Cold formulation: balancing ice creams and sorbets
Paid extension Beta
Balance your ice cream and chilled dessert formulas (PAC, POD, solids, fat, sugars) against ranges per family and estimate the serving temperature.
What it is for
Ice cream can’t be balanced by eye. Too little anti-freezing sugar and it comes out rock hard; too much and it melts in the display cabinet. Ice cream makers balance their formulas with a handful of figures (total solids, fat, sugars, PAC, POD) that are normally worked out on a separate spreadsheet, far from the cost and the label.
Cold Formulation brings that balancing into the recipe editor. For each formula you see its values against the ranges for its family (dairy gelato, sorbet, granita…), the estimated serving temperature and a traffic light for each variable. It is designed for ice cream parlours and bakeries with chilled desserts: ice creams, sorbets, granitas, mousses and semifreddos. It is a paid extension and is in beta.
This feature is already available, but we keep improving it with your feedback. If something doesn't behave as you expect, let us know in the chat.
Before you start
- Subscribe to the extension in Extensions, Cold Formulation card, Contract button. It is paid yearly. Only the account owner can subscribe to extensions. See Extensions.
- Without the extension, the editor’s Formulation option appears with a padlock and the Activate in Extensions button.
- Have your recipes created with their ingredients. See Create a recipe.
Set it up
When you switch it on, Recipok creates the formulation variables (PAC, POD, Fat, MSNF (milk solids non-fat), Sugars, Other solids and Fruit) and six families with their recommended ranges: Dairy gelato, Dairy-free gelato, Fruit sorbet, Granita, Soft serve and Take-away (−18 °C).
- In Configuration › Formulation, the Formulation variables section lets you edit or create variables.
- In Families and target ranges you adjust the minimum and maximum of each variable per family, create one with New family or go back to the starting values with Restore recommended.
Ingredient parameters
Each ingredient needs its formulation values. You have two options:
- By hand: on the ingredient sheet, Formulation tab, using the data from the supplier’s technical sheet.
- From the recipe: if the recipe warns about “ingredients without formulation parameters”, click Get parameters with AI. Recipok estimates the values only for the ingredients in that recipe and marks them as estimated. Check them.
Balance a formula
Open the formulation
In the recipe, click Formulation in the side menu. You see the mix table (ingredient, weight and percentage) and the Balancing panel.
Choose the family
In Family, choose what type of product it belongs to. The panel shows the Estimated serving temperature against the Target and each variable in green (within range) or amber (out of range).
Adjust
Change quantities by hand and watch how the indicators move. Or, in the Balance with AI block, click Propose adjustment: Recipok suggests changes in grams with a projection of the result. Click Apply to recipe or Discard.
| Ingredient | Weight | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Mango pulp | 1,500 g | 50.0% |
| Water | 900 g | 30.0% |
| Sugar | 450 g | 15.0% |
| Dextrose | 150 g | 5.0% |
| Total | 3,000 g | 100% |
- 1The family sets the ranges the formula is measured against.
- 2Estimated serving temperature and a traffic light for each variable.
- 3Recipok suggests changes in grams; you decide whether to apply them.
Create a new formula from a description
In Recipes and formulas, click New recipe with AI. Describe what you want (“mango sorbet for the display cabinet at −12 °C, 3 kg, dairy-free”) and the Total weight (g), and click Generate formula. Recipok gives priority to the ingredients in your warehouse; any you don’t have are created with estimated parameters. Click Regenerate for another suggestion or Create recipe to save it as a normal recipe that you can edit.
Where the formulation appears
- When you print the Recipe, the Formulation annex is added.
- In Recipes and formulas, the Serving temperature filter (minimum and maximum in °C) finds formulas by their serving temperature.
- Nutrition information and allergens still come from the ingredients, as in any recipe. See Nutrition information.
Tips
- Start with your five best-selling formulas and complete their ingredients properly. Estimated values are a starting point, not laboratory data.
- Adjust each family’s ranges to your display cabinet and your climate: the recommended ones are a general reference.
- Remember that automatic actions use scans from your document reading quota.