Sugar-Free Frozen Dairy Dessert

There have always been "sugar-free" ice creams on the market aimed at the diabetic population. But the "sugar" in the name meant sucrose, table sugar. That's the way the FDA defines sugar, after all. If you see just plain "sugar" in an ingredients list you know it has to be sucrose. All of the numerous other types of sugar, from dextrose to honey to molasses to high fructose corn syrup, have to be referred to by name.

So does lactose, of course. But lactose doesn't have to be mentioned separately when it's an intrinsic part of a dairy product, like milk or cream. It's assumed that everybody knows that milk contains milk sugar.

What happens, therefore, if you want a true sugar-free frozen dairy dessert that contains nothing that the body processes as a sugar, even lactose?

You could try using a lactase enzyme to break the lactose down into the simpler sugars glucose and galactose. While that's fine for those of us who are lactose intolerant, glucose and galactose are true sugars, so that doesn't get you to an ice cream that is sugar free.

What does? Maltisweet IC. Clement Opawumi at DairyField.com explains.

Maltisweet IC maltitol syrup belongs to a class of polyols, also known as sugar alcohols. Polyols are metabolized in a manner that is different than traditional sugars — less readily available for absorption in the large intestine, which means it has minimal effect on blood glucose levels, an important attribute for diabetics. Maltitol is 90 percent as sweet as sugar, making it ideal for bulk replacement of sucrose.

And it's an even better substitute in ice cream:

Frozen desserts made with Maltisweet IC have freezing performance and heat-shock resistance superior to conventional ice cream.

With characteristics nearly identical to sucrose and corn syrup, this product can be used as a one-to-one direct replacement with or without the use of high-intensity sweeteners. It offers a pleasant-tasting, balanced sweetness and creamy texture with no aftertaste and fewer calories than sucrose. A no-sugar-added frozen dessert formulated using Maltisweet IC has about 75 percent less sugar and 45 percent fewer calories than conventional premium ice cream.

Results of sensory studies conducted at Penn State show that consumers found no-sugar-added vanilla ice cream formulated with Maltisweet IC tastes as good as Penn State’s University Creamery premium, full-sugar vanilla ice cream, with no significant differences in overall taste, texture and appearance. Other sensory studies conducted at Penn State, on a reduced fat (5 percent) no-sugar-added frozen dessert formulated using Maltisweet IC, show that the consumer significantly prefers the creaminess of the product formulated using Maltisweet IC to the sucrose control.

The lactose is removed from the milk by an ultrafiltration process rather than by lactase, so for some reason the dessert legally cannot be called "ice cream." That's why it has the clumsy "sugar-free frozen dairy dessert" (SFFDD) designation. The total process was developed by Steve Young (Steven Young Worldwide, Houston) and Bruce Tharp (Tharp’s Food Technology, Wayne, Pa.). They've been presenting the concept at various ice cream technology conferences over the past year.

With luck, somebody will find the process doable and the resulting SFFDD delectable and bring it to the market. I'll be the first to let you know if and when that ever happens.