Impact of incorporation of CO2 on the melting, texture and sensory attributes of soft-serve ice cream

The effect of CO2 dissolution (2000 ppm) on the churning, melting, textural, and sensory properties of soft-serve ice cream was investigated. Ultrasound vibration was applied before churning through a transducer flanged beneath the ice cream mix vessel (at 5 degrees C) to create CO2 micro/nanobubbles in the carbonated samples. The ice cream mix (28.5% total solids) with 2000 ppm CO2 and 60 s ultrasound treatment displayed significantly higher overrun values (-88%) than the controls (no treatments-26%; sonicated only-46%). The churning time for the carbonated samples (-52 min) was much lower than the non-carbonated samples (-65 min). The melting rate of carbonated soft-serve (-1.5 g min(-1)) was lower than that of the untreated ice cream (2.43 g min(-1)). The carbonated and sonicated soft-serve was the softest among all. Evaluation by a consumer panel showed that soft-serve churned with dissolved CO2 and ultrasound treatment significantly improved the overall sensory properties.