An Idiot's Guide to Frozen Desserts

Author: Isabella Sun

When you go out to dine in restaurants, it’s easy to become bewildered by the sheer amount of frozen dessert options on the menu. Apart from the most basic “ice cream”, there seems to be an infinite number of equally tasty frozen treats. You may ask yourself: “How is gelato different from regular ice cream?” “What is the difference between sorbet and sherbet?” With so many types of frozen desserts nowadays, it can be hard to distinguish among them. Compiled here is a guide with the basic facts and distinguishing qualities of each variety of frozen treats. Feel free to refer to this guide next time you have trouble deciding which dessert best suits your taste or mood.

Philadelphia-Style Ice Cream

Philadelphia-style ice cream, American-style ice cream, or simply ice cream is the most basic and perhaps the best known kind of ice cream. Ever since ice cream was introduced into the U.S. in the year 1790, it has become one of the most popular types of sweet treats in American culture.

The main ingredients of Philadelphia-style ice cream are simply cream, milk, and sugar. Traditional Philadelphia-style ice cream recipes call for a heavy amount of cream, making it the dessert on this list with the highest fat percentage. According to the FDA, ice cream should contain around 14-25% of butterfat. This high fat content brings about the rich and creamy flavor of ice cream and makes it the irresistible dessert that we know and love.

Ice cream is made by churning the cream, milk, and sugar mixture at a very low temperature. During the churning process, the freezer environment induces small ice crystals to form within the ice cream mixture. The whipping of the mixture incorporates a considerable amount of air bubbles into the ice cream and gives it its special light and fluffy texture. In fact, air usually makes up around 30-50% of the volume of ice cream. Since air is a costless ingredient, lower-quality ice creams usually contain more air content, whereas more premium ice creams have less air percentage and more milk fat content. If you see products labeled as “frozen dairy dessert” at supermarkets, chances are that the product contains too high of air content to satisfy the FDA requirements of ice cream labeling.

Soft Serve

Soft serve is a unique form of ice cream that you can often spot at fast-food restaurants or small gas stations. It is nearly identical to regular ice cream in terms of ingredients, but often contains less fat. During its production process, the soft serve is churned more consistently and at a higher speed compared to ice cream. The quicker whipping introduces more air bubbles into the cream mixture, inducing a softer and fluffier texture than regular ice cream.

Whereas regular ice cream is packaged to be frozen and hardened right after it is made, soft serve does not go through a packaging process. It is meant to be enjoyed straight away after being dispensed from the machine. Since it is frozen at a higher temperature than ice cream, it can also melt more quickly. This is why it is almost impossible to finish enjoying your McDonald’s Cone before it melts into a puddle of goo.

Gelato

To many, gelato is synonymous with “fancy ice cream.” While gelato translates to “ice cream” in Italian, it has several major qualities that differentiate it from regular ice cream. Ingredients-wise, gelato uses less cream and more milk than traditional ice cream. Because of this ratio of ingredients, gelato's fat percentage is only around 4-9%. Since it is churned at a much slower speed than ice cream, it also contains less air. In fact, gelato contains the least amount of air amongst all frozen desserts on this list, which explains its dense and velvety texture.

The serving process of gelato also helps it distinguish itself from ice cream. Gelato's defining quality is its freshness. Unlike ice cream, which is often packaged before serving, gelato is usually served fresh right after it is made at the back of the store. Since it is also stored and served at a higher room temperature than ice cream, it has a silky appearance and a smooth mouthfeel.

Frozen Custard

Frozen custard is a frozen dessert that first grew to popularity on the boardwalks of Coney Island, New York. The key difference between Frozen Custard and Philadelphia-Style Ice Cream is the addition of egg yolks in Frozen Custard. Although some traditional ice creams, such as the French-style ice cream, do call for only slight amounts of egg yolk in their recipe, frozen custard is required to contain 1.4% or more of egg yolk solids. The high content of egg yolk gives the custard a yellowish tone and a smoother, creamier taste.

Frozen custard is similar to gelato in the air content they contain. Both desserts have an air content of only 15-30%, which allows them to have a denser consistency than ice cream. Frozen custard is also served at a higher room temperature than Philadelphia-style ice cream at around 18°F.

Sherbet

Sherbet is a frozen dessert made of sweetened fruit juice and milk. For a dessert to be labeled as "sherbet," it must contain milk and around 1-2% of milk fat, which is much lower than the fat content of regular ice cream. As a result, sherbet is usually viewed as a healthy alternative to other dairy-based frozen treats. Since it has less milk fat, sherbet also contains more ice crystals than the other frozen desserts on this list and can feel icy and coarse to the tongue.

Sorbet

Similar to sherbet, sorbet is made primarily with fruit juice; yet, the ingredients list of sorbet does not contain any milk products. Since it possesses no butterfat, sorbet has the coarsest texture amidst the frozen desserts. However, it is still churned and whisked like all other frozen desserts, making it scoopable despite consisting mostly of cold, hard ice. Like sherbet, sorbet has a refreshing, tart taste that originates from its fruit juice ingredients. Some sorbet incorporates fruit puree or whole fruit pieces like blueberry or strawberry to further enhance its fresh and cool flavor.

I hope that this manual helped you understand the basic facts of each frozen dessert and how they differ from one another. You can now impress your friends with your knowledge of those delicious frozen treats. Or, simply choose a dessert you find the tastiest and enjoy!