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I've heard in multiple places that Grape Ice-cream does not exist or it is very difficult to make are there any serious papers that corroborate this information?

Eduardo Medina
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2 Answers2

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It's difficult to pinpoint what hearsay means, but I'll interpret this statement as "it's difficult to make grape ice cream from scratch at home, starting with whole grapes".

Any ice cream needs fruit puree. Grapes have tough skins and hard inedible seeds, which would have to be removed before making a puree. It doesn't do well in common processing mechanisms such as a food mill. One would have to cut open each individual grape, remove the seeds, and peel off the skin. Especially if you're using some tasty variety from your own garden, not bred for size or seedlessness, you'd be busy all day preparing your puree first.

If you find ways around that problem, you can make grape ice cream, there's nothing special about it.

rumtscho
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    Seedless grapes are commonplace so that's hardly going to be the problem. – Ruben van Bergen Aug 06 '23 at 07:58
  • @RubenvanBergen many of our traditions for homemade food were formed when people ate the fruit grown in their own gardens. I don't think that many people used to plant seedless varieties at home. I can't remember a single seedless cultivar among the 20-something grown around me in my childhood. – rumtscho Aug 06 '23 at 10:47
  • Yes, seedless table grapes are a fairly new thing. My juicer (food processor attachment) left a wet pulp and didn't produce much juice, compared to similarly juicy fruits. But cooking and sieving as for grape jelly might give something workable (@RubenvanBergen) – Chris H Aug 10 '23 at 11:02
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Grapes have a very high moisture percentage. In small batches this is fine, you can just puree them, but it won't work in larger batches. Grapes contain a powerful antioxidant (anthocyanin) responsible for their color that changes how the grapes freeze, often resulting in chunks of ice in your ice cream. Additionally, grapes are rather acidic, which when combined with the dairy and left to sit (i.e. when transporting ice cream) can cause spoilage. There is a way to remove the acid beforehand, but it isn't often deemed worth the effort for an ice cream not very many people care about

But wait- cherry ice cream exists! Cherries also have some of the same problems, but they are used in ice cream everywhere! Well, the reason you can find cherry but not grape is because cherry is simply very very popular and companies think it's worth the extra effort.

Jme
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  • Why would the batch size matter to whether you can puree grapes? – Sneftel Aug 04 '23 at 17:59
  • I was confused about that at first- but I just looked deeper into it and it turns out that grapes have a chemical in them that gives them their color, however, that chemical also changes how grape puree freezes. Apparantly, though, this issue doesn't occur when you up the cream and puree the grapes in small batches? I have no clue why but it's hard to get much more information than that. However, I will update the post with everything I found. – Jme Aug 04 '23 at 19:00
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    -1. All your arguments are true about most fruits. Fruit is generally full of water, high in acid, and anthocyanins are one of the most common pigments in plant-based food. None of what you said constitutes "extra effort", it's the normal amount of effort for everyone. And if we're talking about commercial ice cream, it doesn't even have to contain any kind of grapes, just artificial flavoring. – rumtscho Aug 05 '23 at 09:48
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    @rumtscho Did you notice that in your own answer you wrote 'any ice cream needs fruit puree' and in this answer you justify your downvote (among other reasons) by saying 'ice cream doesn't even have to contain any kind of grapes'? – quarague Aug 05 '23 at 16:58
  • @rumtscho It seems like you entirely skipped my second paragraph. Yes, other fruits (like cherries which I mentioned there) have similar problems, but companies think it's worth it to deal with them because they are more popular than grape. Also, grapes have more powerful antioxidants in higher numbers than in more common fruits like strawberries. Finally, most of the brands people associate with quality ice cream (ever heard of Ben & Jerry's?) earn that reputation by using real foods, not artificial flavors, in their creation. – Jme Aug 05 '23 at 20:05
  • @quarague OK, I'll edit the "any" part. In my whole answer, I'm assuming homemade icecream (see my first paragraph). The question relies on hearsay about making grape icecream being difficult, and I'm assuming that hearsay refers to homemade icecream only, because in a commercial context, the statement is flat out wrong and there isn't anything to explain. – rumtscho Aug 06 '23 at 10:52
  • @Jme As you assume the "it's more difficult" statement is true for commercial production, you have to explain why companies who make ice with artificial flavors (which I suspect is make up the largest volume of icecream sold) don't make a grape-flavored variety. And even companies who use fruit don't mind minor things like a somewhat changed freezing behavior, it's not even much "extra effort" to slightly adjust the machinery, especially since they already have done it for another flavor. And that's assuming your claim about changed freezing is even true, which I don't believe (cont.) – rumtscho Aug 06 '23 at 11:03
  • (cont.) I've made ice cream from high-anthocyanin fruit before (cherries, blueberries) and had zero problem with crystalization even under the most adverse conditions - with a home machine and without added emulsifiers. I also checked a textbook on commercial ice cream production ("Ice cream", by H. Douglas Goff and Richard W. Hartel) and it only mentions anthocyanins twice, in generic paragraphs discussing ingredient color and nutrition. Never do they mention it in connection with freezing behavior. – rumtscho Aug 06 '23 at 11:07