Gelato calculator
Gelato balanced before it goes into the machine
Build the recipe in grams and the calculator shows, line by line, what it does to the sugars, the fat, the solids and the freezing point. Every metric is compared with the range for your base type, and when one falls outside, the screen says what to do about it.
The classic white base, no fruit.
Batch size
1 L
Mix mass
1,100.0 g
Default is 1.10 g/mL. Batch mass comes from litres × 1000 × density.
Changing the volume or the density rescales the whole recipe, keeping the proportions.
Showing the first matches. Narrow the search to see the rest.
| Ingredient | Amount (g) | % of batch | Remove | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole milk | 66.7% | 91.7 | ||
| Fresh cream 35% | 11.1% | 50.1 | ||
| Skimmed milk powder | 3.9% | 41.5 | ||
| Sucrose | 13.3% | 146.7 | ||
| Sugar (dextrose) | 4.4% | 45.0 | ||
| Stabiliser blend | 0.6% | 6.1 | ||
| Total | 1,100.0 g | 100% | 381.1 |
Every amount is editable and the balance updates as you type. Up to 2 L values show in grams; above that, in kilos.
Base balance
Balanced- Average serving temperature
- -10.5 °C
- Total mass
- 1,100.0 g
- Protein
- 4%
Estimated as PAC ÷ 25. It is the temperature at which the base usually scoops well in the cabinet.
Sugars
Range for this base type: 14% – 22% · % of mass
Sucrose and equivalents. They pull sweetness, body and freezing point all at once.
Fat
Range for this base type: 5% – 12% · % of mass
Total fat, whether from dairy, egg, chocolate or nuts. This is what makes it creamy.
MSNF
Range for this base type: 8% – 12% · % of mass
Milk solids non-fat: protein, lactose and minerals. They give structure and hold water.
Other solids
Range for this base type: 0% – 8% · % of mass
Solids that are neither sugar, fat nor MSNF: fibres, cocoa, stabiliser, fruit pulp.
Total solids
Range for this base type: 34% – 42% · % of mass
Everything that is not water. Sets the yield and the resistance to melting.
Water
Range for this base type: 58% – 66% · % of mass
Free water in the mix. Whatever is not bound by sugar or solids turns into ice crystals.
POD
Range for this base type: 135 – 200 · per kg of mix
Sweetening power per kg of mix, measured against sucrose.
PAC
Range for this base type: 220 – 300 · per kg of mix
Anti-freezing power per kg of mix. This is what decides how hard it sits in the cabinet.
The optimiser adjusts the other lines and aims total mass at the batch target. Each line may only move between a quarter and four times its current amount. Without that floor it would zero the stabiliser, which barely moves the metrics and therefore looks disposable.
Nutrition estimate
Derived from the composition in the spreadsheet, not from lab analysis. It is guidance for whoever is building the recipe, not a label, and no substitute for a report.
| Nutrient | Portion of 50 ga small scoop | 100 greference | Whole batch1,100.0 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 84 kcal | 169 kcal | 1,854 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 12.2 g | 24.4 g | 268.6 g |
| of which sugars | 8.7 g | 17.4 g | 191.7 g |
| Fat | 3.1 g | 6.2 g | 68.4 g |
| Protein | 2.0 g | 4.0 g | 44.0 g |
Carbohydrate comes out by difference (total solids minus fat and protein), the way labelling does it, and therefore includes fibre and polyols. Energy uses Atwater: 4 kcal/g for carbohydrate and protein, 9 for fat.
Using their own energy factor instead of Atwater (polyol, fibre or alcohol): Stabiliser blend.
How the balancing works
Every ingredient in the spreadsheet is described as the composition of one gram of it: how much is sugar, how much is fat, how much is milk solids, how much is other solids, how much is water. The whole recipe is those fractions multiplied by the grams on each line, and nothing else. That is why swapping 50 g of milk for 50 g of cream moves four metrics at once.
Six of the eight metrics are fractions of total mass, so they read as a percentage of the mix. POD and PAC are different: they are normalised per kilo of mix, because they measure intensity rather than quantity. Two recipes with the same amount of sugar can be very differently sweet depending on which sugar it is.
The range for each metric changes with the base type. A sorbet works with more sugar and more PAC than a milk gelato precisely because it has no fat and no milk solids holding the water: without that support, the antifreeze has to do the job alone. Changing the base type does not touch the recipe, only the ruler it is measured with.
The batch is sized in litres and converted to mass by an adjustable density, defaulting to 1.10 g/mL. Changing the volume rescales every line by the same factor: the recipe stays the same, just bigger. If you edit a line by hand and total mass drifts off target, a button appears to scale it back.
Why POD and PAC matter
POD (potere dolcificante) measures how sweet the recipe tastes, not how much sugar it holds. Sucrose is the ruler, at POD 1. Dextrose is less sweet (0.74), fructose much sweeter (1.45), maltodextrin barely sweet at all (0.02). POD is what explains how you can take sweetness out of a cloying gelato without losing body: swap part of the sucrose for maltodextrin or glucose powder and the solids stay exactly where they were.
PAC (potere anticongelante) measures how far the sugars push the freezing point down. Sucrose is the ruler again, but the order changes: dextrose 1.8, invert sugar 1.9, maltodextrin 0.25. Salt and alcohol weigh heavily here, which is why a spoonful of liqueur can wreck the texture of a whole batch.
The two travel together but not in the same direction, and that is what balancing lives on. Dextrose is the classic lever for softening without over-sweetening, because it raises PAC a lot and POD a little. Fructose and invert sugar raise both. Maltodextrin adds body without touching either. Too little PAC and it is a rock in the cabinet; too much and it melts before it reaches the table.
Glossary
- POD
- Potere dolcificante, or sweetening power. How sweet the recipe tastes relative to sucrose, per kilo of mix. Sucrose = 1; dextrose = 0.74; fructose = 1.45.
- PAC
- Potere anticongelante, or anti-freezing power. How far the sugars push the freezing point of the mix down, per kilo, again measured against sucrose. It is what sets the hardness in the cabinet.
- MSNF
- Milk solids non-fat: the protein, lactose and minerals left once fat and water are taken out. They give structure and bind free water. In excess, the lactose crystallises and the texture turns sandy.
- Total solids
- Everything that is not water, adding up sugars, fat, MSNF and other solids. The more solids, the better the gelato resists melting, and the less free water is left to become ice crystals.
- Overrun
- The air whipped in during churning, measured as the gain in volume. Artisan gelato sits between 20 and 35%, well below industrial ice cream. This calculator balances the mix; overrun belongs to the machine and the process.
- Stabiliser blend
- A ready-made mix of stabilisers and emulsifiers, sold in Brazil as "neutro". It counts as other solids and barely moves the metrics, but it is what stops the water organising itself into large crystals in storage.
- Serving temperature
- Estimated here as PAC ÷ 25, with a negative sign. It is the temperature at which the base scoops: colder and it hardens, warmer and it melts.
- Mix density
- How many grams fit in a millilitre of mix before churning. The 1.10 g/mL default converts a batch in litres into mass in grams, which is the unit the recipe is actually weighed in.
Sources for this calculator
This is the only calculator on the site that does not rest on a published work. The 164 ingredients, the POD and PAC coefficients and the ranges for the five base types come from a gelato course spreadsheet, which is teaching material rather than a bibliography, with no page or chapter to cite. It is declared as such rather than dressed up as a book.
Planilha gelato do Curso 4.0
curso · Acervo pessoal
Tabela de ingredientes · Parâmetros de tolerância (bloco S4:AA22) · Gelato de Leite (receita de conferência)