So, my low carb, dairy free ice cream tastes great fresh. My plan to sell fresh along with my other foods should work (after all the other logistical hurdles). But, it turns hard when frozen. Any tricks to prevent it from getting too hard without using guar, xanthan gum, etc? How does Haagen Daz do it using minimal ingredients (flash freeze, fat content,)?

here are some tricks

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/ice-cream-myths.html

See #4 and #5

Also this:

http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2014/02/real-talk-no-stabilizers-doesnt-mean-good-ice-cream.html

Quote:

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Serious ice cream fan Ed has asked me repeatedly how Haagen-Dazs, which is probably our favorite big national brand of ice cream, can get away with not using stabilizers in their product. No one but the company knows for sure, but when I posed the question to High Road's scoopmaster Keith Schroeder, he came up with a compelling answer: not only are they making dense, fatty ice cream that's resistant to melting, but a company of that size can probably control its own distribution channels. That means using refrigerated delivery trucks optimized for ice cream and ensuring the product isn't subject to any melt-inducing high temperatures.

As of now, smaller craft ice cream companies don't have the same luxury, which means they need to work with the distributors available to them. When handled right, stabilizers offer an invisible or barely noticeable way for these companies to drastically improve their products. And there's no shame in that.

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Of course, dextrose (corn syrup) is a carb, so that might factor into your approach.

Also found this from Discover Magazine

Quote:

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If stabilizers are so necessary, why don't Breyers and Hagen- Dazs, to take two top-notch examples, need them? Breyers is absolutely first-rate fresh from the package, says Kilara. They superheat condensed skim milk, which breaks down the milk protein so that it acts as a stabilizer, then add it to their mix; that process also gives Breyers its distinctive cooked flavor. But though the ice cream keeps well initially, after several days in and out of the freezer its ice crystals expand and puncture the air cells like needles popping balloons, he says.

Hagen-Dazs is different. The high fat content, about eighteen percent, has a stabilizing influence. And it has much less air than other ice creams. Kilara explains that federal standards permit ice cream to be up to 50 percent air, a doubling in volume known as 100 percent overrun. But superpremium ice creams such as Hagen-Dazs are much denser, as low as 20 percent overrun, and therefore suffer less from air-cell collapse. The additional fat in superpremium ice creams also acts as an insulator, which is why expensive, more fatty ice creams are warmer to the bite. Finally, since superpremiums are usually sold in pint containers, rather than typical half-gallons, the contents may be gone long before heat shock takes over.

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Vodka (sorbets) and corn syrup (custards and ice creams) are what I have used with good results

You could try one of the sugar alcohols like sorbitol, mannitol, or xylitol

I do use stevia and erythritol. I'll try to use some more egg yolk (noticed I'm using 1/3 less per quart than typical). I wonder if I can get a mini flash freezer set-up with N2?

So it sounds like you're trying to make real ice cream instead of the no-churn ice creams out there. I've always wondered if you could do a hybrid of a no churn and a churn recipe and churn it, what it would turn out like. Hypothetically the no churn aspect would keep it from getting too hard and crystalized, and the churning would make it super soft. You could try adding in more whipped cream to help separate out the water in it as well.

Anyways, have you thought about using dry ice to help freeze it faster?

That's a good idea about the dry ice, didn't think of that. I was thinking a set up using liquid N2. I work for an industrial gas company so obviously I went straight to LN2.

That's cool? Do you know what the easiest way for a lay person like myself is to get N2? I want to do the frozen marshmallow thing, along with some other kitchen experiments.

Speaking as a chemist, what you need is a crunch enhancer. A non-nutritive cereal varnish. Something semi-permeable. Not osmotic.

AggieChemist said:

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Speaking as a chemist, what you need is a crunch enhancer. A non-nutritive cereal varnish. Something semi-permeable. Not osmotic.

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That would great. It would seal the milk out and the crunch in

Fat and booze! I don't know what sort of non dairy base you use (I'm only familiar with using coconut milk), but I've seen recipes that incorporate a tbsp or two of a neutral or complimentary oil (reputable ones from the likes of Isa Chandra Moskowitz) that helps keep it soft. I'm still trying to find the David Lebovitz of non-dairy/vegan ice cream!

K2T2 said:

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Fat and booze! I don't know what sort of non dairy base you use (I'm only familiar with using coconut milk), but I've seen recipes that incorporate a tbsp or two of a neutral or complimentary oil (reputable ones from the likes of Isa Chandra Moskowitz) that helps keep it soft. I'm still trying to find the David Lebovitz of non-dairy/vegan ice cream!

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Have you tried coconut cream? I find that coconut milk has a lot of water in it. Coconut cream usually has a little water in the can, but it separates really well from a nice big chunk of coconut cream. I incorporated some into some whipped cream I was making and it came out well, and I used some of that to make a no churn mango ice cream.