The latest scoop is no surprise.
Ice cream is the first choice for dessert, any place, any time.But never more than the hand-cranked, mix-it-yourself varieties dipped from your own freezer.
Whether it's served at a backyard barbecue, a picnic at the park, a Sunday evening snack or a family reunion, homemade ice cream tops the list.
Homemade ice-cream concoctions generate a feeling of nostalgia, not unlike that of homemade bread. It seems the flavor preference is immaterial - homemade ice cream always draws an enthusiastic crowd.
And the flavors are as varied as the people who turn the cranks. That's the fun of homemade.
You can personalize ingredients.
With the addition of heavy cream, you get a premium, high butter-fat smoothness. Half and half, whole milk, evaporated or condensed milks alter the recipe and adjust the calories.
Favorite blends of fruits or nuts can be customized.
Reader Pat Holm, for example, submitted a recipe for Banana Split ice cream. To create the mixture, Holm uses ingredients typical of a special-order banana split but blends them together in a freezer full of flavors.
Historically speaking, we've been swallowing ice cream by the gallon for years.
Alexander the Great recorded a preference for a cool, sweet treat similar to ice cream. Marco Polo returned to Italy with a Far Eastern product like sherbet. Historians estimate that his recipe evolved into ice cream sometime during the 16th century in Italy. Catherine de Medici carried the recipe to France when she became the wife of Henry II, but the public got their first taste at the Cafe Procope in Paris in 1670.
Ice cream spanned the ocean with the colonists, but only the elite. Dolly Madison served strawberry ice cream as dessert for President Madison's second inagural banquet in 1812.
Around 1800, insulated ice houses were invented, making ice cream more available, and in 1845, Nancy Johnson Jersey invented the hand-operated ice-cream freezer. In a short time, the market was flooded with similar inventions, allowing the American public to enjoy ice cream in their own homes.
The ice cream cone originated at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair when an ice cream vendor ran out of bowls and rolled a waffle-like Middle Eastern pastry into a cornucopia shape to use as a cone.
Whether in a cone or a bowl, ice cream continues to be America's most popular dessert, both at home or away.
Creating ice cream extravaganzas at home has taken on a new definition with new products available in recent years.
The standard salt- and ice-bucket freezer has a dasher that continually moves the ice cream mixture, either by hand-crank or electric means. Using a mixture of about 1:4 of salt to ice concentrates the freezing ability of the ice and facilitates freezing.
When using an electric freezer, plug in the motor and allow it to run for one minute. While freezer is turning, add ice and salt in layers. Begin with about 6 cups of ice or about 2 inches, then evenly distribute 1/4 cup salt. Alternate ice and salt until they surround and cover the container. When the motor labors heavily or stops, immediately unplug freezer and readjust ice to ensure a smooth rotation. (A wooden spoon handle works well.)
Some ice cream freezers are designed to fit inside the freezing compartment of a refrigerator, with the power cord snaking out the closed door. An electric motor churns the ice-cream mixture and drives a small fan that circulates the cold air around the canister. The canister is stationary; the dasher turns. This type of freezer doesn't require salt or ice. The Salton Ice Cream machine is one of this type.
The newest type of ice cream machine is somtimes called a Donvier-type after the Japanese company that invented it. This machine features a sealed, hollow metal canister that is filled with a special coolant. This canister must be held at 0 degrees in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator for eight hours before use. Then the canister is removed and filled with the chilled ice cream mixture; a lid with a crank and dasher assembly is placed over it. The crank is rotated by hand every two or three minutes until the mixture is frozen, which is usually 12-18 minutes.
The Donvier freezer is easy to use, and because of its special coolant, it freezes quickly enough to yield a product with surprisingly good texture - if the ice cream is eaten immediately. Because little air is incorporated during the churning process, the ice cream from this type of machine becomes very hard when stored.
A freezer with a self-contained refrigeration unit, Simac Gelataio, works by wrapping coils around the canister, then implementing a motorized dasher as it freezes. This machine is the easiest to use: Simply pour the mixture in the container and turn the machine on. The price, around $400, and the amount of counter space required, however, make its use prohibitive for most families.
Some additional guidelines may be helpful in creating a quality homemade ice- cream product:
-The majority of the recipes accompanying this article call for raw eggs. As a precautionary measure, the United States Department of Agriculture recommends blending eggs, sugar and a portion of the milk or cream in a cooked custard base. Combine these three ingredients and cook over low heat until a thickened mixture forms; chill custard base before adding other ingredients to freeze.
- An ice-cream mixture should be cooled to less than 40 degrees before freezing. The churning action of the freezer may, at higher temperatures, produce butter in cream-containing mixtures.
- Ice cream expands slightly as it freezes. Allow at least two inches of head space in the canister.
- The texture of the finished ice cream depends on how fast it is processed. The faster the freezing process, the smoother the texture. You can control the rate of freezing with the amount of salt you use with the ice.
- To ripen a finished freezer of ice cream, remove the dasher and blend the firmer portions with the softer portions. Cover the can with foil, then cork-filled lid. Pack the freezer bucket with ice and salt, using a ratio of more salt to ice than in freezing. Wrap in heavy towel or newspapers. Let stand in a cool place for two to three hours. Drain the brine and check ice and salt frequently, adding more as necessary.
*****
Recipes listed:
Fat Man's Ice Cream
Burnt Almond Fudge Ice Cream
Strawberry Ice Cream
Nectarine Ice Cream
Pineapple Buttermilk Ice Cream
Avocado Sherbet
Banana Split Ice Cream
French Vanilla Ice Cream
Mom's Fantastic Caramel Ice Cream
Luscious Lemon Ice Cream
Peppermint Candy Ice Cream
Dreamy Lime Ice Cream