sugar but the type of sugar, and some fruit juice. Maybe the acids.

Fred

[Solfe]

Wine... any kind of alcohol perhaps.

Nowhere Man is likely right, the juices and acids may be the actually cause of the softer texture. I wonder if pureeing fruits and adding that to the Kool Aid mix would soften things up.

[PetersCreek]

Wine... any kind of alcohol perhaps.

That certainly works for my homemade ice cream, like bourbon butter pecan and dark chocolate with amaretto. It doesn't freeze as hard and the crystals are smaller, so it's smoother and easier to scoop.

[Jens]

The only homemade freezer pops I've ever had were made from just fruit juice with nothing added. And they have a soft texture. Personally I think they taste better than Kool Aid too.

[Ara Pacis]

There may also be enzymes in the fruit juice that keep it from freezing solid.

[tashirosgt]

I like the the "Fun Pops" by Alamance Foods Inc. I taste no fruit pulp in them. The ingredients are:
Water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acit, natural and artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, vegetable gums, less than 1/20 of 1% of benzoate of soad & potassium sorbate as preservative. The dont' freeze quite as hard as solid ice.

Alcohol is an interesting idea, but I doubt I'd prefer that taste. I don't drink mixed drinks.

Perhaps whipping air into the liquid would make it freeze slushy or doing that plus adding some ingredient that would inhibit the bubbles from breakiig up before he mixture froze.

Adding fruit pulp might work and I supose if I'm going to get the blender dirty, I might as well try that too.

[Swift]

That certainly works for my homemade ice cream, like bourbon butter pecan and dark chocolate with amaretto.

<drool> Between the sausages and the ice cream, I want to go to Brett's house for dinner.

[Swift]

Perhaps whipping air into the liquid would make it freeze slushy or doing that plus adding some ingredient that would inhibit the bubbles from breakiig up before he mixture froze.

I was thinking that too. Some sort of mechanical processing to keep it slushy. Maybe they freeze the mixture while mixing it or blowing air into it and then, when almost set, pump the slushy mix into forms for the final forming into the "pop" shape.

[HenrikOlsen]

Whipping/churning ice cream during freezing is one of the classical ways of preventing large crystals from developing, rapid cooling has a similar effect.

The time it gets really hard is if it cools down slowly while standing still.

[Squink]

Final texture is all about the crystal structure of the ice after freezing. Most non-ionic osmolytes, such as honey, corn syrup, carbohydrates etc. will interfere with the formation of large crystals. Osmolytes tend to be excluded from crystals, so you end up with lots of tiny crystals surrounded by amorphously solid regions of high osmolyte concentration. The resulting structure resembles fudge more than an ice cube. Best effect is obtained with a mixture of osmolytes. That chemical diversity inhibits crystallization of the additive itself.

[John Jaksich]

Final texture is all about the crystal structure of the ice after freezing. Most non-ionic osmolytes, such as honey, corn syrup, carbohydrates etc. will interfere with the formation of large crystals. Osmolytes tend to be excluded from crystals, so you end up with lots of tiny crystals surrounded by amorphously solid regions of high osmolyte concentration. The resulting structure resembles fudge more than an ice cube. Best effect is obtained with a mixture of osmolytes. That chemical diversity inhibits crystallization of the additive itself.

I would add; this simply means to break up the hydrogen bonding of ice---increasing the separation of the hydrogen bonds will increase the likelihood of forming a softer "crystal structure"

[Nowhere Man]

I like the the "Fun Pops" by Alamance Foods Inc. ... The ingredients are:
Water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, vegetable gums, less than 1/20 of 1% of benzoate of soda & potassium sorbate as preservative.

Vegetable gums -- That's something that could improve the frozen texture.

The thing about freezer pops is that they are liquid until you take them home and freeze them. There's no chance to whip air into them.

Fred

[tashirosgt]

Final texture is all about the crystal structure of the ice after freezing. Most non-ionic osmolytes, such as honey, corn syrup, carbohydrates etc. will interfere with the formation of large crystals.

I verifed this in a few experiments. I used Koolaid at double strength ( 1 pack to 1 qt of bottled water insead of 2 qts). I tried adding handfuls of various things to this mix: corn starch, pitted cherries, strawberries etc. I used sugar in the same weight-to-weight ratio as in "Fun pops" (13 g sugar per 85 g total pop). Mix in a blender while the water is at room temperature. Refrigerate it for a few hours. Froth it up in the blender again. Pour it in ice cube trays and put them in the freezer. The resulting frozen cubes are even softer than "Fun Pops".

[Ivan Viehoff]

There is considerable science to making frozen desserts, which depends upon the ratio of different ingredient types, mechanical processing, and freezing technology. The book "Ice Creams, Sorbets and Gelati: The Definitive Guide", by C & R Weir, sets out the basic facts, including tables of ratios. It doesn't cover the "molecular gastronomists" methods using liquid nitrogen.

Commercial soft scoop ice creams contain large quantities of air finely incorporated into the structure, which is very difficult to replicate in the home. Getting home made stuff to remain soft in the freezer for other than a short period is very difficult.