Sugars & Sweeteners
Sugar - Dextrose in gelato
Dextrose (crystalline D-glucose monohydrate) is a monosaccharide sugar used in gelato to depress the freezing point far more strongly than sucrose while contributing less sweetness, making it the standard tool for softening texture and improving scoopability.
Balancing parameters
Per 100 g of product, verified against independent food-science sources (listed below).
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Solids | 92% |
| Water | 8% |
| Sugars | 92% |
| Fat | 0% |
| MSNF | 0% |
| Protein | 0% |
| POD (sweetening power) | 64.4 |
| PAC (anti-freezing power) | 174.8 |
Typical use: Typically 3-6% of the total mix, or roughly 15-25% of the sugar blend, replacing part of the sucrose.
Balance sugar - dextrose in a real recipe
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Open the balancerHow to use it in gelato
Dextrose is the go-to ingredient for adjusting a mix's freezing point. With a PAC near 190 versus sucrose's 100, it depresses the freezing point strongly, softening the gelato at serving temperature and improving scoopability, while its lower POD (around 70) keeps sweetness restrained. Replace part of the sucrose with dextrose when a recipe freezes too hard or when you need more anti-freezing power without extra sweetness. As a monosaccharide it also raises total solids and lowers water activity, helping to keep ice crystals small and the texture smooth. Overdosing makes the product soft, gummy or slushy and can cause sandiness, so it is usually capped at roughly a quarter of the sugar blend.
Origin & background
Glucose was first isolated from raisins by German chemist Andreas Marggraf in 1747, and its structure was elucidated by Emil Fischer, who received the 1902 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on sugars. Industrial crystalline dextrose became cheap and widely available in the 1920s, when controlled crystallization processes for dextrose monohydrate from corn-starch hydrolysate were commercialized by the Corn Products Refining Company. Today essentially all food-grade dextrose is produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of corn (maize) starch.