I scream, you scream, we all scream…

By 4. Oktober 2013Blog, Health, Nutrition, Taste

..for ice cream enriched with pomegranate by-products??? Well, that is a little doubtful, but the idea behind this piece of research is that the enrichment of the ice cream works on the nutritional level and not on the taste buds.

According to the authors of the paper, based at Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey, the current focus of enriching food is not to reduce deficiencies (such as folic acid in our bread, or iodine in our salt) but on increasing the level of beneficial compounds such as antioxidants or phenolics. Ice cream makers are also currently looking for ways to lower the level of saturated fats without affecting the taste and mouth feel of the product. Pomegranate juice production is on the increase and over half of the fruit is left behind mostly as seed and skin.

The researchers found that they could add up to 0.4% (w/w) of peel phenolics and 2% seed oil without any noticeable decrease in sensory analysis acceptance.

The paper was published in the Journal of Food Science.