Characteristic ice cream using stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) leaf powder as natural sweetener

Sweetener is one of important factors which affect consumer acceptance as it affects the ice cream texture. Research on an alternative and healthier sweetener to substitute sugar in ice cream production has begun to emerge as consumers’ awareness on healthy food has been increasing. One of the promising alternatives was the utilization of Stevia leaf powder as it is known to have no calorie content. In this research, the best proportion of stevia leaf powder to substitute sugar in ice cream production was determined based on its physicochemical properties (viscosity, overrun, melting rate, sugar and total calories) and antioxidant activity. The research was done through laboratory experiment with a Completely Randomized Design consisted of four sugar and stevia leaf powder combinations and four replications. The treatments were P0 (20% sugar + 0% steviea leaf powder); P1 (17.5% sugar + 0.3% stevia leaf powder); P2 (16.25% sugar + 0.45% stevia leaf powder); and P3 (15% sugar + 0.6% stevia leaf powder). The obtained data was analyzed by ANOVA and further tested by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test upon significant effect.The results showed that the utilization of stevia leaf powder as sugar substitution gave highly significant effects (P<0.01) on ice cream viscosity, overrun, melting rate, sugar content, total calories and antioxidant activity. It can be concluded that the combination of 15% sugar and 0.6% stevia leaf powder (P3) produced the best ice cream characteristics with the viscosity of 1336.25 cP, overrun of 30.01%, melting rate of 37.24 minutes/50 g, sugar content of 34.63%, total calorie of 4.99 kcal and antioxidant activity of 81.92%.