4 Challenges with High-Protein Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt: Taste

Marketed as healthier options, high-profile frozen treats are usually also lower in sugar and fat. Halo Top Creamery’s Woolverton says that for his company, “it wasn’t so much the addition of protein that caused taste challenges as it was the stripping away of other things-the fats and carbs/sugars.”

The company opted to replace some sugar with stevia. But this caused some taste challenges, Woolverton says. “Removing the sugar caused texture challenges, as well, because sugar is a cheap and effective source of ‘solids’ in ice cream that helps with freezing-point depression. It’s why ice cream freezes softer in the freezer than do ice cubes, which are all water and no solids.” To solve this problem, Halo ended up using a sugar–stevia blend.

Other than that, he says the higher protein content (7 g per serving) did not cause many challenges for Halo because its protein comes naturally from normal dairy ingredients found in ice cream. The company does use a little bit of protein powder, too; in fact, a lot of full-calorie ice creams also use protein powder, as these serve as a good source of milk solids. Woolverton says choosing the right protein powder is key because “protein powders taste wildly different from one another.”

“Another unusual thing we do is use the whole egg, not just the egg yolk,” Woolverton adds. “The egg whites contribute protein and have a bearing on texture-think of a meringue with whipped egg whites.”

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Photo courtesy of Halo Top Creamery