The Scoop on Frozen Desserts

Air conditioning helps, but the best way to cool off (specifically to bring down body temperature), in my opinion, is to consume something cold. And what could be better than a frozen dessert? Especially with so many tasty options to choose from.

As a kid growing up in Georgia during the 1970s, my frozen dessert of choice was homemade ice cream. We’d get together with other families on the block, mix the cream, sugar and flavorings (fresh picked berries or vanilla extract or chocolate) into the football-size metal container then surround it with ice and rock salt and start hand-cranking. That’s right. No electric ice cream makers. We did it old school.

Homemade ice cream, however, was reserved for special occasions, perhaps due to the Popeye-like strength required to turn the crank. For most of the summer, we were limited to ice pops (Popsicle is a trademark of Unilever), which were OK, but lacked the soft, creaminess of ice cream.

These days, there are many other options to choose from, including frozen custard, frozen yogurt, soft serve, gelato, sorbet, snow cones, smoothies, and granitas just to name a few. So let’s take a closer look at these options and what makes them unique.

Ice Cream
In popular usage, the term ice cream can cover any number of frozen dairy-based desserts including gelato, frozen custard and soft serve. However, according to the US Code of Federal Regulations, true ice cream contains no less than 20% combined milkfat and non-fat milk solids. But before you get the idea that ice cream is an American invention, Wikipedia reports that ice cream was popular in Baghdad and elsewhere across Arab cultures more than a thousand years ago.

Soft Serve
Popular in such fast food chains as Dairy Queen, Tastee Freez and McDonalds, soft serve differs from traditional ice cream due to a lower fat content, a higher storage temperature and the introduction of air. The result is a smoother, creamier dessert that can be extruded from a machine in a spiral shape.

Frozen Custard
Take ice cream and throw egg yolks into the mix and you get frozen custard. The FDA states that frozen custard should contain no less than 1.4% egg yolk, as well as 10% milkfat.

Frozen Yogurt
Frozen yogurt is essentially what the name implies — yogurt that has been chilled to roughly the consistency of ice cream. According to Wikipedia, it contains “milk solids, milk fat, yogurt culture, sweetener, gelatin, corn syrup, coloring, and flavoring.” The fat content is considerably less than that of ice cream.

Gelato and Sorbet
Italy’s version of ice cream is known as gelato. While containing basically the same incredients, the major difference is that while ice cream typically has 14% butterfat, gelato has between 4% and 8%. One of my favorite coffeehouses, Unlimited Coffee, is known here in Phoenix as the place to go for gelato and non-dairy sorbetto. They also have great espresso drinks, free WiFi and are LGBT-friendly. What’s not to love?

Sorbet (or sorbetto or Italian ice) is a frozen fruit-based dessert that typically contains no dairy. It’s history precedes ice cream, showing up both in Ancient Rome or Persia. In America, we also have sherbet (or sherbet) which, unlike sorbet, does contain a small amount of milkfat (less than 3%).

Ice Pops
Known popularly under the genercized tradename of Popsicle, ice pops are hard-frozen mixtures of sugar (or other sweetener), water and flavoring, usually served on a stick. They may contain fruit juice. Related desserts include Unilever’s Creamsicle (sometimes called a Dreamsicle) and the chocolaty Fudgesicle.

Granitas, Slushees, Snowcones, and Smoothies
Granitas are similar to sorbet, but slushier with larger ice crystals. Slushees are frozen beverages and often made from carbonated beverages or alcoholic beverages (e.g. a frozen margarita).

Snowcones are made with shaved ice drizzled with flavored syrup and typically served in a paper cone.

Smoothies are blended mixtures of ice, fruit and juice and may also contain milk, yogurt, egg and nutritional boosters (e.g. protein powder). I like to make mine with frozen berries, yogurt and juice, with some fresh fruit thrown in as well.

Stay Cool with your Dessert of Choice
Whether you prefer the creaminess of ice cream or frozen custard or the fruitiness of sorbets and smoothies or the pure sweet bliss of snowcones and ice pops, find a way to stay cool as we enter the dog days of summer. Heat stroke kills. But pace yourself! You wouldn’t want to get sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, better known as an ice cream headache or brain freeze.

You Tell Me!
What’s your favorite frozen dessert? Frozen custard? Ice cream sandwiches? Otter pops? Dark chocolate gelato? Leave a comment and let me know.