Soft serve

Soft serve, also known as soft ice, is a frozen dairy dessert, similar to ice cream but softer and less dense as a result of air being introduced during freezing. Soft serve has been sold commercially since the late 1930s in the US.[1]

For the software development company, see SoftServe.
Soft serve in an ice cream cone

In the US, soft serve is not sold prepackaged in supermarkets, but is common at fairs, carnivals, amusement parks, restaurants (especially fast food and buffet), and specialty shops. All ice cream must be frozen quickly to avoid crystal growth. With soft serve, this is accomplished by a special machine that holds pre-mixed product at a very low, but not frozen, temperature at the point of sale.

History
Soft serve topped with Thai see-iw dum (black sweet soy sauce) served at Yaowarat, Bangkok, Thailand

Over Memorial Day weekend of 1934, Tom Carvel, the founder of the Carvel brand and franchise, suffered a flat tire in his ice cream truck in Hartsdale, New York. He pulled into a parking lot and began selling his melting ice cream to vacationers driving by. Within two days he had sold his entire supply of ice cream and concluded that both a fixed location and soft (as opposed to hard) frozen desserts were potentially good business ideas.[2] In 1936, Carvel opened his first store on the original broken down truck site and developed a secret soft serve ice cream formula as well as patented super low temperature ice cream machines.[3]

Dairy Queen also claims to have invented soft serve. In 1938, near Moline, Illinois, J. F. McCullough and his son, Alex, developed their soft serve formula.[4] Their first sales experiment was August 4, 1938, in Kankakee, Illinois at the store of their friend, Sherb Noble. Within two hours of the "all you can eat" trial sale, they had dished out more than 1,600 servings—more than one every 4.5 seconds.[5]

During the late 1940s, future UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher worked briefly as a chemist for food manufacturer J. Lyons and Co., at a time when the company had partnered with the United States distributor Mister Softee and was developing a soft-serve recipe that was compatible with the American machines.[6] Thatcher's precise role at Lyons is unclear, but she is reported to have worked on the company's ice cream products, as well as cakes and pies. A common anecdote, probably spread by her political opponents, is that by "inventing" soft serve ice cream, Thatcher "added air, lowered quality and raised profits", used as a metaphor for her policies later as prime minister.[6][7]

In the 1960s, ice cream machine manufacturers introduced mechanized air pumps into vending machines, providing better aeration.[6]

Characteristics
A mixture of chocolate and vanilla soft serve being dispensed, a new flavor colloquially referred to as swirl or twist

Soft serve is generally lower in milk-fat (3 to 6 percent) than ice cream (10 to 18 percent) and is produced at a temperature of about −4 °C (25 °F) compared to ice cream, which is stored at −15 °C (5 °F). Soft serve contains air, introduced at the time of freezing. The air content, called overrun, can vary from 0 to 60 percent of the total volume of finished product. The amount of air alters the taste of the finished product. Product with low quantities of air has a heavy, icy taste and appears more yellow.[8] Ice cream with higher air content tastes creamier, smoother, and lighter and appears whiter. The optimum quantity of air is determined by other ingredients, if any, and individual taste. It is generally accepted that the ideal air content should be between 33 and 45 percent of volume. If more than this, the product loses taste, tends to shrink as it loses air, and melts more quickly than that with less air. Less than 33 to 45 percent, the product will not melt as quickly but will not taste good.

Some forms of soft serve, like many other processed foods, have palm oil.

All ice cream must be frozen quickly to avoid crystal growth. With soft serve, this is accomplished by a special machine at the point of sale. Pre-mixed product (see definitions below) is introduced to the storage chamber of the machine where it is kept at 3 °C (37 °F). When product is drawn from the draw valve, fresh mix combined with the targeted quantity of air is introduced to the freezing chamber either by gravity or pump. It is then churned and quick frozen and stored until required.

While some machines only dispense one flavor of mix at a time, certain models of soft serve machines have an additional nozzle that dispenses a mixture of two separate flavors simultaneously. This mixture emerges in a distinct swirl pattern. It is classified as its own separate flavor on menus as swirl or twist.

