The 400 series

Curious about the 400 series of numbers appearing on the Gundowring ice-cream label list of additives, I made further investigations.

And at this website I found the following:

412 Natural stabiliser

Guar gum Derived from the Seeds of Cyamoposis tetragonolobus of Indian origin; fed to cattle in the US; can cause nausea, flatulence and cramps, may reduced cholesterol levels. See 410.

415 Xanthin gum

Derived from the fermentation of corn sugar with a bacterium. Improves 'flow'.

410 Locust bean (Carob gum)

Derived from Carob or Locust bean tree Ceratonia siliqua. As a thickener, vegetable gum, artificial sweetener base, modifying agent or stabiliser, it is used in lollies, cordials, essences, some flour products, dressings, fruit juice drinks; frequently used as a caffeine-free chocolate substitute; may lower cholesterol levels.

407 Carrageenan 'Irish Moss'

Fibre extracted from seaweed, used as a setting agent. It has recently been linked with cancer because it may become contaminated when ethylene oxide is added to an inferior product, this results in ethylene chlorohydrins forming, a highly carcinogenic compound; linked to toxic hazards, including ulcers and cancer; the most serious concerns relate to degraded carrageenan, which is not a permitted additive; however, native carrageenan, which is used, may become degraded in the gut.

The above fall under the headings of Vegetable Gums, Emulsifiers and stabilisers. According to this source of information, emulsifiers help prevent separation of oil and water mixtures and stabilisers maintain the uniform dispersal of substances in food.

In other words, no nasty lumps in the finished product.

An ideal always aimed for in the home kitchen, where the rectification of problems are not achieved with the help of additives, but by falling back on tried and true methods of putting wrongs right in the bowl or saucepan as the cook prepares the dish or meal.

Ice-cream, you-scream, we-all-scream

Earlier this morning I was not quite screaming but very close to it. This screaming near-miss came about when I discovered I had been sold a ticket at Melbourne’s Southern Cross station for a bus service not operating in Rutherglen though the school holidays. As a result I was left to amuse myself for another day in lovely downtown Rutherglen. I threw myself on the kindness of strangers and spent most of the day in the cool of the library, only venturing out a couple of times into the blistering heat.

It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good somewhere. My extended stay allowed me to sample the pies for which this town is well-known, to drink some more of the best coffee in town and to carry out some serious taste and labelling research on Gundowring ice-cream.

Back at the tourist information centre in the afternoon I buy a small cardboard cup of the flavour of the day – Toasted Honey and Walnut ice-cream. I look at that wording and decide I would alter the words to read Toasted Walnut and Honey; maybe I’m being even more pedantic than usual today , as a spin–off from the bus debacle, but the idea of toasted honey seems rather odd. I toss around possibilities such as clever marketing, the actual process of toasting honey and walnuts, either separately or together, while I walk outside to sit at an outdoor table.

  Sitting at a table, under the shade of an enormous old peppercorn tree, I peel off the lid. This ice-cream is made in the Kiewa Valley in north-eastern Victoria, using a combination of farm fresh milk, cream, sucrose, walnuts, stringy bark honey, skim milk powder, wheat glucose, egg yolk, natural stabiliser 412, 415,410,407.

  All those numbers. What can they mean? They will be there for a very good reason, from the maker’s point of view, but are they (apart from the natural stabiliser 412) natural or chemical and where is their country of origin? There’s another item to add to the to-do list: investigate the numbers game, or maybe if a number appears on the ingredient part of the label simply place the product in the too-hard basket.




I’m not big fan of ice-cream at the best of times but I was keen to try this local product. I’ve tried it now and for me it lacks the wow factor. It is expensive, and while prospective buyers might be expected to place quality above price, for me in this case, the price is too high.