Milk

Unless otherwise specified, the milk and heavy cream called for in the recipes comes from cows. They are among the largest components for ice cream, sherbet, and gelato. Depending on the recipe, the milk can be whole, skim, or nonfat dry. Whole milk contains a certain amount of solids known as serum solids, which will be considered in the total amount of solids that compose an ice cream, sherbet, or gelato when formulating a recipe (see formulas). When the fat is removed from whole milk, it is called skim milk. The serum solids are still there, minus the fat. It is from the skimmed milk serum solids that nonfat milk solids are obtained. Nonfat dry milk is the most common source of nonfat milk solids, with less than 1 percent fat. It is composed of 50 percent lactose, which is the type of sugar found in milk (see more detailed information on sugars), 50 percent proteins (specifically, whey proteins and, to a lesser amount, casein), and minerals (calcium and phosphorus). Even though nonfat dry milk is dry in appearance, it is 4 percent water.