Ice cream is one of the most popular desserts in the world. Ice cream industry is one of the most profitable and popular lines among all dairy products. Compared to traditional dairies, modern and advanced machines are needed to produce ice cream in a factory. Milk cooking machine, milk cooler machine, etc. are examples of these machines. In this article, we discuss the production steps and necessary equipment to create this delicious product in the ice cream industry.
Ice cream industry
Contrary to popular belief, ice cream production industries are not new. Man’s love affair with ice cream is centuries old. Ancient Greeks, Romans and Jews were known for cool drinks and juices. This practice turned into freezing the fruit and finally into a mixture with frozen milk and cream. It is said that in the early centuries, Emperor Nero sent people to collect snow in the mountains so that his kitchen staff could make concoctions flavored with fruit and honey. In the modern sense, major developments in the ice cream production process began with the development of important technologies such as cooling, pasteurization, and homogenization after the 20th century.
The ice cream industry has always been considered a growing and dynamic industry in the world. Today, ice cream is made from a combination of dairy products (cream, condensed milk, butter), sugar, flavors and additives approved by health centers. It can be said that ice cream is a favorite of all age groups. Therefore, ice cream production industries have a wide market. Considering the effect of technological progress on production and storage devices in the ice cream industry, the preparation of this delicious food is not aimed at a special season and is available in four seasons of the year. The composition of ice cream is simple, but at the same time, it has delicate and complex production steps.
Ice cream production line in ice cream production industries
Ice cream is a product made by adding milk, water, sugar, spices and stabilizers to ice cream as the main raw material. Since the ingredients in it are mainly fat-based milk compounds, it has a high nutritional value and is easily digested. In order to obtain the good taste of ice cream, the ice cream industrial machine and equipment must match its process, and the key process control points of each link in the ice cream production process must be strictly controlled.
The general process of the production line in the ice cream industry using the necessary equipment and devices is as follows:
First, choosing the right raw materials (healthy milk)
The second stage of the production line in the ice cream industry; Ice cream making, ice cream freezer (solidification of the obtained mixture)
Third, adding flavors, sorting, forming and packaging ice cream
Ice cream production steps
These days, ice creams are available to all people in different forms in the four seasons of the year. Here are the general steps of ice cream production in ice cream manufacturing industries.
- Storage and mixing: Milk enters the ice cream factory with refrigerated tanker trucks from livestock farms or large companies. Then the milk is stored in cold milk machines and on a larger scale in 5000 gallon silos at a temperature of two degrees Celsius. With stainless steel mixers, pre-measured amounts of eggs, sugar and other additives are mixed with milk for six to eight minutes.
- Pasteurization: In the second stage of production in the ice cream industry, the prepared mixture is transferred to the pasteurization device, which consists of a series of thin stainless steel plates. Hot water, approximately 183°C, flows on one side of the plates. The cold milk mixture enters from the other side. The water heats the mixture up to 82°C and effectively kills the bacteria present. For this process, you can also use a milk cooker.
The milk cooking machine destroys all the harmful bacteria and non-useful microbes along with the milk, and the milk becomes better quality, and this milk cooking machine can also be used to produce other dairy products.
- Homogenization to create a uniform texture (homogenization): By applying high air pressure (sometimes up to 141 kg/cm2), the hot mixture is forced into the homogenizer through a small hole. At this stage, fat particles are broken down and their separation from the rest of the mixture is prevented. In the homogenizer, which is essentially a high-pressure piston pump, the material is further mixed as it is pumped down into the cylinder and then back out at high pressure.
- Cooling and resting to combine flavors: The mixture is returned to the pasteurizer, where cold water, approximately one degree Celsius, flows on one side of the plates and the mixture passes through the opposite side. In this way, the mixture is cooled to two degrees Celsius. The mixture is then pumped into tanks in a room with a temperature of two degrees Celsius, where it rests for four to eight hours, so that the ingredients are mixed together and the taste becomes uniform.
- Ice cream flavoring: Ice cream is pumped into stainless steel cans. Flavorings are poured into containers and mixed thoroughly.
- Freeze to soft serve consistency: Now the mixture should be frozen. In freezers, it is continuously pumped and ice cream is frozen. The temperature inside the freezers is kept at -40°C using liquid ammonia as a freezing agent. When the ice cream is in the freezer, air is injected into it. Once the mixture is removed from the freezer, the consistency of the ice cream will be “soft serve”.
- Adding fruit and candied pieces: At this stage, if the ice cream industry is going to add food pieces like strawberries or candy pieces like chocolate to the ice cream, the frozen mixture is pumped into the fruit machine. Pieces
