PAC in Gelato and Ice Cream: Values, Target Range and Calculator

PAC (Italian: Potere Anti Congelante, "anti-freezing power") measures how strongly the sugars and other dissolved solids in a gelato or ice cream recipe lower the freezing point of the water in the mix. Sucrose is the reference at PAC 100; dextrose and fructose sit at 190, so they soften the mix almost twice as much per gram. For a display case at -11 to -14 °C, professional gelato targets PAC 220 to 300 (220 to 280 for most flavors, up to 300 for chocolate and nuts) and sorbetto 280 to 340.

What PAC means in gelato and ice cream

Figure 1. PAC scale reference.

When you dissolve sugar in water, the freezing point drops. The size of the drop depends on how many molecules are dissolved, not on how many grams (technically, the molality of the solution). Different sugars therefore depress the freezing point by different amounts per gram, and PAC is the standardized number gelato makers use to compare them on a single scale.

PAC is referenced against sucrose, which is set at PAC = 100. A sugar with PAC 190 (dextrose or fructose) is roughly twice as effective at lowering the freezing point as sucrose, gram for gram. A sugar with PAC 67 (glucose syrup DE38) is about two thirds as effective. Add up the contributions of every sugar in a 1000 g mix and you get the recipe's PAC.

Why does one number matter so much? Because a milk gelato mix is roughly 58 to 64 percent water (66 to 72 in a sorbetto), and texture is decided by how much of that water is frozen at service temperature. Higher PAC means more water stays liquid as a concentrated syrup at any given temperature: a softer, more scoopable product. Lower PAC means more ice: a harder, coarser one. At PAC 270 and -14 °C, roughly 60 to 65 percent of the water is frozen. Push the recipe to PAC 320 and the frozen fraction drops to about 50 percent, which reads as too soft to scoop. Pull it to PAC 220 and the frozen fraction rises to 75 percent, which reads crumbly and icy because there is no longer enough unfrozen serum to hold the ice crystals together. The full physics is in the guide to freezing point depression in gelato.

The same scale applies to ice cream. Serving temperature is part of the difference between gelato and ice cream: American-style ice cream is hardened and stored at -18 to -20 °C and served colder than gelato, around -14 to -16 °C, while artisan gelato is served at -11 to -14 °C from a display case. The other differences (fat, overrun, air) are covered in gelato vs ice cream.

PAC values of sugars (table)

The first column is the dry-basis value used in Italian balancing (sucrose = 100). The second column is the value in this site's ingredient database, which counts each ingredient per 100 g as sold, water included, so liquid syrups and hydrated crystals read lower. Both columns come from the same colligative arithmetic. The full list with POD is in the sugar PAC and POD data table.

These values are the consensus figures used in Italian artisan gelato balancing software and in the Gelato Naturale methodology by Gianpaolo Valli. Small variations between suppliers exist; when in doubt, check your specific spec sheet.

They are all colligative: freezing-point depression depends on how many molecules are dissolved, not on their mass, so PAC tracks molecular weight. Sucrose is the reference at 342.3 g/mol. Dextrose is 180.2 g/mol, and 342.3 / 180.2 = 1.90, which is the 190 in the table. The same arithmetic gives every other row. Allulose and fructose share the molecular weight of dextrose, which is why all three land at 190.

Erythritol is the exception you must not use naively. Its molecular weight of 122.1 g/mol gives a theoretical PAC of 280, but only dissolved solute lowers the freezing point, and erythritol is far less soluble than sucrose: roughly 37 g per 100 g of water at 25 °C, falling to around 12 to 15 g at 0 °C. Push past that and the excess crystallises out of the water phase, contributes no PAC at all, and shows up as grit. In practice a mix built on the full 280 freezes much harder than the arithmetic predicts. Treat 280 as a ceiling that only holds at low dosage, keep erythritol under roughly 10% of the water phase, and get the rest of your PAC from something that stays in solution, such as dextrose, fructose or allulose. This is also why published figures for erythritol range from 100 to 280: the low numbers are empirical values measured at working dosages, not different chemistry.

Target PAC range for gelato, sorbetto and ice cream

Quick reference. For a display case at -11 to -14 °C: gelato PAC 220 to 300 (220 to 280 for most flavors, up to 300 for chocolate and nuts); sorbetto PAC 280 to 340 (most recipes land at 290 to 320). Rule of thumb: PAC divided by -20 gives the display temperature a gelato is built for, PAC divided by -25 the one for a sorbetto. Lower end of each band for richer, fattier recipes (fior di latte, custard); upper end for chocolate, nuts, and fruit-forward recipes that need extra structural softness.

