INDEPTH: FOOD
Ice cream FAQs
CBC News Online | May 12, 2004
What is it?
For most of us, ice cream can be a decadent escape, a cool treat on a hot summer day. But not so for the Canadian government. According to the Food and Drugs Act, most of ice cream is air. The rest is:
-
36 per cent solids.
- 10 per cent milk fat or, where cocoa or chocolate syrup, fruit, nuts or confections have been added, 8 per cent milk fat.
- 180 grams of solids per litre of which amount not less than 50 grams shall be milk fat, or, where cocoa or chocolate syrup, fruit, nuts or confections have been added, 180 grams of solids per litre of which amount not less than 40 grams shall be milk fat.
The feds say if the above criteria are met, you can also lick up to 100,000 bacteria per gram and 10 coliform organisms per gram.
If your frozen product contains:
· not less than 33 per cent solids; and
· not less than 3 per cent and not more than 5 per cent milk fat, and not less than 160 grams of solids per litre of which amount not less than 14 grams shall be milk fat
then you're eating ice milk. The more air in your ice cream - or ice milk - the lighter it will be.
Ice cream is the only frozen food that can be cut, scooped or sliced and consumed at a temperature below 0 degrees C.
What's the difference between hard ice cream and soft ice cream?
In composition? Nothing. Hard ice cream is soft ice cream that has been hardened. Try this experiment: stick your cone of soft ice cream in the freezer for a couple of hours. It will turn into hard ice cream.
Who invented it?
Most of the early history of ice cream is folklore. But much of the credit goes to Charles I of England. Well, actually his French chef. The King wanted to impress guests at one of his magnificent banquets. The rumour spread that the chef had come up with a brand new dish: it was cold and creamier and sweeter than any other known dessert. It was a big hit and Charles ordered the chef to keep the recipe a secret. But Charles was beheaded in 1649 - and the recipe was out before that.
The first Canadian to start selling ice cream was Thomas Webb of Toronto, a confectioner, around 1850. William Neilson produced his first commercial batch of ice cream in Toronto in 1893.
What is the most popular flavour?
According to the International Dairy Foods Association, it's vanilla. By a long shot. Not just because it's a natural companion for hot apple pie. But it's also the backbone of dishes like milkshakes, banana splits and even ice cream cakes. Of all ice cream sold in 2000, 29.3 per cent was vanilla. The rest breaks down like this:
- Chocolate - 12.2 per cent.
- Nut flavours - 11.1 per cent (including butter pecan at 4.3 per cent).
- Neapolitan - 8 per cent.
- Cookies and bakery - 7.2 per cent.
- Fruit flavours - 5.4 per cent (not including strawberry).
- Candy flavours - 4.8 per cent.
- Strawberry - 3.4 per cent.
- Chocolate chip - 3 per cent.
- Mint chocolate chip - 3 per cent.
- Coffee/mocha - 2 per cent.
- Fudge/marble - 1.8 per cent.
- All others - 8.8 per cent.
Are there rules about flavours?
Absolutely! Again, the Food and Drugs Act comes into play here. It sets out three categories of flavours:
1. Natural or true
2. Artificial or imitation
3. Fortified or compound
For example, when it comes to vanilla flavour, the act says:
Vanilla Extract, Vanilla Essence or Vanilla Flavour
(a) shall be the essence, extract or flavour prepared from the vanilla bean, the dried, cured fruit of Vanilla planifolia, Andrews, or Vanilla tahitensia, J.W. Moore;
(b) shall contain in 100 ml, regardless of the method of extraction, at least the quantity of soluble substances in their natural proportions that are extractable, according to official method FO-17, Extraction of Soluble Substances from Vanilla Beans, dated September 15, 1989, from 14-2-91 (i) not less than 10 g of vanilla beans, where the beans contain 25 per cent or less moisture, and (ii) not less than 7.5 g of vanilla beans on the moisture-free basis, where the beans contain more than 25 per cent moisture; and
(c) notwithstanding sections B.10.003 and B.10.005, shall not contain added colour.
Artificial or imitation flavours may be chemically the same as true flavours but are prepared synthetically. For example, one of the best sources of artificial vanilla is from a byproduct of the pulp and paper industry - vanillin.
Fortified flavours, extracts and essences are derived from the named fruit, but other natural extractives have been added.
What causes the price of ice cream to fluctuate?
It's those natural ingredients. Like vanilla, which comes from a plant belonging to the orchid family called Vanilla planifolia. There are several varieties of vanilla beans among which are Mexican (Mexico), Bourbon (islands off the east coast of Africa), Tahiti (Tahiti and Society Islands), South American (Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique), Java (Java). Mexican and Bourbon beans are used to produce the best vanilla extracts. Bourbons from Madagascar are considered the finest and account for over 75 per cent of world production. Unfortunately, severe storms in Madagascar have wreaked havoc with the vanilla crop this year, causing prices to jump.
In Ivory Coast, political instability has pushed up prices for cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate. The nation is in the heart of West Africa's cocoa-growing region.
Then there's milk. Not a problem in Canada in the spring of 2004. But south of the border, milk prices are hitting new highs, thanks - in part - to restrictions on importing cows from Canada because of the "mad cow" scare.
 MORE: Ice cream timeline
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Guidelines for Healthy Eating
1. Enjoy a variety of foods.
2. Emphasize cereals, breads, other grain products, vegetables and fruit.
3. Choose lower-fat dairy products, leaner meats and food prepared with little or no fat.
4. Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight by enjoying regular physical activity and healthy eating.
5. Limit salt, alcohol and caffeine.
Source: Health Canada
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