What is soft serve made of and how does it work?

The following picture demonstrates how our soft serve works:

1. Everery recipe is carefully combined in the factory and packed and sealed in a tripple layered foil bag. It usually has an 18 month shelf-life. At store level, the bag is opened and mixed with water using a special wire whisk and graded mixing bucket.
2. The reconstituted mixture is poured into a soft serve machine which freezes it down in approximately 10 minutes to around -8ºC.
3. After 10 minutes, it is ready to be enjoyed by young and old.

And just to expell an urban myth... soft serve does not contain pig fat! It usually contain only one source of fat namely milk fat (cream) but sometimes also vegetable fat derived from palm oil.

Below is a typical soft serve ingredients list with the function of each ingredient. CHOCOLATE - YOGHURT INGREDIENTS LIST: Sugar, Milk Solids, Maltodextrin, Vegetable Fat,  Cocoa, Emulsifiers, Dietary Fibre (Inulin), Vegetable Gums, Food Acids, Culture, Flavour, Colour.

INGREDIENT	FUNCTION	Natural Ingredient?
SUGAR	Being a dessert, it gives sweetness which must be in balance. More importantly, you need sugar in the recipe which acts as an ´anti-freeze´. It is important for the operation of the machine. Too sweet and it is both sickening and the machine won´t be able to freeze it down. Not sweet enough and it will freeze too hard and won´t taste nice.	Yes
MILK SOLIDS	Firstly added for a rich, milky flavour. Milk adds both salt, fat and sugar (from lastose) to the soft serve as well. Salt brings out the flavours. That fat in the milk powder gives it a smooth creamy texture. Milk solids can include, full cream milk powder, skim milk powder, or whey.	Yes
MALTODEXTRIN	Maltodextrins are easily digestible carbohydrates made from natural corn- or tapioca-starch. We do not permit ingredients that contain gluten. Adding Maltodextrin essentially adds sugar, but without the sweetness. It increases the solids in the soft serve in order to give it a solid texture (not watery/icy).	Yes
VEGETABLE FAT	Derived from palm oil, it adds fat from vegetable origin for a softer, creamier texture.	Yes
COCOA	A blend of different cocoas gives it a delicious, natural chocolate taste and brown colour.	Yes
EMULSIFIERS	Emulsifiers ensure fat is kept in suspension, helps with aeration and increases melt-down time.	Yes
DIETARY FIBRE	Added for its well-known health benefits. It is not absorbed by the body but passes through the gastro-intestinal tract. It is also a pre-biotic, which means it is food for the beneficial bacteria. The more food they have, the more they multiply and the bigger benefit to you.	Yes
VEGETABLE GUMS	Helps with the aeration, meltdown time and smooth texture.	Yes
FOOD ACIDS	Adds the same food acids occurring in fresh yoghurt for a delicious tangy/ tart yoghurt taste.	Yes
CULTURE	Beneficial probiotic Yoghurt Culture is added for its enormous health benefits.	Yes
FLAVOUR	Flavours are added like vanilla, chocolate or yoghurt to enhance the taste profile.	No/Sometimes
COLOUR	In same cases colour is added to create that awe-inspiring, mouth-watering visual appeal for maximum enjoyment!	No/Sometimes. Most blends do not contain any colours.

In the store, this soft serve base (in powder form) is simply added to water and mixed. The milk powder re-absorbs the water that was taken out through the drying process, the sugar and other ingredients dissolve and the flavours are released. It is then frozen down, ready for you to enjoy!

Note, all our soft serve, gelato, frozen yoghurt, frappes, hot chocolate base, Chai base and slush bases are HALAL as acrredited by AFIC (Australian Federation of Islamic Council).