Gelato Recipes
Recipe balancer — any flavor, any base.
What is a stabilizer and where do I get one?
A stabilizer (also called neutro, base, or emulsifier blend) is a mix of thickeners and emulsifiers that gives gelato its smooth texture, controls ice crystal growth, and improves body and meltdown.
Common components: locust bean gum, guar gum, carrageenan, tara gum, mono & diglycerides of fatty acids, CMC.
Where to get it:
- Commercial blends: PreGel, Fabbri, MEC3, Comprital, Leagel sell ready-to-use mixes (often 30–50 g/kg because they contain filler sugars).
- Pure blends: some suppliers sell concentrated mixes at 3–7 g/kg with no sugar fillers.
- DIY: a simple blend is 40% locust bean gum + 30% guar gum + 20% CMC + 10% mono-diglycerides, used at 4–5 g per kg.
Important: Many commercial stabilizers contain sugars (sucrose, dextrose) as fillers. If yours does, enter the sugar amounts below so the calculator can subtract them from the PAC budget. Check the ingredient label or tech sheet. If your stabilizer is sugar-free (pure gums), just enter 0 for the sugar fields.
50 g of fiber will be added automatically for alcoholic recipes.
Balanced Recipe
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|
PAC Breakdown
Balance Check
POD — Sweetness Index
Freezing Curve
📖 Glossary & How it works
Key Terms
PAC (Potere Anti-Congelante) — Anti-freezing power. It measures how much a sugar (or alcohol) lowers the freezing point of water. A higher PAC means softer gelato at the same temperature. Typical values: 260–350. At -11°C a PAC of 300 gives you a perfectly scoopable gelato.
SML (Solidi Magri del Latte) — Skim milk solids = everything in milk except fat and water (lactose, proteins, minerals). They give gelato its creamy body and help retain air. Ideal range: 9–12% of the mix. About half of SML is lactose.
SMP (Skim Milk Powder) — Dried skim milk, used to boost SML when fresh milk and cream don't provide enough. The calculator adds it automatically to reach the SML target (min 100g per 1000g batch, capped at 60g).
Solids % — The percentage of an ingredient that is not water (dry matter). Nut pastes ~95%, chocolate ~98%, egg yolk ~50%, mascarpone ~50%, fresh fruit ~10–25%, yogurt ~13%. You can usually find it on the ingredient label or spec sheet, or let the calculator estimate it.
POD (Potere Dolcificante) — Sweetness power, measured relative to sucrose. Different sugars taste differently sweet at the same weight: Dextrose is 0.7× as sweet as sucrose, while lactose is only 0.16×. The POD total tells you the "perceived sweetness" of your mix in sucrose-equivalent grams.
Freezing Curve — Shows the percentage of water that is frozen at each temperature. At the initial freezing point (~−2 to −3°C), ice crystals begin to form. At the serving temperature (−10 to −14°C), typically 60–80% of water is frozen — this determines your gelato's texture and scoopability. A higher PAC shifts the curve to the right (softer gelato at the same temperature).
How PAC works
Different sugars depress the freezing point differently. Each has a PAC coefficient:
| Sugar | PAC | POD | Why |
| Sucrose | 1.0× | 1.0× | Reference sugar |
| Lactose | 1.0× | 0.16× | Same MW as sucrose, but low sweetness |
| Dextrose | 1.85× | 0.7× | Smaller molecule, less sweet |
| Fructose | 1.85× | 1.7× | Same size as dextrose, sweeter |
| Glucose syrup | 0.7× | 0.5× | Larger molecules, mild sweetness |
| Ethanol | 7.4× | — | Very small molecule (46 g/mol) |
The calculator totals up all PAC contributions and uses dextrose to fill the gap between what you have and your PAC target.
Balance ranges
| Parameter | Ideal range | Effect |
| Total solids | 35–42% | Body and creaminess |
| Water | 58–65% | Too much → icy; too little → heavy |
| Fat | 6–12% | Smoothness and flavor release |
| SML | 9–12% | Structure and air retention |
| Total sugars | 16–24% | Sweetness and texture softness |
Note: vegan recipes without dairy will naturally have lower solids and higher water — the balance check warns you, but this is expected for plant-based gelato.
⚖️ Disclaimer & Terms of Use
No Liability
This calculator is provided "as is" for educational and professional reference purposes only. The results are mathematical estimates based on the balancing method and the ingredient data you provide. The accuracy of any recipe depends entirely on the correctness of your inputs (fat %, sugar %, SML %, grams) and on the actual composition of your raw materials, which may vary by supplier, batch, and season.
Not a Substitute for Professional Judgment
No software can replace the experience, taste-testing, and professional judgment of a trained gelato maker. Always verify your recipes through small test batches before scaling to production. Texture, overrun, flavor balance, and serving conditions are influenced by many factors beyond what any formula can capture.
Food Safety
This tool does not assess or guarantee food safety, allergen compliance, shelf life, pasteurization requirements, or regulatory conformity. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your recipes comply with all applicable food safety laws and hygiene regulations in your jurisdiction (e.g., HACCP, EU Reg. 852/2004, FDA 21 CFR, etc.).
No Warranty
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES, OR OTHER LIABILITY ARISING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.