Free sample of the Ice Cream Formulation course · module 2 of 11

M01 · The numbers of ice cream · 50 min

🔓 Open lesson — M00 and M01 are the free sample of the course: they are published in full, without buying anything.

1 · Objective

By the end of this module you will be able to name and calculate, for any recipe, its six composition components (sugars, milk fat, other fats, MSNF, lactose and other solids); you will be able to work out by hand the Total Solids (TS) and the Free Water of a formula; and you will understand why lactose is never added twice to the total solids.

2 · Content in detail

2.1 · Six numbers per ingredient

Every ingredient in the catalog carries six composition figures, as a % of the ingredient itself:

• Sugars — formulation sugars. Sucrose = 100 (pure sugar); Dextrose = 92.
• Milk fat — fat of dairy origin. Cream 35% fat = 35; Whole milk 3.5% fat = 3.5.
• Other fats — fat that does NOT come from milk (for example the cocoa butter in chocolate). The engine keeps them separate but adds them together when calculating the total fat of the mix.
• MSNF — milk solids-non-fat: protein, lactose and minerals without the fat. On the ingredient sheet it appears written out as milk solids-non-fat (same concept). Skimmed milk powder = 83.
• Lactose — the milk's own sugar. Informative figure: it ALWAYS travels inside the MSNF of the same ingredient (real numbers in 2.4).
• Other solids — any solid that doesn't fit in the categories above.

2.2 · From the ingredient sheet to the real mix

Let's take up the recipe from M00 again (weight% 64 / 12 / 4 / 16 / 4). The engine does not apply the ingredient's composition to the real weight, but to the weight%:

ingredient's contribution to the mix = ingredient's weight% × (ingredient figure ÷ 100)

Milk fat from the cream (weight% 12, milk fat 35): 12 × 35 ÷ 100 = 4.20 — points of milk fat it contributes to the 100 g of final mix. With the same calculation for the five ingredients:

Each column is now a figure for the MIX, not for the loose ingredient — from here on "the formula's sugars = 19.68". The milk powder also contributes 0.32 of "other solids", outside this table but counting in the next point.

2.3 · Total Solids (TS)

TS is everything in the mix that is NOT water: sugars + total fat (milk fat + other fats) + MSNF + other solids.

TS = 19.68 + 6.48 + 9.80 + 0.32 = 36.28

Lactose (5.95) does NOT go in as a fifth term: it is already counted inside the 9.80 of the MSNF. Adding it again would give a false TS of 42.23 — you would be counting the milk's sugar twice.

2.4 · Lactose is not counted twice

Lactose is not a separate solid: it is a solid INSIDE the MSNF. The sheet of every dairy ingredient in the catalog confirms it: Whole milk 3.5% fat → MSNF 9 = protein 3.5 + lactose 5.5. Cream 35% fat → MSNF 6 = protein 2.4 + lactose 3.6. Skimmed milk powder → MSNF 83 = protein 33 + lactose 50. The MSNF already includes the lactose; the engine shows it separately only as information, it never adds it a second time to the total solids.

Practical consequence: for the nutrition LABEL (Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 requires all sugars to be declared, lactose included) do not use the formulation sugars (19.68): use sugars + lactose = 19.68 + 5.95 = 25.63. They are two figures for two different uses —formulating and labeling— and FormulaMaps calculates both of them separately.

2.5 · Free water: what is left over, and what freezes

Free water = 100 − TS = 100 − 36.28 = 63.72

Not all of that water behaves the same way: part of it stays bound to proteins and sugars and does not freeze; the water that does freeze and forms the crystals you feel on your tongue is precisely this free water. The more of it there is, the harder the anti-freezing power of the sugars (PAC, module M02) has to work to keep it soft and with a fine crystal — that is why free water and PAC are always read together.

3 · Key formulas and numbers

• Contribution of an ingredient to the mix: contribution = weight% × (ingredient_figure / 100)
• TS (Total Solids) = sugars + total fat (milkfat + otherfats) + MSNF + other solids
• Free water = 100 − TS (never negative)
• Lactose: it goes INSIDE the MSNF (protein + lactose = MSNF in the pure dairy ingredients); it is never added separately to TS.
• EU label sugars = formulation sugars + lactose (only for the nutrition label, not for formulating)
• Guideline ranges by recipe type (FormulaMaps engine): Milk ice cream → TS 32-38, milk fat 6-9, MSNF 8-11. Cream ice cream → TS 36-42, milk fat 9-12, MSNF 8-11. (All 11 types, in M04.)

