Charts

What You’ll Learn: This guide explains what charts are, how they work, and how to create and manage them in the Ice Cream Calculator. Charts are essential tools for analyzing and balancing your ice cream recipes to achieve the perfect texture, sweetness, and consistency. Charts are at the heart of the Ice Cream Calc application.

1. What Are Charts?

Charts are customizable templates that define target properties for your ice cream recipes. Think of a chart as a blueprint that tells you what ranges your recipe should fall into for properties like fat content, sugar levels, total solids, and serving temperature.

Why Use Charts?

Different types of frozen desserts have different ideal properties:

Ice Cream typically has higher fat content (10-16%) and higher total solids (39-45%) for a rich, creamy texture
Gelato has lower fat (5-9%) and lower total solids (35-40%), but achieves a dense texture through minimal overrun and warmer serving temperature
Sorbet contains no dairy and relies on sugar content and serving temperature for proper texture
Soft Serve has specific formulations designed for serving at warmer temperatures directly from the machine

Charts help you create recipes that match these target profiles by providing visual feedback and enabling automatic recipe balancing.

How Charts Work

Each chart contains a set of data items (also called properties or parameters). For each data item, you can define:

Minimum and Maximum values – The acceptable range for this property
Target value (optional) – The ideal value within the range
Priority – Whether this property is critical for balancing
Display settings – How the property is shown in charts and reports

Example: A basic ice cream chart might include:

Total Fat: 12-15% (Target: 14%)
Total Solids: 36-40% (Target: 38%)
Sweetness (POD): 180-200 (Target: 190)
Serving Temp (PAC): 220-250 (Target: 235)
MSNF: 10-11% (Target: 10.5%)

Reading a Chart

When you select a chart for your recipe, the calculator shows your recipe’s current value for each property as a bar, measured against the chart’s target ranges:

Green – the value is within the range
Red – the value is below or above the range
Yellow – the property has no range; it is shown for information only
Grey – your recipe has no value for this property

Black whiskers on each bar show the Min–Max range, and a small yellow diamond marks the target value when one is set. When a snapshot is active, orange bars show the snapshot’s values next to your recipe. Hover over a bar to see its value, range, target and scale.

This visual feedback makes it easy to see at a glance whether your recipe is balanced and which properties need adjustment.

Learn More About Balancing: Charts are the foundation of the automatic balancing feature, which can adjust your ingredient quantities to meet your target ranges. For detailed information about how to use charts for balancing, see Balancing.

2. Types of Charts

There are two kinds of charts: your personal charts and the built-in default charts.

Personal Charts

Personal charts are charts you create and customize for your own recipes. These charts:

Are private to your account
Can be freely edited, renamed, or deleted
Are perfect for developing your signature ice cream styles
Can be created from scratch, copied from a default chart, created from a recipe, imported from a file, or cloned from a chart someone shared

On the Charts page they are listed under My charts, and the filter chip is My Charts. In the Recipe Editor they are marked Personal or Mine.

Default Charts (Standard Charts)

Default charts are professionally developed charts that come pre-installed with the calculator. The app uses two names for them: the filter chips, the chart picker and the right-click menu say Default, while the Charts page section and the Chart Editor say Standard charts. Both mean the same charts. These charts:

Provide proven target ranges for common ice cream styles
Are available to all users
Cannot be edited directly (but can be copied to create personal versions)
Serve as excellent starting points for your own recipes

Tip: If you like a default chart but want to make small adjustments, use its Copy button to create a personal copy that you can customize freely.

Charts Shared by Other Users

Charts that other users share are not a third chart type. They are community content in Explore. Open a shared chart there and click Clone to My Charts to get a personal copy that you can use and edit like any other personal chart. You can also rate shared charts. Someone can also send you a private link to a chart, which you clone the same way.

Learn More About Sharing: For browsing Explore, cloning charts and sharing your own, see Sharing.

