Beating the LBG price spiral: How to control the quality of your ice cream – and your costs

Reduce costs by up to two thirds

Claus’s calculations show that in recipes with LBG, emulsifiers/stabilisers can account for over 12% of the cost of the ice cream mix. “You can see the problem with that,” he says. “You have an ingredient that’s only contributing 0.5% of the recipe but 12% of the price.”

Using Palsgaard’s new solution, that figure can be taken below 5%. In terms of cost in use, the estimated reduction can range from half to two-thirds. “That’s obviously really attractive,” says Claus. “And it’s enough to allow the blend to be used at higher dosages to get even better levels of performance.”

No compromise on functionality

Furthermore, those savings don’t come at the cost of reduced functionality. “There is no single golden ingredient that can replace LBG,” Claus says. “However, Palsgaard® ExtruIce 306 comes close. In many areas, like melting resistance, the functionality is the same as you get with LBG. In others, it’s not an exact match, but it’s not far off.”

Palsgaard® ExtruIce 306 has also been found to offer great sensory properties, with an expert panel awarding it similar scores to LBG on body, creaminess, warmth of eating, cohesiveness of structure and chewiness.

Like Palsgaard’s other emulsifiers and stabilisers, Palsgaard® ExtruIce 306 is ready-mixed and integrated. The suspension of stabilisers in the melted emulsifiers, followed by an advanced spray-crystallisation process, creates a uniform, free-flowing powder. This means much easier handling – with no premixing with other dry ingredients required before addition to the mix.