Physicochemical, Sensory, Rheological Properties and Glycemic Index of Fresh Date Ice Cream

Aim: The aim of this study was to formulate and develop a low calorie and low glycemic index (GI) soft ice cream by using mixture of sucrose and date.
Methods: Five different formulations of ice cream were produced by using different proportions of sucrose and date. Physicochemical characteristics, hedonic sensory evaluations and GI determination of products were carried out following conventional methods.
Results: Replacement of sucrose with date resulted in a significantly higher viscosity (.000) and brix (.034) degree with a higher overrun and melting rate, in a dose dependent manner. Sucrose free ice creams had significantly lower caloric value from (143.03 to 113.51 Kcal) and GI from 79.06±4.0 to 72.51±4.61 as compared to date free those of sucrose based formulation indicating a 29.52% and 6.55% reduction, respectively.
Conclusion: We concluded that substitution of sucrose with date is may be a choice to produce a low calorie and glycemic index ice creams with no impeding effect on physicochemical and sensory properties.