3. The Charts Page

The Charts page (Recipe Charts) is your central hub for managing all your charts. Open it with Charts in the main navigation menu.

Chart Cards

Charts are shown as cards in two sections: My charts first, then Standard charts, each sorted by name. Each card shows the chart’s name, its description, and its category as a small badge. Click a card to open the chart in the Chart Editor: your own charts open for editing, standard charts open in view mode.

Filtering and Searching

My Charts, Default and All chips – show only your charts, only the default charts, or both. Each chip shows the number of charts.
Search charts – type to filter by chart name and description.
Category chips – one chip per category that has charts (for example Ice Cream, Gelato, Sorbet), plus All, and Uncategorized when some charts have no category. The counts follow the type filter and the search.
Clear Filters – resets the type, search and category.

On phones the search box sits above the chips, and the category chips scroll sideways.

Chart Actions

The buttons at the bottom of each card:

Personal Charts:

Edit (pencil) – Open the chart in the Chart Editor
Copy – Create a duplicate named “(Copy)” in your personal charts
Delete (trash) – Permanently remove the chart (requires confirmation)

Default Charts:

View (eye) – Open the chart in view mode
Copy – Create a personal copy that you can edit

Important: Deleting a chart is permanent and cannot be undone. Export important charts first (see section 11).

You need to be signed in to create, copy or edit charts.

4. Creating a New Chart

Creating a custom chart allows you to define your own target properties for your ice cream recipes. You can start from scratch, copy an existing chart, or build one from a recipe (see Charts in the Recipe Editor).

Creating a Chart from Scratch

Go to the Charts page
Click the Create Chart button in the top-right corner
Enter a Chart Name and, optionally, a category and description
Click Create Chart. You return to the Charts page with the new chart under My charts.
Open the new chart and add properties with Add Property (properties can only be added once the chart has been saved)

Copying an Existing Chart

Copying is often the fastest way to create a new chart, especially if you want to make minor adjustments to a default chart.

Find the chart on the Charts page
Click its Copy button
A copy is created with “(Copy)” added to the name and appears under My charts
Click the copy to customize it

You can also open a default chart, change it in view mode, and click Save as Copy. The app asks Create Personal Copy?; click Create Copy. If you didn’t rename it, the copy gets “(Copy)” added to the name, and the editor opens on the new copy.

Best Practice: Start by copying a default chart that’s close to your needs, then adjust specific properties. This is faster than building from scratch and ensures you don’t miss important properties.

5. The Chart Editor

The Chart Editor is where you define all aspects of your chart, from basic information to detailed property ranges. It works in one of four modes:

Create Chart – a new chart. The save button is Create Chart.
Edit Chart – one of your charts. The save button is Save Changes; saving returns you to the Charts page.
View Chart – a standard chart, with the note “This is a standard chart. Changes are not saved to it. Saving creates a personal copy in your charts.” The save button is Save as Copy.
Local Edit Mode – opened from the Recipe Editor; changes apply to that recipe only. The save button is Apply Changes (see Charts in the Recipe Editor).

Cancel leaves without saving.

Chart Information

Chart Name

Give your chart a descriptive name that indicates its purpose (required). Good examples:

“Premium Vanilla Ice Cream”
“Low-Fat Gelato Base”
“Fruit Sorbet – High Sugar”
“My Signature Chocolate”

Description

Add a brief description explaining what this chart is for and any special considerations. For example:

“Balanced chart for fruit-flavored ice creams with moderate fat content”
“High-end gelato with intense flavor and creamy texture”
“Budget-friendly ice cream using lower-cost stabilizers”

Preview

The Preview card draws the chart as you edit it. When you open a chart from the Charts page there is no recipe, so each bar is drawn in green at its target (or at the middle of its range when there is no target), with the range whiskers and target diamonds; a property with neither range nor target shows a dashed placeholder. In Local Edit Mode the preview shows the recipe’s real values and colors.

