Formulate Indulgent and Delicious No Added Sugars Ice Cream

Summer starts, that time of the year to enjoy the heat of the sun, the smell of the sea, and of course, eat appetizing ice cream. Every season has its defining food. In summer, it is a refreshing and indulgent treat, and nothing fits that definition better than a luscious and sweet ice cream.

Discover how a no added sugars and calorie-reduced ice cream can taste yummy. 

Consumers want to make healthier food choices but also to continue indulging.

Nowadays, we are more aware about well-being; we want to stay healthy and eat properly to nourish our bodies but at the same time have some pleasure. That’s a reason why ice creams started to shift towards a healthier approach, to bring permissible indulgence to the category, and it is expected to continue growing in 2022 and onwards¹.

Digestive health has become a top matter of interest for consumers too, as it can benefit us in different ways, being linked with immune health, as well as brain health. Probiotic and prebiotic ingredients are well considered for coping with stress and for improving our mood, which is why gut health and wellness are now a priority for 8 in 10 consumers².

Continuing with the healthier food topic, better for you and fortified/functional became mainstream in indulgent food categories making them more permissible¹. And it is apparent in the most used passive health claims, in which we can find no added sugars among the top 10 and ranking with the highest growth (23.74% CAGR dairy and non-dairy ice cream EMEA 2019-2021), and low/no/reduced in fat which has been the 7th most used passive health claim of the last three years³.  

Which ingredients make it possible to formulate ice cream following consumer preferences?

Maltitol is a polyol, which are substances that have always existed in nature, appearing in small amounts in fruits (apples, strawberries, plums) or vegetables (cauliflower, eggplant, endive). It has 90% of the sweetness of sugar but fewer calories: 2.4 kcal/g. Maltitol is one of the most similar polyols to sugar and the best tolerated. 

Roquette’s SweetPearl® maltitol powder is produced from naturally occurring raw materials in wheat and corn, both renewable resources. It is naturally sweet, intensifies flavor and improves nutritional value without having to make major changes in recipes or manufacturing processes. It provides a variety of functional properties including oral health, blood glucose management, sweetness and calorie reduction. In ice cream applications, it impacts the freezing point similarly to sucrose. SweetPearl® maltitol presents a wide range of different particle sizes available to ensure you obtain the desired result. It is an excellent option to help you formulate permissible indulgent delicious food.

For those interested in a fiber boost, NUTRIOSE® soluble fiber is here to help. It is a naturally plant-based ingredient obtained from corn or wheat. Our fabulous soluble fiber has high digestible tolerance that will allow you to increase prebiotic content in your formulation, while offering other benefits, as it is stable to process conditions, with good solubility and a neutral taste. So it is a great way to support digestive health in your product without compromising processability.

Roquette also offers GLUCIDEX®, a large range of maltodextrins and dried glucose syrups. Low DE maltodextrins are plant-based texturizers that can provide gelling, chewiness, and fat and calorie reduction in different food applications. It provides an excellent mouthfeel and appearance thanks to its neutral taste and can be used to replace fats with no compromise on the sensory profile. At Roquette, our expertise can provide you with a wide range of products from which you will find the perfect ingredient depending on the particle size or physicochemical properties you need for your application. 

Are you a food formulator?

We have an online platform specially created for you. Visit our Roquette Food Innovation Hub to get all the technical and scientific data on our plant-based ingredients, including innovative and wonderful recipes with SweetPearl® maltitol and NUTRIOSE® soluble fiber. 

Testimony: how to formulate a no added sugars, calorie-reduced incredibly tasty and creamy ice cream.

Elsa Muller, Customer Technical Services at Roquette

“If you’re wondering how to make an indulgent ice cream with a healthier approach, let us help you,” explains Elsa. “The recipe that we’ll be showing you is a no added sugars ice cream with a touch of fiber, to boost prebiotic content and help reduce sugar content. SweetPearl® maltitol is the perfect option to avoid sugar while maintaining a sweet and appealing taste. It acts as an anti-crystallizer guaranteeing a creamy soft texture in the final product. Using GLUCIDEX® 1 maltodextrin enables us to replace fat, while maintaining the same desired luscious texture. The addition of NUTRIOSE® will provide fiber enrichment and contribute to the mouthfeel of the final product. Also, it will help to reduce sugar and calorie content. It has outstanding digestive tolerance, so it’s a fantastic option to enrich your product with prebiotics.” 

She adds: “The result will be an ice cream with 126 kcal, 4.8 g of fat, 7.1 g of sugar and 5.5 g of fiber per 100 g. So a sugars- and calories-reduced ice cream can be the perfect option for consumers who are looking for a little treat but don’t want to compromise their waistline and want to boost their fiber intake in summer, a time when we often prefer lighter but still delicious options to combat heat.” 

Sources: 1. Euromonitor: Permissible Indulgence Snacking (March 2022) 
2. FI Global Insights: How shifting priorities are driving industry innovation (February 2022)
3. Innova database (EMEA 2019-2021)