Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
11 steps of ice cream tasting
Harrison recommends the following 11 steps of ice cream tasting:
- Rinse your mouth with lukewarm water or eat an unsalted cracker. We used Old London Unsalted Melba Toast.
- For maximum flavor release, temper the ice cream to 5° to 8° F. If the ice cream is frozen solid, remove it from refrigerator five to 10 minutes before the tasting.
- Taste flavors in order of intensity of taste, as you would taste from white to red wines. Go from vanilla to chocolate to mixed flavors.
- Use two spoons, one for scooping, the other for tasting.
- Observe appearance before tasting. Does the ice cream look appetizing? "Look for the ice cream bouquet or top note of the ice cream initially with your eyes," Harrison says. "Appearance is more important than the ice cream's creamy taste or smoothness."
- Select a small sample off the ice cream's surface and invert the spoon to your tongue.
- Cover your tongue with ice cream, roll it around your mouth, and smack your lips.
- Observe the top note of the ice cream aroma by bringing the aroma up through your nose.
- Assess the body and chew of the ice cream. These terms refer to its firmness and resistance or consistency. "Body and texture characteristics are closely associated and are important in influencing consumer acceptance," Harrison says. Factors to consider are the size, shape, and distribution of ice cream crystals and air cells, and the amount and distribution of unfrozen materials. "A 'short chew' has crumbly/brittle body and quick flavor release," Harrison says. "The ideal body or medium chew has a quick flavor release. Heavy chew typically has a soggy body and poor flavor release."
- As with wine, one need not swallow ice cream to taste it (but we did).
- Record the result.
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