How To

Pasteurized Eggs in Ice Cream

“This ice cream tastes great!  The chocolate is so rich, and there’s just a slight hint of salmonella.”

Ok, so salmonella isn’t an ingredient you want to include when making ice cream, because it can make people pretty sick.  Although it could be argued that the chances of getting the salmonella bacteria from raw eggs are fairly low, it’s probably something you don’t want to mess around with, especially when serving ice cream to children or the elderly.

The most common ways of avoiding salmonella are to either leave out the eggs completely and just make Philadelphia style ice cream, or to heat the mix before churning it.  My instructions for the Sweet Cream Base include the steps to heat the mix and kill any salmonella that might be present.

But what if you don’t like that “cooked” flavor that heating the mix gives?  (imagine the taste of warm milk — some people love it and some people… not so much)  Or what if you’re just impatient like me, and don’t want to spend the time heating the mix and then cooling it back down before you can churn it?

There’s an alternative…

I’ve been lucky enough to find a grocery store near me that sells Davidson’s Pasteurized Eggs.  These are eggs in the shell that have been dunked briefly in hot water, just long enough to kill anything that shouldn’t be in there, but not enough to cook them.  There’s no difference in taste at all, and they’re perfect for ice cream.  The mix doesn’t have to be cooked, and you can run it straight through the machine after mixing everything together because the ingredients are already cold when they come out of the fridge.

Comments

9 comments for “Pasteurized Eggs in Ice Cream”

  1. Jose wrote:

    Can you still use the classic method of making custard bass with pasteurized eggs?Will they still thicken the cream bass after being pasteurized? The FDA requires pasteurized eggs be used if selling your ice cream? Do you still age bass if using pasteurized eggs?

    August 27, 2011, 9:01 pm
  2. tony wrote:

    Have you tried the cooking method with pasteurized eggs for that warm milk taste? Does the taste change if you use pasteurized eggs without cooking it on the stove top?

    July 23, 2013, 12:17 am
  3. Russell wrote:

    Tony,

    I can’t tell any difference at all when using pasteurized eggs, whether I cook the mix or not. They’re almost identical to normal eggs, but they’re just slightly more congealed when you break them open, and they take a little bit longer to whip if you use something like an electric hand mixer. But once they’re in the ice cream mix, there’s no taste or texture difference at all compared to normal eggs.

    Thanks,
    Russell

    August 1, 2013, 9:21 am
  4. Tyler wrote:

    The eggs are pastuerized “slow and low”. Quick and high temp would cook the outside before the inside could get to a safe temp.

    You can use sous vide to pasturized eggs by holding them at a low temp for a long time.

    August 24, 2013, 8:05 am
  5. Jacob wrote:

    What about using something like Egg Beaters (liquid egg mixture that comes in a carton) which usually says it is pasteurized?

    July 20, 2015, 11:18 am
  6. Russell wrote:

    Jacob,

    The Egg Beaters web site says they’re made from egg whites, and are indeed pasteurized (twice, actually), so they’re safe to eat raw. However, egg whites are 90% water with almost no fat, so the emulsifying action that comes from egg yolks will be missing. Because of that, I think they would actually do more harm than good, because the water will contribute to iciness.

    A lot of recipes call specifically for egg yolks, since that’s really the part of the egg that’s needed, but I tend to take the easy route and just use the whole egg. I can’t tell much difference and the water from the egg whites doesn’t seem to cause a problem — maybe because the yolks are offsetting any iciness the whites would cause, or maybe because it’s just not enough water to matter.

    I think the perfect product would be liquid, pasteurized egg yolks. That may be hard to find outside of a commercial supply though.

    Thanks,
    Russell

    July 20, 2015, 2:06 pm
  7. Jacob wrote:

    I’ve been using Egg Beaters for some time. But I whip the egg beaters and sugar until it forms a soft meringue. I’ve assumed that this meringue gives the ice cream mixture some structure that helps it freeze softer. But now that you mention that egg whites are mostly water, I’m probably creating an aerated icier ice cream.

    I think I need to do some further experimentation (yum).

    July 21, 2015, 3:50 pm
  8. Yasmin wrote:

    I have a base for my ice cream which tastes amazing but I make rolled ice cream and it is sometimes too creamy and will not form firm rolls.Is this because there is too much fat in it.I use milk,whipping cream,Karo syrup ,sugar and eggs.

    April 2, 2018, 8:20 pm
  9. Nathan wrote:

    I’m trying to make a higher volume on ice cream and hate having all the extra egg whites. i see at the store i can buy liquid egg yolks. Will those still thicken properly? i use them when making pasta dough and works fine but i know cooking them for ice cream is a whole lot different.
    cheers

    May 13, 2018, 11:08 am

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