Click a bar to open that property’s settings.
Hover a bar to highlight its property row, and hover a row to highlight its bar.

Chart Properties

The Chart Properties card lists the chart’s properties, with the count in its title and the Add Property button. See sections 6–9.

Sharing a Chart

When you edit one of your saved charts, two icons appear next to Cancel: Share chart to community (opens the Share Chart page, to publish the chart in Explore) and Share via Private Link (creates a link that only people who have it can open). See Sharing.

Saving Your Chart

Click Save Changes (or Create Chart for a new chart) in the top-right corner. Saving is blocked while any property row shows a range error; fix the highlighted rows first (see section 8).

6. Adding Chart Properties

Chart properties (also called data items) are the individual measurements and calculations that define your target ranges. Properties can include nutritional data (fat, sugar, protein), ice cream-specific values (PAC, POD, MSNF), and calculated values (serving temperature, freezing point).

Adding a Property

In the Chart Editor, click Add Property in the Chart Properties card
The Select Recipe Data dialog opens. Search for a property or browse the categories, and click the one you want
The Add Chart Property dialog opens right away, with the range turned on from 0 to 100
Set the range, target and other settings (see sections 7–9) and click Add

Add one property at a time; repeat for each property you need.

Common Chart Properties

Here are some essential properties you’ll likely want to include in most charts:

Essential Properties:

Total Fat – Overall fat content (from cream, milk, egg yolks, etc.)
Total Solids – Total non-water content
Total Sugars – Combined sugar content from all sources
POD (Sweetness) – Relative sweetness measurement
PAC (Serving Temperature) – Affects texture and scoopability

Dairy-Specific Properties:

MSNF – Milk solids non-fat (important for structure)
Milk Fat – Fat specifically from dairy sources
Lactose – Milk sugar content

Functional Ingredients:

Stabilizers – Stabilizer content (usually 0.3-0.5%)
Emulsifiers – Emulsifier content (usually 0.2-0.5%)

Calculated Properties:

Serving Temperature – Temperature at proper scooping consistency
Freezing Point – Temperature where mix starts to freeze

Tip: You can add any property to the chart without a target range. Turn off Enable Range Limits and the property is displayed in the chart for information (yellow bar) but not used in balancing.

Property Rows

Each property is a row in the Chart Properties card:

Drag handle (left) – drag the row to change the order
Name – the display name, with the property key below it
Min, Max and Target fields – edit the range right in the row. A property without a range shows Display only instead.
Flag icons – a thermometer for a temperature property, a scales icon when the property is used in balancing, and an exclamation mark for High Priority
Edit (pencil) and Delete (trash) buttons

Reordering Properties

The order of the rows is the order of the bars in the chart. Drag a row by its handle (the dotted grip on the left) to move it.

Deleting Properties

Click the Delete button (red trash icon) on the row, or Delete in the property’s dialog. The property is removed at once, without confirmation. Remember to save your chart afterwards.

Note: Deleting a property only removes it from the chart, not from the calculator. You can always add it again with Add Property.

7. Editing Chart Properties

After adding properties to your chart, you’ll configure each one with appropriate ranges and settings. This is where you define what “good” looks like for each property in your recipes. Simple range changes can be made in the row itself; everything else is in the Edit Chart Property dialog.

Opening the Property Editor

Click the Edit button (pencil) on the property’s row, or click its bar in the Preview. In the Recipe Editor, clicking a bar in the chart opens the same dialog.

Property Information

At the top of the dialog, you’ll see:

Property – The data key (e.g., “Total fat”, “PACtot”, “MSNF”)
Temperature chip – Shown for temperature properties. It is set automatically from the property name when you add it.
Current – The value from your current recipe

Note: The current value is only shown when editing a property from within the Recipe Editor. When editing charts directly from the Charts page, it shows “Not Available”.

