Types of frozen desserts
See what sets gelato, sorbet, frozen custard and other frozen desserts apart, from milkfat and air to how each is made.
This section is for curious eaters and students who want to know what sets one frozen dessert apart from another. One table compares 10 desserts on U.S. legal status, milkfat, air, serving temperature, egg yolk and how each is made.
Below it, four pages compare pairs, such as gelato vs ice cream, and four profile single desserts, such as kulfi. Only some of these desserts have a U.S. standard of identity, and where sources disagree, as they do on gelato's air content, we show the disagreement.
Frozen desserts side by side
| Dessert | Legal status in the U.S. | Milkfat | Air (overrun) and weight | Served at | Egg yolk | How it is made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice cream | Standard of identity: 21 CFR 135.110 | At least 10% (8% of the whole is the floor when bulky flavors such as chocolate, fruit or nuts are added) | Must weigh at least 4.5 lb per gallon, which caps overrun near 104% at a typical mix density (our arithmetic). Guelph: about 100 to 120% for standard ice cream, 25 to 50% for super-premium | About -16 °C (3 °F), Guelph's typical serving temperature | Less than 1.4% egg yolk solids | Frozen while stirred in a barrel freezer, then hardened in a blast freezer at -30 to -40 °C |
| Frozen custard | Same standard: 21 CFR 135.110, named "frozen custard", "french ice cream" or "french custard ice cream" | At least 10%, as for ice cream | Same 4.5 lb per gallon floor as ice cream | Not in our sources | At least 1.4% egg yolk solids (1.12% minimum when bulky flavors are added) | As ice cream, with egg yolk in the mix |
| Gelato | No U.S. standard of identity | About 4 to 8% (SIGEP); about 8% for traditional Italian gelato (dairyscience.info) | Sources disagree: under 18% (dairyscience.info), about 20 to 30% (SIGEP), 25 to 60% (a 2020 review) | About -12 °C (10 °F) (SIGEP); cabinets at about -11 to -12 °C (dairyscience.info) | Not set by any standard we found | Made in batches and served soon after, without the hardening step (2020 review) |
| Soft serve | No separate U.S. standard; soft serve that meets 21 CFR 135.110 is ice cream | 10% in Guelph's example soft-serve mixes; lower-fat versions are sold as other products | Not in our sources | Straight from the freezer, with about half of its water frozen | Under 1.4% when it is sold as ice cream | The same semi-frozen ice cream that leaves the freezer, drawn into a cone instead of being packaged and hardened |
| Sherbet | Standard of identity: 21 CFR 135.140 | 1% to 2% | Must weigh at least 6 lb per gallon | Not in our sources | Not set | Fruit or another flavor, sweeteners and 2 to 5% milk solids, frozen while stirred; fruit sherbets must have at least 0.35% acidity |
| Sorbet (water ice) | No standard under the name sorbet; the closest federal food is water ice, 21 CFR 135.160 | None: water ice has no milk or milk ingredient of any kind | Water ice follows the sherbet rules, including the 6 lb per gallon floor | Not in our sources | None, except egg white | Made like sherbet but without dairy; the mix need not be pasteurized |
| Frozen yogurt | No federal standard; some states set one, such as New Jersey and South Dakota | New Jersey: at least 3.25% before sweeteners and bulky ingredients | New Jersey: must weigh at least 4.0 lb per gallon | Not in our sources | Not set | Dairy cultured with Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, then frozen while stirred (New Jersey rule) |
| Kulfi | No U.S. standard; in India, FSSAI standard 2.1.14 treats it as a kind of ice cream | FSSAI: at least 10% (medium-fat and low-fat kulfi have lower floors) | FSSAI allows air and sets at least 525 g per liter; traditional kulfi has no air (NDRI review) | Frozen hard (FSSAI) | Not set | Milk simmered down by about half with sugar, flavored, then frozen in molds without churning |
| Dondurma (Maraş style) | No U.S. standard; in Turkey, Maraş dondurması is geographical indication No. 344 | At least 4%, from goat's milk | 15 to 30% | Drawn at -5 to -8 °C, stored at -18 °C or colder | None: goat's milk, salep and sugar only | Goat's milk concentrated, boiled with sugar and salep, beaten, then hardened in a -40 °C tunnel |
| Mochi ice cream | No standard of its own; it is a format, and the filling follows the rules for whatever frozen dessert it is | Depends on the filling | Depends on the filling | Not in our sources | Depends on the filling | A ball of ice cream wrapped in a thin layer of sweet rice dough |
Figures from the sources listed at the bottom of this page. "Not in our sources" means we found no sourced figure.
Comparisons
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Gelato vs ice cream
Gelato vs ice cream: fat, air and the law
How gelato and ice cream differ in law, fat, air and temperature
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Sorbet vs sherbet
Sorbet vs sherbet: what sets them apart
How sherbet's milk and legal standard differ from dairy-free sorbet
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Frozen custard vs ice cream
Frozen custard vs ice cream: the egg yolk rule
Same federal standard and fat floor, with egg yolk as the one legal difference
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Soft serve vs ice cream
Soft serve vs ice cream: the real difference
How soft serve and hard ice cream differ in law, fat and method
Four more frozen desserts
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Frozen yogurt
Frozen yogurt: what it is and how it differs
What frozen yogurt is, how states define it and how it is made
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Kulfi
Kulfi: what sets it apart from ice cream
Indian frozen milk dessert, cooked down and frozen in molds without churning
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Dondurma
Dondurma: what makes Turkish ice cream stretch
Stretchy Turkish ice cream from goat's milk, salep and sugar
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Mochi ice cream
Mochi ice cream: what sets it apart
Ice cream wrapped in sweet rice dough, with no standard of its own
Sources
- 21 CFR 135.110, Ice cream and frozen custard Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Formulation Considerations H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Structure from the Ice Crystals H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Hardening H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- What is gelato SIGEP World, the gelato trade fair of Italian Exhibition Group
- Gelato and ice cream dairyscience.info (Michael Mullan)
- A review on Gelato: An Italian delicacy (emergent Life Sciences Research 6(2), 2020) emergent Life Sciences Research 6(2):74-81
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Suggested Mixes for Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- 21 CFR 135.140, Sherbet Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)
- 21 CFR 135.160, Water ices Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)
- N.J. Admin. Code § 8:21-7.7, Frozen yogurt Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (text of the New Jersey rule)
- Administrative Rule 12:11:01:01.06, frozen yogurt South Dakota Legislature
- Myth buster on ice cream and frozen dessert, with standard 2.1.14 (Annexure A) Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
- Recent advances on kulfi: a popular Indian frozen dessert (Acta Technica Corviniensis, 2024) Acta Technica Corviniensis, Bulletin of Engineering, Tome XVII, Fascicule 4
- Geographical indication No. 344, Maraş Dondurması (registered April 18, 2018; in Turkish) Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (Türkpatent)
- What is mochi ice cream Mikawaya (the company's own pages)
- How Mochi Ice Cream Went From Little Tokyo to the World (Robert Ito) Alta Online
Every data source the site uses is on the Sources page.