Ice cream cold storage is an indispensable stage in the production of ice cream, and at this stage, Highend produces solutions for businesses with the latest technology.

Industrial ice cream production stages are as follows.

• Raw material Inputs
• Weighing and Preparation of Raw Materials
• Mixing and Preheating
• homogenization
• pasteurization
• Cooling
• Addition of Aroma and Color Substances
• maturation
• Ice cream
• Filling and Packaging
• Packaging
• Hardening
• Storage
• Sales

It is a mixture consisting of ice cream milk and products, sweetening agents, stabilizer-emulsifiers, color, flavor and seasoning substances. The mixture of substances included in the composition of ice cream, which has not yet been frozen, is called ice cream mix. The structure of ice cream consists of air bubbles, ice crystals, fat globules, sugar, protein and stabilizers.

Today, the ice cream industry is one of the fastest growing branches in the food industry and dairy technology and its importance is increasing day by day. The most important reason for the rapid growth of the ice cream industry in our country is the abundant, cheap and diverse raw materials. Again, the excessive interest of our people, who do not like to drink milk, to ice cream in the summer months has supported the development of this sector.

Cooling

After homogenization/pasteurization, the mix is cooled to 0-5°C and kept in the maturation tank until it is processed. Cooling in a short time is important in order to prevent viscosity increase in the mix and facilitate its processing. With cooling, the degree of crystallization of the oil increases, the capacity of the freezer increases, and bacterial activity is prevented. The storage life of the mixes to be sold to other companies is extended. Before freezing, the mix should be kept cooled to a maximum of 5°C. Maturation time varies between 3-6 hours and 24 hours depending on the stabilizer used. Changes occur in the structure of the mix with maturation and these affect the structure and texture of the product. As a result of ripening, the structure of the ice cream improves, its creamy feel increases, its resistance to melting increases and its storage qualities improve. Crystallization in fat globules, which starts with cooling, progresses during ripening. The freezing process is the most important stage of production and directly affects the quality, pleasantness and efficiency of the final product. It consists of two parts.

• Rapid freezing (creation of ice crystals of certain sizes) by introducing air into the environment while the mix is stirred continuously.
• At this stage of curing by rapid removal of heat without mixing partially frozen, the water on the surface of the ice crystals freezes.

Hardening

When ice cream comes out of the freezer, it is semi-solid and may not hold its shape. The freezing process is continued until the temperature in the package drops to -18°C (-25°C/-30°C). Hardening must be rapid so that large ice crystals do not form. The criterion is the time until the temperature in the middle of the pack drops to -18°C (30 minutes for 200 ml packs). Stacking the packs before curing causes deformation, the overrun is reduced and the surface discolored because air is escaping.

Hardening Methods

Cabins in small enterprises and hardening tunnels in large enterprises can be designed as direct lines or spirals. Use of cold cells or zones within storage rooms (in these zones, cold air is blown on the packages as they are transported towards the warehouses). Cold cells can also take place in curing tunnels.

Storage

The product can be marketed immediately after curing or stored for 1-2 weeks. Businesses do not want the time between the production and marketing of the ice cream produced to be more than 5 days. Temperatures of -18°C or lower are intended for curing, while –25°C / -35°C is desired for storage. During the day, temperature changes can be seen by opening the warehouse door for various reasons and taking the product out. In this case, some/all of the crystals melt. When the temperature drops at night, the water will freeze again. Since there is a tendency to form large crystals, the continuous repetition of these events will cause the development of an icy structure in the product. In order to reduce this defect caused by temperature change, the storage temperature should be kept as low as possible.