Display Settings

Display Name

By default, properties use their technical data key names. You can provide a more user-friendly display name:

Example: “Milk Solids” instead of “MSNF”
Leave blank to use the property key
This name appears in charts and reports

Scale Factor

The scale factor is a multiplier applied when displaying the property value. This factor is used to scale the height of the bar in the chart making the chart more readable when mixing properties with widely different values. Most properties use the default scale of 1.0, but you can adjust this for special cases:

1.0 – Standard display (most common)
-1.0 – For temperature properties
100 – For properties with very small values like Stabilizers
Other values – For specialized unit conversions

Tip: Generally, leave the scale factor at 1.0 unless you have a specific display requirement. The scale only changes the bar height, never the value or the balancing. In the Recipe Editor the auto-scale icon can suggest scale factors for the whole chart (see section 10).

Decimals

The number of decimal places (0–4) used when the value, range and target are shown.

8. Configuring Property Ranges

Ranges are the heart of your chart configuration. They define what values are acceptable for each property and enable automatic recipe balancing.

Enable Range Limits

The Enable Range Limits checkbox controls whether this property is used in recipe evaluation and balancing:

Unchecked: Property is displayed but not used for balancing or evaluation (display-only, yellow bar)
Checked: Property has a range, is colored green or red, and is used in balancing

When to disable ranges: Some properties are useful to display but shouldn’t constrain your recipe (e.g., total recipe weight, mix volume, overrun). Leave ranges disabled for these informational properties.

Setting Minimum and Maximum Values

When range limits are enabled, you set the acceptable boundaries:

Minimum Value

The lowest acceptable value for this property. If your recipe falls below this value, it will be highlighted as out of range (shown in red).

Maximum Value

The highest acceptable value for this property. If your recipe exceeds this value, it will be highlighted as out of range (shown in red).

Example – Total Fat Range:

Minimum: 12.0 (Below this, ice cream may be icy)
Maximum: 16.0 (Above this, ice cream may be too rich)
Result: Recipes with 12-16% fat are considered “in range” (green)

Setting Target Values (Optional)

Within your min/max range, you can specify an optional target value – the ideal value you’re aiming for:

With Target: Balancing algorithm tries to hit this specific value
Without Target: Balancing aims for the center of your min/max range

Getting into the range always comes first; the target decides where in the range the balancer ends up. The target must lie within the range.

Example – Total Fat with Target:

Minimum: 12.0
Maximum: 16.0
Target: 15.0
Result: Balancing prioritizes hitting 15% fat, but anywhere from 12-16% is acceptable

Best Practice: Use target values for your most critical properties. This gives the balancing algorithm clear goals while still allowing some flexibility. Sometimes you can accept a large range but prefer a specific target.

Clearing the Target

To remove a target value and return to center-of-range balancing, click the Clear Target button (X icon) next to the Target field in the dialog, or empty the Target field in the property row.

Range Validation

The app checks every range before it is saved:

In the property rows: a Min above Max shows Min must not exceed Max, and a target outside the range shows Target must be within the range. While any row shows an error, saving the chart is blocked with “Fix the highlighted property ranges before saving”.
In the Edit Chart Property dialog: if Min is above Max, the two values are swapped when you click Save. A target outside the range shows an error (“Target must be within the range … (or leave it empty to aim for the center of the range)”) and the dialog won’t close until you fix or clear it.

9. Balancing Settings

These settings control how the property is used in the automatic recipe balancing algorithm.

Which Properties Are Balanced

Every property with a range is used in balancing. There is no separate setting: a property with Enable Range Limits on shows the scales icon in its row and takes part in balancing. To show a property without balancing it, turn its range off (Display only).

High Priority in Balancing

The High Priority in Balancing checkbox (“Give this property higher importance in balancing”) marks this property as critically important:

Enabled: The property counts 2.5 times as much as a normal property. When not every target can be reached, the balancer works hardest on priority properties.
Disabled: Property has normal importance in balancing

The checkbox is only shown when Enable Range Limits is on; turning the range off also clears the priority. Priority properties show an exclamation-mark icon in their row and a star in the balance result.