A balanced milk gelato sits inside the 220 to 300 range, and most flavors land at 220 to 280. Below 220 the product comes out too hard at standard service temperatures (-11 to -14 °C); above the band it slumps and loses structure in the showcase. For a display case held at -14 °C, PAC around 280 is the texture sweet spot for a milk-based crema base; chocolate and nut gelato go higher, up to 300, because cocoa butter and nut fat harden the scoop and the PAC sum does not discount that.

Sorbetto needs higher PAC because it carries more water (66 to 72 percent against 58 to 64 in milk gelato) and no fat to provide soft structure. A fruit sorbetto typically lands at 290 to 320, and the sugars in the fruit itself must be counted. The sorbetto version of the method is in how to balance a sorbetto recipe.

Ice cream in the American style is served colder, around -14 to -16 °C, after hardening and storage at -18 to -20 °C. That is part of why an ice cream and a gelato with similar sugar loads feel so different at the spoon: the lower temperature freezes more of the water.

The band also moves with the cabinet. The Italian rule of thumb is linear: divide PAC by -20 for gelato (by -25 for sorbetto) to get the display temperature the mix is built for, so PAC 240 suits a case at -12 °C and PAC 280 a case at -14 °C. A recipe at PAC 280 that is right at -14 °C will read soft at -12 °C. If your case runs warmer than spec, lower PAC by about 20 points per degree for gelato (25 for sorbetto); if it runs colder, raise it.

How to calculate PAC step by step

Add up the PAC contribution of each ingredient: ingredient weight multiplied by the ingredient's PAC value, divided by 100. Sum across all ingredients in a 1000 g mix to get the recipe's PAC.

Step 1. List every ingredient that carries sugar, including the lactose in milk, cream and milk powder. Whole milk carries about 4.7 g of lactose per 100 g.

Step 2. Multiply each sugar weight (in grams per 1000 g of mix) by its PAC value and divide by 100.

Step 3. Add the contributions. The total is the recipe PAC.

Step 4. Compare with the band for your product, for a display case at -11 to -14 °C: 220 to 300 for milk gelato (220 to 280 for most flavors), 280 to 340 for sorbetto.

Example for a simplified recipe with 200 g sucrose, 50 g dextrose monohydrate (the usual form, PAC 173 per 100 g), and 750 g of dairy (containing roughly 40 g of lactose):

Sucrose:  (200 x 100) / 100 = 200
Dextrose: (50 x 173) / 100  = 86.5
Lactose:  (40 x 100) / 100  = 40
Total PAC for the 1000 g mix = 326.5 (out of range: too soft)

Now a balanced example. Take the sugar block of a classic white base: 130 g sucrose, 30 g dextrose monohydrate, 20 g glucose syrup DE60, plus about 42 g of lactose from the milk solids.

Sucrose:       (130 x 100) / 100 = 130
Dextrose:      (30 x 173) / 100  = 51.9
Glucose DE60:  (20 x 119) / 100  = 23.8
Lactose:       (42 x 100) / 100  = 42
Total PAC for the 1000 g mix = 247.7, rounded to 248 (inside 220 to 300)

This is also why you cannot eyeball PAC from total sugar weight. Two recipes with the same 200 g of sugar can sit almost 90 points apart: 200 g of sucrose contributes 200, while 100 g sucrose plus 100 g anhydrous dextrose contributes 100 + 189 = 289. Same sweetener weight, about 45 percent more anti-freezing power (73 points and about 37 percent more with the usual monohydrate).

Three details trip up beginners. First, lactose counts at PAC 100 just like sucrose, and forgetting it underestimates PAC by 8 to 12 points on a typical milk base. Second, glucose syrup is not one ingredient: the DE number on the bag decides whether it is mild on PAC and heavy on body (DE38) or the opposite (DE60). Third, fruit sugars in a puree contribute to PAC exactly like added sugar, so a sorbetto calculated on added sugar alone comes out softer than expected.

PAC calculator: how to use the free tool

In practice, never do this by hand for production. The free gelato balancing calculator computes PAC for any gelato or sorbetto recipe in real time. You enter your ingredients and quantities; the tool returns:

• Total PAC of the recipe
• Sugar-by-sugar contribution breakdown
• Comparison to the target range for your recipe type
• A visual indicator (green, yellow or red zone)

Step 1. Open the free balancing calculator. No signup, it opens instantly in the browser.

Step 2. Add ingredients from the dropdown. Each ingredient already has its sugar, fat, MSNF and water composition pre-loaded from the same database as the table above.

Step 3. Type the gram weight of each ingredient.

Step 4. Read the PAC value at the top of the analysis panel and watch the colored target indicator. Green means in range for your recipe type.

Step 5. If out of range, swap one sugar for another rather than changing total sugar mass. Replacing 30 g of sucrose with 30 g of dextrose adds about 22 PAC with the usual monohydrate (27 with anhydrous); replacing dextrose with sucrose or trehalose removes the same amount. Iterate until green.

