Ice Cream and Gelato Using UHT Milk

[weinoo]

Here in New York City, I've taken to buying Parmalat, a name brand of shelf stable UHT milk. One of the reasons I buy it is because when I buy milk at my local grocer, no matter how far off the expiration date is, it gets sour within a day or two of my opening it.

This is quite frustrating, and it's not like I leave the milk sitting at room temp for an hour before re-refrigerating. I'm fairly anal when it comes to taking milk and other dairy out of the fridge and getting it back in there - as I am about keeping the fridge door closed as much as possible. Quite some time ago, Fat Guy had a topic about how long stuff stays fresh in the fridge when the door stays closed.

That said, I also think that my local grocer has terrible handling practices, and on a 95 degree day like today, milk that's left sitting in the aisle for even 15 minutes is not gonna last long once it's opened. So, enter shelf stable.

I currently have a box of the stuff open in my fridge, that was opened about a week ago - it's still fine. If I tried that with regular, grocery store milk, it would be a science experiment - maybe even for the medical examiner. So I like the product - and I should - it's at least twice as expensive as regular milk is here.

But my question is this - has anyone used it in their ice cream or gelato making? And, if so, how has it affected your final product?

[paulraphael]

I haven't used it in ice cream. My inclination would be to save for stronger flavors, like coffee and chocolate. I wouldn't want that cooked, ultrapasteurized flavor invading my vanilla. For herb and spice flavors, and more delicate fruits, I go the other direction and use the barely pasteurized milk from stoneybrook.

[weinoo]

I haven't used it in ice cream. My inclination would be to save for stronger flavors, like coffee and chocolate. I wouldn't want that cooked, ultrapasteurized flavor invading my vanilla. For herb and spice flavors, and more delicate fruits, I go the other direction and use the barely pasteurized milk from stoneybrook.

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I haven't yet tasted the UHT side-by-side with plain old pasteurized, much less an excellent milk like that from Stoneybrook.

Has anyone done that comparison and how do the two tastes differ?

[weinoo]

Okay, since no one was able to supply even an inkling of an answer, I had to try it!

I made two bases yesterday and churned them this morning. Both bases were made Philadelphia-style, that is, no egg yolks or whole eggs.

I've been using a ratio of 2 parts heavy cream to 1 part milk and 1/4 cup of sugar per cup of liquid...that's the Lebovitz methodology, in a nutshell. With that as my base, the 2 ice creams I made are a Tri-Star strawberry and a coffee.

For the Tri-Star strawberry, I basically heated the milk and 1/2 the cream, along with the sugar and a pinch of salt (always) to a scald. I blended about 12 oz. of washed, dried and trimmed strawberries with the remaining cream, 1 T. of apple brandy, and 1 tsp. of vanilla - and then added the cooled cream mixture, blended it all together, and refrigerated it overnight.

For the coffee, I heated the milk, cream and sugar as above, added 2 T of instant ground espresso, 1 T. of bourbon, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla and refrigerated it as well.

Both were churned in my Lello this morning, and tasting them in their soft state, I have to say they're pretty darn good. Will see how they are once they ripen.

An interesting thought I've had, and may try, is with the heating of the milk. According to Corriher, when making ice cream you want to heat the milk (not necessary with cream) up to around 170 degrees in order to denature the proteins in it. Makes the ice cream better, so she says. So I do it. Also makes it easy to dissolve the sugar. But I'm wondering if it's necessary with the UHT milk, since the milk is heated to about 275 degrees for an instant in order to pasteurize it?

Will have to experiment with that as well, because if the milk doesn't need to be heated, one could theoretically have ice cream in about an hour...which I guess can be done by using cream only.

[paulraphael]

An interesting thought I've had, and may try, is with the heating of the milk.  According to Corriher, when making ice cream you want to heat the milk (not necessary with cream) up to around 170 degrees in order to denature the proteins in it.  Makes the ice cream better, so she says. So I do it. Also makes it easy to dissolve the sugar.  But I'm wondering if it's necessary with the UHT milk, since the milk is heated to about 275 degrees for an instant in order to pasteurize it?

This is something I've been wanting to test with regular milk. I've been following that general advice, but I assume that 170°+ cook doesn't do the milk flavor any favors.

Edited August 17, 2009 by paulraphael (log)