Hampstead Scientific Society, UCS and SHHS Science Week 2003
The Science of Ice Cream
Why do we eat ice cream? How do you make 100 tons of ice cream? What have Newton and Einstein got to do with ice cream? How is ice cream covered in chocolate without melting it? What would happen if you made ice cream on top of a mountain? How do you measure texture? How can you produce different textures from the same ingredients?
The talk will answer these and other questions about the science behind ice cream, with demonstrations of ice cream making and examples from real products. I will explain how we can change the sensory properties of ice cream, such as creaminess, smoothness and iciness, by manipulating its microstructer, and thus deliver a range of tastes and textures to the consumer.
Dr Chris Clarke
has a PhD in physics from Cambridge University. A few years ago, he moved into industry and currently works for Unilever Research and Development, where he researches colloidal and crystallisation phenomena in ice cream. Ice cream is a composite material consisting of small ice crystals, air bubbles and fat droplets held together by a concentrated sugar solution. U work on understanding how the combination of the ingredients and the manufacturing process produces a particular microstructure, which in turn determines the bulk physical (e.g. viscoelasticity) and sensory properties (e.g. creaminess).
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Last updated 23-Feb-2003