4 · Common mistakes (minimum 4)

• Adding the lactose separately when calculating TS by hand → this happens because it looks like "one more solid" missing from the sum. In FormulaMaps you can see it because the student's manual TS doesn't match the one the engine shows (the engine gives a lower one). You fix it by remembering 2.4: the lactose is already inside the MSNF.
• Confusing formulation sugars with label sugars → this happens when you copy the engine's "sugars" figure straight onto a nutrition label. FormulaMaps distinguishes them as two separate fields; if the formulation one is declared on the pack, the label comes out below the real value and it is an incorrect declaration. You fix it by always using sugars + lactose for labeling.
• Entering cocoa butter or egg fat as "milk fat" → this happens because at first glance all fat looks the same. The engine treats them differently (milk fat vs other fats) even though it adds them together in the total; if a non-dairy ingredient is wrongly loaded as milk fat in the catalog, the internal split is wrong even though the final TS doesn't change. You fix it by checking the ingredient sheet before formulating with it for the first time.
• Thinking that "free water" is an ingredient you have to add to the recipe → this happens because the name sounds as if you needed to "put water in". Free water is NOT typed in: it comes out on its own from subtracting the solids from 100. If water is added as an extra ingredient in the belief that this makes the free water "add up", what is really happening is that the solids are being diluted and the real TS is dropping. You fix it by understanding that free water is a result of the calculation, not an ingredient on the scale.
• Ignoring the "ingredient not recognized" warning → this happens when you type an ingredient's name with a typo or in a variant that isn't in the catalog. FormulaMaps treats it as inert (all its figures at zero) and issues the corresponding warning; the TS and the free water of the whole recipe come out wrong without it being obvious at a glance. You fix it by using the exact name from the catalog or loading its composition by hand.

5 · Practice in FormulaMaps (checked by the engine)

1. Reuse the recipe from M00 (Whole milk 640 g, Cream 120 g, Skimmed milk powder 40 g, Sucrose 160 g, Dextrose 40 g; batch 1,000 g).
2. With the engine calculated, find in the results panel the four numbers of this module: sugars, milk fat, MSNF and total solids. They should read 19.68 / 6.48 / 9.80 / 36.28 (± 0.01 of rounding).
3. Note down the free water the engine shows: it should be 63.72, and it should always satisfy 100 − TS.
4. Compare the formulation sugars field with the EU label sugars field: the second should be greater than the first by exactly the lactose figure (5.95).
5. Pass criterion: TS + Free water = 100 exactly, and label sugars − formulation sugars = lactose, for any recipe you calculate, not just this one.

6 · Quiz (5 questions)

1. What does MSNF (milk solids-non-fat on the ingredient sheet) represent?

a) The fat of the milk

b) Protein, lactose and minerals of the milk, without the fat ✓

c) Only the milk's sugar

Why: the milk fat is counted separately, under milk fat.

1. Why is lactose not added as a fifth term when calculating TS?

a) Because it doesn't contribute solids

b) Because it is already counted inside the ingredient's MSNF ✓

c) Because it only affects the flavor, not the texture

Why: in the catalog's dairy ingredients, protein + lactose = MSNF, exactly.

1. A mix has formulation sugars of 19.68 and lactose of 5.95. What figure has to be declared on the label as "of which sugars"?

a) 19.68

b) 5.95

c) 25.63 ✓

Why: EU rules require all sugars to be declared, lactose included.

1. If the total solids of a mix are 36.28, how much free water does it have?

a) 36.28

b) 63.72 ✓

c) 100

Why: free water = 100 − TS.

1. An ingredient doesn't appear in the catalog and its name is typed with a typo. What does the engine do?

a) It stops the calculation with an error

b) It automatically looks for the most similar ingredient

c) It treats it as inert (everything at zero) and warns that it doesn't recognize it ✓

Why: without composition figures the engine can't invent them; it warns so that the name gets corrected or the composition gets loaded by hand.