Ice cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with flavorings and sweeteners, such as sugar. This combination is stirred gradually while cooling to prevent large ice crystals from forming, which results in a well textured ice cream. These ingredients, along with air incorporated during the stirring process, make up ice cream. Normally, fewer expensive ice creams contain lower-quality ingredients like natural vanilla may be replaced by artificial vanillin and more air is incorporated, sometimes as much as 50% of the final volume. Artisan produced ice creams frequently contain very little air, even though some is essential to produce the quality creamy texture of the product. Generally speaking, the premium ice creams have between 3% and 15% air. Because most ice cream is sold by volume, it is economically beneficial for producers to reduce the density of the product in order to cut costs. Ice cream can also be hand packed and sold by weight.
The use of stabilizers rather than cream and the integration of air also reduce the fat and energy content of less pricey ice creams, making them more appealing to those on diets. Some frozen desserts have been developed for people with particular dietary needs like lactose prejudice or milk allergy, and for vegans or people following religious limitations like Jews (the Jewish diet has strict regulations considering dairy products, this leads to vegan ice cream being kosher par eve, after approval of a Rabbi), generally named vegan ice cream or non dairy ice cream on the product package, substituting non-dairy ingredients such as coconut milk, rice milk, soy milk, soy yogurt, oat cream, soy cream for the dairy milk and cream.