How is haagen dazs ice cream made

As the sun scorches your shoulders while you’re sitting in Rod Laver arena, chances are you’re eating or craving a scoop of cooling ice-cream.

For the third year in a row, the ice-cream of the Australian Open is Haagen-Dazs. And the Aussies can’t get enough of the Salted Caramel flavour, which is their No. 1 selling ice-cream down under.

But have you ever stopped to wonder where your summer treat comes from?

Fear not, 9Honey Kitchen has taken one for the team and looked into it for you at the Haagen-Dazs factory in France, to find out how their ice-cream is made.

The factory, just outside Arras, supplies 46 flavours to 90 countries around the world, including Australia; and at some times during the year operates around the clock to meet the demand - making 62 million litres of ice-cream a year.

Alison Gray, who has been with the brand for over 15 years took 9Honey Kitchen through the 7-Step process that turns the ice-cream from raw ingredients to the scoop dripping down your cone and onto your hand while watching the tennis.

How is haagen dazs ice cream made
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“There’s really three things if I want to tell you about Haagen-Dazs,” Alison explains of the American brand, whose name while Scandinavian-inspired, is entirely made up.

“The first thing is the ingredients we use. Every ice-cream starts with four key ingredients - cream, milk, egg yolk and sugar.

“The second thing is really the ingredients we don’t use - we don’t use any stabilisers or emulsifiers, we don’t use any colours, and no artificial flavourings.

“And the third thing is the amount of air. We only use a little bit of air in Haagen-Dazs, which is what gives it it’s really dense and creamy texture.”

How is haagen dazs ice cream made
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STEP 1: Delivery

Tankers bring in the raw ingredients into one side of the factory, where they’re unloaded using pipes and pumped up to the storage tanks upstairs.

“This is the start of the ice-cream making process, this is the tanker bay and this is where we receive our raw materials such as milk, cream, sugar and egg yolk. And we also receive liquid chocolate here.”

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STEP 2: Storage

Nine large refrigerated tanks hold the majority of the ingredients, while chocolate is kept in a separate room, which is warm by comparison.

“We have a big storage capacity here,” Alison say, adding: “We’re able to store 125,000 litres of cream, 52,000 litres of milk and 46,000 litres of egg yolk.”

“We don’t store the chocolate nor the sugar here because they don’t need to be refrigerated.”

STEP 3: Mixing up the ice-cream

The raw items are pumped back down to tanks where the mix is made.

It’s here that flavours such as chocolate or caramel is added to the base.

“So for example for salted caramel, which is the number one best seller in Australia, this is where we would add in the caramel sauce,” Alison notes.

Then it’s popped back into another set of refrigerated tanks till it’s ready to be made into ice-cream.

How is haagen dazs ice cream made
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STEP 4: Pasteurise and homogenise

Just like whole cream milk, ice-cream is also pasteurised and homogenised.

“After the ice cream mix is made it’s pasteurised, which is a heat-treatment step to make sure that it’s safe to eat.

“It’s also homogenised, which means that the ice-cream has a lovely silky smooth texture,” Alison says, explaining that it breaks the fat into smaller pieces which spread more evenly through the ice-cream to give it that smooth consistency.

STEP 5: Liquid to solid

The ice-cream then comes together in a freezer, which pumps the still soft ice-cream out onto the production line.

One side of the factory produces the tubs, while another room next door manufactures the stick ice-cream.

“When the ice-cream is made, it’s really quite soft,” Alison says.

How is haagen dazs ice cream made
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“So it goes through this hardening tunnel, which really is a big blast freezer - really cold, about minus 40 degrees.

“So when it comes out, it’s really, really hard. And that’s the same for our pints of ice-cream as well.”

After the ice-cream sticks are frozen, their dipped in chocolate for the outside coating and it’s here any almonds or extra bits are added into the top coating.

STEP 6: Sealing

The ice-cream pints are sealed and lids placed on top actually before the ice-cream goes through the hardening tunnel.

While the ice-cream sticks are individually wrapped once they’re already frozen and dipped in their chocolate coating.

STEP 7: Packaging

The items are all taken off the production lines in boxes, which are stored and freighted to keep the ice-cream completely solid till it reaches Australian shores.

And while not an official step in the process, Step 8 would be the all important taste-test and consuming part of the process.

Bon appétit!

Is Häagen Daz real ice cream?

Each Häagen-Dazs flavour starts with four simple ingredients – real cream, milk, eggs and sugar. To this, we add only the finest additional elements to bring each flavour to life in their own distinguishable way. We never use any artificial colours or flavours in our ice cream.

What ingredients are in Häagen

Each scoop starts life as only four ingredients – cream, milk, sugar and eggs. To that, we only add amazing.

How is ice cream made in a factory?

Ice cream factories usually make their own mix by combining milk, cream and sugar in a 3,000 gallon vat, with the proportions and mixing controlled by computers. The mix is then pasteurized, or heated, to kill any harmful bacteria.

What is the difference between Ben and Jerry's and Häagen

Häagen-Dazs certifies itself as a high-end, luxury brand whereas Ben and Jerry's prefer the image of the brand to be perceived as more responsible, ethical, fun, and trendy. Apart from this, both brands have multiple similarities.