The calculator shows the PAC change instantly as you adjust weights. It also returns POD, total solids, fat, MSNF and estimated overrun at the same time, so a sugar swap that fixes texture never silently breaks sweetness or body. A copied recipe only works if your ingredients match exactly; different milk fat, a different cream or a different glucose syrup all move PAC, and the calculator lets you adapt any formula to your actual ingredients. If you are deciding between a spreadsheet and a dedicated tool, see gelato balancing spreadsheet vs app.

How to adjust PAC in your recipe

If your recipe is too hard (PAC too low), replace a portion of sucrose with dextrose. Each gram of sucrose swapped for dextrose raises PAC by about 0.7 points with dextrose monohydrate (0.9 with anhydrous) without changing total sugar weight. Common move: swap 20% of sucrose for dextrose, recalculate, repeat. The diagnostic version of this fix is in why is my gelato too hard.

If your recipe is too soft (PAC too high), do the reverse: reduce dextrose or fructose and increase sucrose, or swap inverted sugar for sucrose (PAC 190 down to 100 for the same weight). See why is my gelato too soft for the full checklist, including the cases where the culprit is not sugar at all.

Standard correction matrices appear in every gelato handbook. Under by 10 to 20 PAC: add 5 to 10 g of dextrose per kilo. Over by 10 to 20 PAC: reduce inverted sugar by 5 to 10 g and replace it with sucrose at equal mass. Always recompute POD after the change, because a swap from inverted sugar to sucrose reads slightly less sweet.

For sorbetto, remember that the natural sugars in the fruit puree contribute to PAC. Always include fruit sugars in your calculation, or your sorbetto will come out softer than expected. The sorbetto-specific symptoms are covered in why is my sorbetto too hard and why is my sorbetto too soft.

PAC and POD together

PAC and POD are the two sugar indices every balanced recipe has to hit at the same time, and both use sucrose as the reference at 100. PAC measures freezing-point depression: how soft or hard the product is at a given temperature. POD (Potere Dolcificante, sweetness power) measures how sweet the recipe tastes. They are independent: two recipes with identical PAC can have very different POD if they blend sugars differently, and that is precisely why professionals use several sugars instead of one.

Notice dextrose: PAC 190 but POD 70 on a dry basis, about 70 percent as sweet as sucrose and nearly twice as effective at lowering the freezing point (per 100 g of the usual monohydrate, 173 and 64). That asymmetry is why dextrose is the standard hardening fix: it softens the gelato without making it cloying. Trehalose runs the other way, same PAC as sucrose at less than half the sweetness, so it lowers POD without touching PAC. Fructose raises POD without raising PAC relative to dextrose.

The POD guide sets the sweetness targets at 140 to 200 for milk gelato and 200 to 270 for sorbetto per 1000 g of mix (14 to 20 and 20 to 27 sucrose-equivalent grams per 100 g). A recipe can hit a perfect PAC and still taste flat or cloying, so check both numbers on every change. The third lever, total solids, decides body; the complete step-by-step method that balances all three is in how to balance a gelato recipe.

Alcohol and PAC

Alcohol is the most aggressive anti-freezing ingredient a gelato maker is likely to touch. Freezing-point depression is colligative, and ethanol weighs about 46 g/mol against 342 g/mol for sucrose, so on a molar-mass basis each gram of ethanol depresses freezing roughly seven times as much as a gram of sucrose. A 50 g pour of 40 percent ABV rum carries about 17 g of ethanol and behaves like roughly 120 g of sucrose on the freezing curve, which is why boozy recipes drift soft unless the simple sugars are trimmed to make room. The working guide, the ethanol table by drink type, and the worked rum example are in alcohol in gelato and PAC.

The Big Picture

Everything in this article fits into a larger framework: the complete professional method from raw ingredients to a pozzetto of finished gelato. If you want the full system in one place, with all the math, equipment, methodology, recipes, troubleshooting, and business notes consolidated, the place to start is:

How to Make Professional Italian Gelato: The Complete Guide, the complete pillar guide.

Related Concepts

• How to Make Professional Italian Gelato: The Complete Guide, the complete pillar guide
• POD (Potere Dolcificante, sweetness power)
• MSNF (Milk Solids Non-Fat)
• Total Solids
• Overrun
• Dextrose, sucrose, fructose, inverted sugar, glucose syrup and trehalose
• Freezing point depression in gelato
• Alcohol in gelato and PAC
• How to balance a gelato recipe and how to balance a sorbetto recipe
• Sugar PAC and POD data table

Build a balanced recipe. Open the Free Gelato Balancing App and watch PAC, POD, Total Solids, MSNF and fat update live as you change ingredient weights. Free, web-based, no install.