Pre-mix can be obtained in several forms:

  • Fresh liquid that requires constant refrigeration until needed. It can be stored for 5 to 7 days before bacteria spoils it. Quality can be severely compromised by bacterial contamination and handlers must exercise caution to maintain quality.
  • A powdered mix. This is a dried version of the liquid mix. It has the advantage of easy distribution and can be stored for long periods of time without spoiling. Water must be added prior to being churned and frozen. The disadvantage is that water quality cannot be guaranteed and some operators can put too much water in to make it go further. It also should be refrigerated to 3 °C (37 °F) prior to use, as airborne and waterborne bacteria can infect it immediately and can grow quickly if the product is warm. Residual bacteria in the refrigerated storage compartment can also be activated by warm product being introduced.
  • Ultra heat treated mix, a liquid that has been sterilized and packed in sealed, sterile bags. It can last a very long time without refrigeration and can be poured into the soft serve freezer immediately upon opening. However it should be refrigerated to 3 °C (37 °F) prior to use for the same reasons mentioned above. At the time of opening, quality can be guaranteed and bacterial counts are zero. Where it is available, health authorities consider it the safest form of soft serve mix on the market. It was first developed for commercial use in New Zealand in 1988 in a joint venture between Tatua Foods, a dairy company and Bernie Cook, owner of Blue Boy, a mobile franchise network.

Terminology

Various terms are used to refer to soft serve ice cream:

  • 99 or 99 Flake technically refers to soft serve ice cream served in a cone with a Cadbury's Flake, but soft serve is sometimes simply referred to as "a 99" or “a cone” in Ireland and the UK.
  • American ice cream (גלידה אמריקאית, ISO 259: Glīḏåh ʾÅmȩrīqåʾīṯ | ISO 259-3: Glida ʔameriqáˀit) is the term used in Israel.
  • American ice cream (ماري كريم in Arabic) is the term used in Lebanon.
  • Candy (with Spanish pronunciation) is the term used in Argentina. It can be found in nearly all ice cream parlors.
  • Cream ice cream (krémfagylalt) is the term sometimes used in Hungary.
  • Creemee: a term popular in Vermont and other parts of northern New England. Colloquially accepted to have originated in Vermont.[9]
  • Italian ice cream (glace à l'italienne (France), sorvete italiano (Brazil), lody włoskie (Poland)) are the terms used in France, Brazil and Poland.
  • Machine ice cream (helado de maquina (Dominican Republic), inghetata la dozator (Romania), сладолед от машина (Bulgaria), παγωτό μηχανής (Greece), gépifagyi (Hungary)) is the term used in the Dominican Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Hungary.
  • Merry Cream is the term used in Lebanon.
  • Mr Whippy is the term used in the United Kingdom, or a 99 if a chocolate flake is added (99 Flake), especially when sold from an ice cream van.
  • Softcream (ソフトクリーム, sofutokuriimu) is used to describe an analogous product in Japan, that can be either savory or sweet, with uniquely Asian flavors such as powdered tea, wasabi, sesame, ume or plum, rose, kabocha or Japanese pumpkin, peach, and grape, among others.
  • Pehmis, short for pehmytjäätelö (soft ice cream) is a genericized trademark of Nestlé used in Finland.
  • Semi-frozen (semi-frio) is the term used in Portugal.
  • Soft ice Softeis (Germany), softijs (Netherlands and Flanders), softis (Norway) is the term used in Norway, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and several other places in Europe.
  • Soft ice cream (mjukglass) is the term used in Sweden. Similarly, Gelat tou is the term used in Andorra and Catalonia (Spain). Also in Greater China (Chinese: 软冰淇淋; pinyin: ruǎn bīngqílín), (Chinese: 軟雪糕; Jyutping: jyun5 syut8 gou1) and Chinese: 霜淇淋) used in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, respectively.
  • Soft whip is the term used in Ireland. When served in a cone with a chocolate flake, it is commonly referred to as a 99.
  • Softee or softie is the term used in India and Pakistan.
  • Ice cream Softserve or a more common term I-Tim (ไอศครีม ซอฟเสริฟ or ไอติม in Thai) are the terms used in Thailand.[10]
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See also
  • Frozen custard, a style of egg- and cream-based frozen dessert, often served similarly to soft serve
  • Frozen yogurt, a cultured, frozen milk product that may have a naturally tart flavor
  • Ice cream van
  • Ice milk, a less than 10 percent milkfat type of frozen dessert

References
  1. The term soft serve dates from before 1959 (New York Times, June 22, 1958, page F11)
  2. "Carvel History". Archived from the original on December 30, 2011.
  3. "About Tom Carvel". Archived from the original on May 7, 2013.
  4. "The DQ Team".
  5. "Dairy Queen History".
  6. Fromson, Daniel. "The Margaret Thatcher Soft-Serve Myth". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  7. Phipps, Claire (November 16, 2007). "Was Margaret Thatcher really part of team that invented Mr Whippy?". The Guardian. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  8. "Utah Soft Serve Ice Cream Machine Rental". Utah Soft Serve Ice Cream Machine Rental. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  9. Sugar Baby. Gesine Bullock-Prado.
  10. "ไอศครีม". Snowboy.
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