Is there a magic ingredient that keeps ice-cream soft?

Question

I have bought a electric ice-cream churner, I have tried so many different flavours, different recipes, used alcohols. Have read previous questions and a don't believe that leaving ice-cream out to thaw -scoop then refreeze is the only answer.How do the commercial companies keep them soft. I generally find the next day it is fairly reasonable to scoop, but day after day -the longer it stays the harder it becomes.

Answer

Yes, actually, there are two magic ingredients: Guar gum and Xanthan gum.

Guar gum is a thickener, but in small quantities can also prevent the growth of ice crystals which would cause the ice cream to harden into icicles.

Xanthan gum is a stabilizer which helps keep air (called overrun) in the mixture. Air is generally churned into ice cream by ice cream machines, but it won't stay that way without the stabilizer.

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