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I want to make ice cream at home for diabetics without a machine. I'd want it to be sugar-free. What kind of base ingredients should I use? Will the any of the no machine methods here be better or worse, or require modification, since I'm not using sugar?

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Siena
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  • Can you clarify: are you trying to make it low sugar? Sugar free? We can help with the cooking side, but we're not doctors or nutritionists, so we'd rather not try to guys precisely what's okay for the diabetics you know. – Cascabel Jan 28 '15 at 15:17
  • Sugar free is my first choice, next is sugar substitutes. But I don't know if it works. How about Carnation Milk? If I use it, do I need to add sugar substitutes? Cheers. – Siena Jan 28 '15 at 15:33
  • By Carnation Milk, do you mean evaporated or sweetened condensed milk? (The latter is not sugar free.) – Erica Jan 28 '15 at 17:43
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    For making ice cream without a machine, see http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1214/how-to-make-ice-cream-without-a-machine - though one answer does say "use more sugar", most of them will work just fine for you. I've edited a link to that into your question to help people advise you about using those techniques without sugar. – Cascabel Jan 28 '15 at 18:04
  • Also, using sugar substitutes is still sugar-free; unless you're trying to make ice cream that isn't sweet at all, you're going to need the substitutes. – Cascabel Jan 28 '15 at 18:05
  • See my old answer here. Whatever you do, there is a proportion of solids to fats to liquid you have to stay within. If you remove the sugar, you need some other nonfat solids. – rumtscho Jan 28 '15 at 19:27
  • @Erica So no need to add sugar substitutes if using evaporated. Is it right? – Siena Jan 29 '15 at 15:39
  • @Siena Evaporated milk is not sweetened, aside from naturally occuring milk sugars (lactose). Sweetened condensed milk (SCM) is sweetened (I believe with sugar, but possibly with corn syrup etc. depending on brand). The reason I was asking was in part to note that SCM isn't sugar-free, important for diabetics to be aware of :) If you don't add sugar or sugar substitutes, evaporated milk will not taste sweet (it's generally used in savory applications, in my experience) so you'd have to taste it to see if that meets your approval. – Erica Jan 29 '15 at 16:05
  • @Siena The things that make ice cream soft are essentially the fat (from cream and possibly egg yolks) and the sugar. Evaporated milk has no sugar and not much fat. You can't use it as an ice cream base; you'd get hard unsweetened frozen milk, not ice cream. If a recipe actually calls for some milk along with the cream, you could use evaporated milk for that milk, but it wouldn't let you remove sugar (or cream), it'd just be a different kind of milk. – Cascabel Jan 29 '15 at 16:20

2 Answers2

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You could use sugar substitutes but you should take care to use one that is heat stable.

Sugar Substitute with Stevia as main ingredient can be used but you need to inquire to what ratios you would need to use your specific brand with.

Acesulfame Potassium is heat stable but is 200 times sweeter than regular sugar. The general rule of thumb I was taught is 1 gram per quarter cup of sugar.

Sucralose: Granulated sucralose can be used as an equal-volume substitute for sugar. (Raw sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar, so you'd use less, but the granulated form contains fillers to bring it up to the normal volume.) There may be some considerations in making ice cream with this as when using this for baking the baking process is accelerated to a certain degree. Be careful with this one.

Saccharin and Aspartame should be avoided because they are heat sensitive.

Other more natural sugar substitutes include honey, fruit juice concentrates and refined fructose.

Cascabel
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Neil Meyer
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    Given that the sugar substitutes are a few hundred times sweeter, don't you have to worry about the fact that you're basically taking out the entire volume of sugar, particularly since the sugar is part of what makes the ice cream soft? (Also I'm confused, if sucralose is 600x as sweet as sugar, why do you say you can use equal amounts of sugar?) – Cascabel Jan 28 '15 at 20:11
  • granulated sucralose provides volume-for-volume sweetness – Neil Meyer Jan 28 '15 at 20:26
  • I'm sure the texture of the ice cream will be different. You may easily just get frozen condense milk but I just thought I'd weigh in on the issues regarding sugar substitutes as I'm familiar with. – Neil Meyer Jan 28 '15 at 20:28
  • @NeilMeyer what are the fillers you are talking about? I've frequently heard of brands using glucose as the "filler", which is totally counterproductive in a diabetic. – rumtscho Jan 28 '15 at 20:51
  • Acesulfame Potassium and Sucrolose combined make an incredibly tasty sweetener. They're much better combined than either product alone. – Jolenealaska Jan 29 '15 at 12:21
  • @Jefromi It is sweeter when using sugar substitutes but it has less effect on blood sugar level. Will ice cream get worse if sugar is taken out of? As I am feeling that sugar substitutes are like artificial sugar which is not healthy. – Siena Jan 29 '15 at 16:08
  • @Siena Many sugar substitutes are artificial, yes. Whether or not they're healthy is off topic for here - you'll have to do your own research (or ask a doctor). I'm not sure why you mention blood sugar level; I didn't say anything about that, just about the fact that (as you now say) taking the sugar (which helps make it soft) out of the ice cream is likely a problem. – Cascabel Jan 29 '15 at 16:15
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It's not the same as ice-cream, but plain whipped cream can be frozen, and tastes fine without extra sugar or sweeteners

Freeze it in shallow glass baking dishes for more even freezing, and easier serving

Use a "standard cream" or "whipping cream" depending on where you live (with a 30%+ fat content, preferably above 35% fat)

TFD
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