Example Priority Properties:

Total Solids – Critical for ice cream structure (set as priority)
PAC/POD – Affects texture and sweetness (set as priority)
Stabilizers – Important but narrow range (normal priority)

Best Practice: Mark no more than three properties as high priority. If everything is a priority, nothing is. Focus on the properties that define the fundamental character of your ice cream style.

Saving Property Changes

Click Save in the dialog (Add for a new property) to return to the Chart Editor with your property updated, then save the chart itself with Save Changes. Cancel closes the dialog without changes.

10. Charts in the Recipe Editor

In the Recipe Editor the chart sits in the chart card below the ingredient table, with the chart’s name above it. All chart actions are in the Chart menu: a button in the chart sidebar on desktop, or the chart icon in the row of buttons below the chart on phones.

The Chart Menu

Select chart – opens the Select Chart dialog with your personal charts and the default charts, the My Charts / Default / All chips, a category filter and a search box. Pick a chart and click Select Chart. The editor remembers the chart for each recipe.
Edit chart – opens the Chart Editor in Local Edit Mode (“Changes apply to your recipe only”). The Preview shows your recipe’s real values. Click Apply Changes to return to the recipe with the changes, or Cancel to discard them. This works for default charts too.
Save chart – saves local changes (from Edit chart, a bar click or auto-scale) to the chart. It is available only when there are local changes. For your own chart the changes are saved to it, so every recipe that uses the chart sees them. A default chart can’t be changed, so the app asks Create Personal Copy; click Create Copy to save your changes as “(Copy)” in your personal charts, and the recipe switches to the copy.
Reload chart – discards local changes and shows the chart as saved.
Create chart from recipe – builds a new personal chart from the current recipe (below).
Compare recipes – compares several recipes on the current chart (below).

Local changes are temporary. They belong to this recipe only (other recipes that use the same chart don’t see them) and are not saved with the recipe, so use Save chart for anything you want to keep.

Switching Charts and Editing Bars

Right-click the chart to open a quick menu: Reload (the same as Reload chart) and a list of all your charts and the default charts, each marked Mine or Default, with a check mark at the current chart. Click a chart to switch to it.
Click a bar to open the Edit Chart Property dialog for that property, with your recipe’s current value. The change is a local change; use Save chart to keep it.

Auto-Scale

The small wand icon to the right of the chart name (“Auto-suggest scale factors so all bars are readable”) sets a scale factor for each property that has a value in your recipe, so that bars with very different sizes – POD around 180, stabilizers below 1, temperatures below zero – are all readable. The suggested factors are powers of ten (for example 10, 100 or -1) and replace the existing scale factors. It is a local change: the app reports how many scale factors it adjusted, and you use Save chart to keep them, or Reload chart to undo them.

Create Chart from Recipe

Use this when a recipe works well and you want a chart that describes it. The Create Chart From Recipe dialog starts from the properties of the current chart:

Chart Name – suggested as “[recipe name] chart”.
Tightness – Tight (±2%), Normal (±5%) or Loose (±10%): how wide the ranges around the recipe’s values are.
For each property, choose a Mode:
- Keep – keep the current chart’s range, target and priority.
- Recipe – set a range around the recipe’s current value. You can adjust the Min and Max in the row. The target and priority are cleared.
- Off – no range (display only).

Click Create. The new chart is saved in your personal charts and becomes the recipe’s chart. You need to be signed in to use it.

Compare Recipes

Compare recipes shows several recipes side by side on the current chart, as groups of bars in a different color for each recipe. It starts with the recipes open in your recipe tabs. Click Add recipe to add more, click a recipe’s chip to hide or show it, and click the chip’s x to remove it. Comparing changes nothing in your recipes or the chart. To compare against just one recipe while you edit, use a snapshot instead (see Balancing).

