Investigation of Physicochemical, Functional, and Nutritional Properties of Ice Cream Fortified with Melon and Watermelon Kernel Oils

This study aims to determine the effects of incorporating melon and watermelon kernel oils into ice cream formulations on the textural profile, mineral richness, and antioxidant activity of the product, and to investigate how oil addition optimizes critical quality parameters such as melting characteristics and viscosity of ice cream. The parameters analyzed include dry matter percentage, first drop, meltdown, overrun, antioxidant content, color and textural characteristics, total phenolic content, and mineral matter content. Among the samples, the highest first drop, meltdown, and overrun values were determined to be 31.67 s, 122.08 s, and 33.34%, respectively, in ice cream samples produced with 0.3% melon kernel oil addition, and the highest DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and TPC in samples produced with a 0.3% addition of watermelon kernel oil, with values of 81.88%, 9.90 µmol TE/g, 2.06 µmol TE/g, and 128.72 mg GAE/100 g, respectively. Likewise, the lowest firmness, highest consistency, cohesiveness, and viscosity index values (15.53 g, 456.34 g.s, −21.50 g.s, and −8.16) were also found in the same ice cream samples. P, Mg, Ca, Na, K, Fe, and Zn contents increased with increasing addition of seed oil, and P showed the highest increase among the samples, followed by Na, K, and Ca, respectively. The samples demonstrating the most significant increase in mineral content were those produced with 0.3% melon kernel oil.