Category: Fructose

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Fructose is the endurance sweetener

Check out this great article on fructose:
The farther you have to go, the more you’ll want to consider pure crystalline fructose. Because fructose, compared to glucose, helps the energy store in the muscles last longer.

Endurance and Muscle Glycogen. Carbohydrates stored in the body’s muscles are referred to as muscle glycogen. The more muscle glycogen available during sustained exercise, the greater the potential for improved endurance.

Sugars and Glycogen Storage. The various sugars have different effects on muscle glycogen depletion rates. Glucose, for example, provides a quick spurt of energy, but also triggers the release of insulin. This actually increases the depletion of muscle glycogen and also suppresses the conversion of fat to energy.

Fructose and Glycogen Storage. Taking fructose before exercise, compared to glucose, results in a much lower rate of muscle glycogen depletion. Because fructose does not cause a rapid rise in either blood sugar or insulin. It provides a steadier supply of blood sugar and helps the store in the muscles last longer. This carries the potential for greater endurance during exercise.

The Glycemic Edge. In recent years, emphases has been placed on the glycemic index in the evaluation of dietary carbohydrates. Glucose, which creates the greatest rise in blood sugar and insulin, has been assigned a glycemic index of 100. Foods which behave most like glucose have high index numbers. Fructose, however, has an index of 20, one of the lowest of the 63 carbohydrates on the list, and in this regard can be said to offer a “glycemic edge.”

 

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Make Frozen Yogurt at Home

If you don’t have a commercial soft serve machine, the texture at home would not be as smooth and firm that you would get in a frozen yogurt shop. If you are a home user and do not have a business, the best place to get frozen yogurt mix is on eBay.

Choosing the Right Sweetener: Fructose vs Stevia

Fructose sweetened and Stevia sweetened frozen yogurt products are popular and are preferred over sugar sweetened. Stevia sweetened mixes work best in home machines because they freeze at a higher temperature.

Fructose Frozen Yogurt Mix and Commercial Frozen Yogurt Machines

When using fruit-based sugars like fructose in frozen yogurt mixes, the temperature is critical for proper freezing and crystal formation. Typically, in frozen yogurt shops, they use large frozen yogurt machines that continuously cool the frozen yogurt mix to around 17° F (-8° C). The frozen yogurt mix is constantly churned at these temperatures inside the machine using refrigerant. Commercial frozen yogurt ice cream machines use precise scraper blades that scrape the inside of the machine and allow for thorough mixing of the frozen yogurt mix, producing a smoother texture. In contrast, homemade ice cream makers tend to produce final products that are more granular.

Stevia Frozen Yogurt Mix and Homemade Ice Cream Makers

Most ice cream makers made for the consumer market use a thick metal drum that you first chill in the freezer at home. For example, many machines are made by Cuisinart or Hamilton. To mix your homemade ice cream or frozen yogurt, you remove the metal drum from the freezer while you churn the frozen yogurt mix. As you churn the mix, the temperature rises because it is not held at a constant. Achieving a constant 17° F (-8° C) isn’t possible with these methods. However, you can get much closer to the 25° F (-4° C) needed in order to successfully mix frozen yogurt that uses Stevia as a sweetener.

Nanci’s makes frozen yogurt mix with Stevia in 2 base flavors (no sugar added): Chocolate and Vanilla. If you are looking to purchase only single bags, our frozenyogurtparts eBay store is a great place to find them.

If you are looking for a great way to reproduce the classic star pattern of ice cream or frozen yogurt extrusion, you could use our star caps in the end of a ziploc bag with the corner cut off.

Flavoring Frozen Yogurt

When it comes to choice, Nanci’s has 100+ flavors to choose from. You can also check out our recipes page to find mixing instructions for the proper ratios. You can check our Ebay store flavor listing to order any individual flavors we make.

Bonus Tip

Pre-chilling your frozen yogurt to around 32° F (0° C) before mixing will lower the temperature differential between the mix and the homemade ice cream maker metal drum. In turn, this will allow the drum to stay at colder temperatures longer, resulting in better results no matter what type of frozen yogurt mix you use.

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Two Magic Numbers for Frozen Yogurt

The correct temperature setting on your soft-serve machine is critical for making a good frozen yogurt product and for extending the life of your mix. Every frozen yogurt shop owner should have a good food thermometer like this one: https://frocup.com/product/digital-thermometer/

Use a thermometer to check the temperature in the hopper (the reservoir where you pour the mix) and the temperature of the product when you dispense it from the machine.

Magic Number #1

Hopper Temperature = around 35 degrees F (between 34 to 39 degrees)

The hopper temperature is critical for keeping the product fresh The temperature in the hopper should be under 40 degrees F. Any warmer and the product can go bad. It should also be warmer than 32 degrees or else the product in the hopper will freeze. If you see the product freezing in the hopper, just raise the temperature a degree or two.

Magic Number #2

Finished Product Temperature = 17-19 degrees F

The temperature of the product when it is dispensed should be between 17-19 degrees F. This would also be the temperature of the freezing cylinder. Because Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt use pure fruit sugar, the temperature for our mixes needs to be a little lower than for cane sugar mixes. A sugar mix might come out stiff at 22 degrees, but Nanci’s mixes are better at around 18 degrees. This can easily be adjusted on your machine – just consult your manual or contact the manufacturer if you need help.

If your product ever comes out wet, soupy, or melted then you need to lower the temperature. Frozen yogurt should come out stiff, creamy, and frozen (not wet). It’s amazing what a difference a couple of degrees makes.

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Are soft drinks and sugar as bad as cigarettes?

A recent study from he American Journal of Public Health has found that soft drinks and smoking cigarettes both speed up your body’s aging process. Drinking a 20 oz soda per day can lead to 4.6 years of additional aging, which is the same effect as smoking cigarettes.

The culprit in the soft drinks is the huge amounts of sugar. A 20 oz soda would have about 43 grams of sugar, which is about 3 Tablespoons.

Nanci’s Frozen Yogurt uses superior sweeteners, such as fruit sugar and stevia. Stevia is a natural sweetener that comes from a tropical leaf. It has no caloric impact and has a glycemic index rating of zero. Fruit sugar (pure fructose) does not require the same amount of insulin as table sugar and does not spike blood sugar levels like sugar.

Click here for a news article about the report.