The Art of Making Ice Cream at Home
The process used in producing ice cream has virtually not changed in
at least three or four hundred years. The ice cream made at home will
never taste like the ice cream purchased at a grocery store or ice cream
parlor. In fact, homemade ice cream will quite probably taste much
better because the ingredients are fresher, and the finished product
will contain no unnecessary additives or preservatives. But the mere
experience of making ice cream at home will always make it taste better,
just as a cake or pie baked from scratch always tastes better than one
made from a box mix or one that is purchased in a grocery store bakery.
Just like a batch of Grandma’s homemade sugar cookies, your own personal
touch, your work, your love and the pride that goes into making ice
cream all affect the way you, your family and your guests will enjoy the
finished product.
There are many great ice cream recipes available in cookbooks, on the
internet and even tucked away in old family recipe boxes. Quite
honestly, there are no bad ice cream recipes. If you happen to have a
recipe that has been handed down in your family for generations, you
should probably start there. That connection with the past is one of the
many reasons people love to make their own ice cream.
Finding the ingredients to make good home-made ice cream is easy.
They are neither exotic nor expensive. By simply combining cream or milk
with vanilla extract, eggs, salt and ice in an ice cream maker, anyone
can become an ice cream expert in just a little bit of time.
Beginners might want to practice with just the basic ingredients until
they are happy with the results, then add different flavors and extra
ingredients as their ice cream making skills improve.
Ice cream makers come in two basic types… electric and manual; and
they both operate in basically the same manner. Ingredients are loaded
into the churn, which is either turned or cranked by hand for
approximately ten minutes. If the ice cream is not ‘set’, repeat the
process for an additional ten minutes. Place the finished ice cream in
the freezer for about two or three hours to finish the process. The last
instruction is the easiest one. Enjoy your ice cream and share it with
family and friends. Then get busy planning your next ice cream party.
Of course, non-electric hand crank ice cream makers are physically
taxing, and more of a challenge, but the end result is the same…
delicious, mouth watering, fresh, homemade ice cream that cannot be
matched anywhere else on earth because YOU made it. |