On Phones

On screens 768px wide or narrower, the chart shows horizontal bars: each property is a row with its value, range, target marker and an Above/Below label when out of range. Tap a row to edit that property. The Chart menu is the chart icon in the button row below the chart; there is no right-click, so use Select chart to switch charts.

Share – from the Chart Editor of one of your charts: Share chart to community or Share via Private Link. See Sharing.
Export Charts – on the Tools page. Select one or more of your personal charts and download them as a JSON file.
Import Charts – on the Tools page. Choose a chart JSON file (exported from the web app or the desktop app), review the charts in it, select which to import and optionally rename them. They are imported as personal charts.
Desktop app – importing the desktop database also imports its charts; see Desktop Migration Guide.

12. Chart Configuration Examples

To help you understand how to configure charts effectively, here are two fundamental charts that demonstrate the differences between ice cream and gelato formulations.

12.1 Ice Cream Base Chart

This is a versatile chart for traditional American-style ice cream. It’s ideal for vanilla, and other dairy-based flavors where the flavoring ingredients are in relatively small amounts or as a base for inclusions.

Ice Cream Base – All Properties:

Property	Range	Purpose
Milk Fat	10 – 15%	Fat from dairy sources; provides richness and smooth texture
Total Fat	10 – 20%	All fats including milk fat, egg yolks, and other sources
Milk Solids	16 – 22%	Solids from dairy; provides body and helps prevent iciness
Total Solids	39 – 45%	All non-water content; controls overall structure and texture
Water	55 – 61%	Water content; inversely related to total solids
Serving Temp	-17 to -14°C	Calculated serving temperature for proper scooping consistency
POD (Sweetness)	165 – 185	Relative sweetness level; 100 = sucrose reference
Stabilizers/Water	0.2 – 0.35%	Stabilizer concentration relative to water content
Emulsifiers	0.3 – 0.5%	Emulsifier content for improved texture and overrun
Lactose Concentration	0 – 10%	Milk sugar concentration; high levels can cause sandiness

12.2 Gelato Base Chart

Gelato has a different target profile than ice cream. This chart is designed for Italian-style gelato with dairy flavors, spices, herbs, infusions, or as a base for add-ins where the flavoring ingredients are in relatively small amounts.

Gelato Base – All Properties:

Property	Range	Purpose
Milk Fat	5 – 9%	Lower fat allows more intense flavor expression
Total Fat	5 – 12%	Overall fat content from all sources
Milk Solids	16 – 22%	Non-fat dairy solids for structure
Total Solids	35 – 40%	Lower than ice cream; density comes from minimal overrun
Water	60 – 65%	Higher water content than ice cream
Serving Temp Gelato	-13 to -11°C	Gelato is served warmer than ice cream for optimal texture
POD (Sweetness)	165 – 185	Similar sweetness range to ice cream
Stabilizers/Water	0.2 – 0.35%	Standard stabilizer concentration
Emulsifiers	0.3 – 0.5%	Emulsifier content for texture control
Lactose Concentration	0 – 10%	Maximum lactose to prevent crystallization

12.3 Ice Cream vs Gelato: Key Differences

Understanding why these charts differ helps you create the right chart for your specific frozen dessert style:

Property	Ice Cream	Gelato	Why Different?
Milk Fat	10-15%	5-9%	Lower fat in gelato allows flavors to be more pronounced
Total Solids	39-45%	35-40%	Ice cream has higher solids for richer base structure
Water	55-61%	60-65%	Gelato has more water but feels dense due to low overrun
Serving Temp	-17 to -14°C	-13 to -11°C	Gelato served warmer for softer, creamier texture

Ice Cream vs Gelato: The main differences between artisanal ice cream and Gelato are the fat content and serving temperature. Ice cream typically has higher fat (10-15%) and is served colder (-17 to -14°C), while Gelato has lower fat (5-9%) and is served warmer (-13 to -11°C). The warmer serving temperature and lower fat content allow Gelato’s flavors to be more pronounced on the palate.

