Last night while getting ready for bed, my daughter and I had the following conversation:She: Do you know how ice cream is made?
Me: How is it made?
She: Wait. Did you learn something already today?
Me: Yes. I learned something for my blog today.
She: O.K. Then I'll wait until the morning to tell you.
How cute!
So this morning she remembered and asked me if I knew that seaweed was used to make ice cream. I told her that I did not but would check it out.
I learned that an ingredient extracted from seaweed called carrageenan (pronounced carra-GEE-nan) is used in most ice creams to thicken it and to keep the water from forming ice when it sits in the freezer.
Carrageenan comes from red seaweed that makes its home on the rocky shores of both Europe and North America. The seaweed is first harvested and then dried. The carrageenan in the seaweed is extracted through immersion in hot water. After a purification process, the carrageenan is ground into a powder. This powder is then blended into the other ingredients to make the ice cream. Less than one teaspoon of the seaweed extract is used in a half-gallon sized carton of ice cream.
No comments:
Post a Comment