Tip: When creating a chart for a new style, start by copying the closest existing chart (ice cream or gelato) and adjust the ranges based on the differences in your target product. For specialty products like chocolate gelato or nut-based ice creams, you may need to further adjust ranges to account for fat and solids from flavoring ingredients.

13. Best Practices for Chart Design

Start with Proven Charts

Rather than building charts from scratch:

Copy a default chart that’s close to your target style
Test with existing recipes that you know work well
Adjust ranges gradually based on actual results
Document your changes in the description field

Keep Critical Properties Tight

Focus your narrow ranges on the properties that define your style:

For texture: Tight ranges on total solids and water
For sweetness: Narrow POD range
For mouthfeel: Specific fat content targets
For stability: Precise stabilizer and emulsifier ratios

Tight vs. Relaxed Ranges:

Tight range example: Total Solids 38-40% (only 2% tolerance)
Relaxed range example: Total Fat 10-20% (10% tolerance)

Use tight ranges for properties that critically define your ice cream style, and relaxed ranges for secondary properties.

Avoid Conflicting Properties

Some properties are mathematically related and can create impossible balancing scenarios:

Don’t constrain both: Water AND Total Solids with tight ranges (they must sum to 100%)
Be careful with: Milk Fat AND Total Fat (milk fat is part of total fat)
Consider the relationship between: POD and PAC (both influenced by sugar content)

Common mistake: Setting Total Solids to 38-40% and Water to 55-60% creates an impossible scenario (they don’t sum to 100%). Instead, set ranges on one and let the other be calculated.

Use Priority Wisely

Mark no more than three properties as high priority – these should be the properties that truly define your product:

Good Priority Selection for Ice Cream:

✓ Total Solids (controls structure and texture)
✓ POD (defines sweetness level)
✓ PAC (affects serving temperature and texture)
✗ Stabilizers (important but narrow range is already constraining)
✗ Total Fat (important but with wide acceptable range)

Test and Refine

Creating great charts is an iterative process:

Create a test chart with your best-guess ranges
Balance several recipes using the chart
Make and taste the results
Adjust ranges based on which recipes worked best
Document successful ranges in your chart description
Share your findings with the community once perfected

Pro Tip: Keep notes about which recipes worked with each chart version. This helps you understand why certain ranges work better than others and accelerates the refinement process. When a recipe turns out exactly right, Create chart from recipe captures it as a chart.

Consider Your Ingredients

Your chart should match your actual ingredient inventory:

Limited sugar options? Relax PAC/POD ranges slightly
Using specific stabilizers? Adjust stabilizer/water ratios for your blend
No egg yolks? Ensure emulsifier ranges compensate
Plant-based? Use TSNFS instead of MSNF

Document Your Charts

Always fill in the description field with helpful information:

Good Description Example:

“Balanced chart for fruit-flavored ice creams using 14% milk fat cream and Cremodan 64 stabilizer. POD range of 170-180 provides noticeable but not overpowering sweetness. Tested successfully with strawberry, peach, and mango recipes.”

Better Than: “Fruit ice cream chart”

14. Summary

Charts are powerful tools that define target properties for your ice cream recipes. By understanding how to create, configure, and use charts effectively, you can:

✓ Develop consistent recipes that match your signature style
✓ Use automatic balancing to quickly adjust recipes to target ranges
✓ Visualize how your recipes compare to proven formulations
✓ Experiment with new flavors while maintaining quality standards
✓ Share your successful formulations with the community

Next Steps:

Browse the default charts to see proven configurations
Copy a chart that matches your style and customize it
Test your chart with several recipes and refine the ranges
Learn about Balancing to put your charts to work
Browse charts shared by other users in Explore; see Sharing

Ice Cream Calc