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Storing homemade ice cream


pattimw

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As I recall, eGulleteer Scott123 knows a lot about this -- hopefully he will be around sometime soon.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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I just bought an icecream maker and have been experimenting alot.  I seem to be doing something wrong, as my ice cream always turns out perfect after it is done spinning, but then the day-after product is frozen stiff.  It's so hard that when I scoop it, it chips away at the ice cream.  It's actually sort of interesting, producing a gratin texture, but it's not what I'm going for.

I do chill the mixture well, either overnight in the fridge or in an ice bath.  I've tried multiple recipes with different ratios of cream, eggs, etc.  I usually use a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream.  I've tried vanilla, mint, maple syrup, and chocolate.  My freezer is set to 0 degrees F.

How do you get your ice creams to be smooth, creamy and scoop-able after they are frozen?

I've made a lot of homemade ice cream, and this seems to be the norm, ie, it starts off soft and creamy, then becomes rock hard in the freezer. The best solution I know is to soften it up in the refrigerator about a half hour - 45 minutes before serving.

There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.
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I just bought an icecream maker and have been experimenting alot.  I seem to be doing something wrong, as my ice cream always turns out perfect after it is done spinning, but then the day-after product is frozen stiff.  It's so hard that when I scoop it, it chips away at the ice cream.  It's actually sort of interesting, producing a gratin texture, but it's not what I'm going for.

I do chill the mixture well, either overnight in the fridge or in an ice bath.  I've tried multiple recipes with different ratios of cream, eggs, etc.  I usually use a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream.  I've tried vanilla, mint, maple syrup, and chocolate.  My freezer is set to 0 degrees F.

How do you get your ice creams to be smooth, creamy and scoop-able after they are frozen?

I dont know, but I whip my ice cream mixture... and let it chill in a fridge for a day.. It freezes a little more mellow.. But even then, I always let it sit on the counter after it freezes, just to get softer..

Edited by Daniel (log)
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I just bought an icecream maker and have been experimenting alot.  I seem to be doing something wrong, as my ice cream always turns out perfect after it is done spinning, but then the day-after product is frozen stiff.  It's so hard that when I scoop it, it chips away at the ice cream.  It's actually sort of interesting, producing a gratin texture, but it's not what I'm going for.

I do chill the mixture well, either overnight in the fridge or in an ice bath.  I've tried multiple recipes with different ratios of cream, eggs, etc.  I usually use a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream.  I've tried vanilla, mint, maple syrup, and chocolate.  My freezer is set to 0 degrees F.

How do you get your ice creams to be smooth, creamy and scoop-able after they are frozen?

The recipe and approach to it is really the answer.

Unless overchurned, most "homemade" ice cream is best as soon as it "sets up".

Almost like it just came out of the machine but a bit firmer.

Personally, IMO, this kind of ice cream should be melted and rechurned if kept overnight to become as hard as a rock.

If going for something with a bit more staying power, you need to investigate "dry matter" recipes which, along with whole milk and heavy cream (usually) dry milks, either whole or non fat dry are used along with sweeteners like atomized (powdered) glucose or dextrose, sugar, an invert sugar of some type, usually Trimoline or 'Numoline' (just different brands) which all effect freezing points, the amount of water in your mix, creaminess, etc.

A bit of stabilizer is a good idea too, which will help prevent ice crystals from forming after your ice cream in the container melts a bit and then you refreeze.

These stabilizers help bind the fat molecules to the water molecules, preventing the icing.

This all probably seems a bit too scientific but once you get an ice cream maker, all of these questions always come up.

BTW, all of the aforementioned ing. are natural, not chemical.

RE: Chocolate: You have to cut WAYYYYYY back on the eggs ( I don't use yolks in my chocolate ice creams anymore) because you're adding even more fat plus many chefs find that chcocolate flavor comes thru better w/o the yolks.

I had many MANY problems with this until some friends here on eG helped me out.Yolks do add great texture so maybe add fewer to your mix.

You can try the vodka /spirits tips but if you investigate these kinds of approachs as I've mentioned, people will be asking you "where did you buy this ice cream?"

Good Luck and feel free to PM about sources, etc.

2317/5000

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BTW, all of the aforementioned ing. are natural, not chemical.

I think you probably mean "artificial" instead of "chemical," as all the ingredients you listed are indeed composed of one or more chemicals.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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BTW, all of the aforementioned ing. are natural, not chemical.

I think you probably mean "artificial" instead of "chemical," as all the ingredients you listed are indeed composed of one or more chemicals.

Yes, of course, thanks for the correction.

patrick, I don't know if you've ever made the chocolate ice cream in Hermes Chocolate book but that freezes like a rock too!(tried MANY moons ago)

You can find a lot of these ingredients at L'Epicerie.com

L'epicerie.com

Depending on where you live, you could also knock on the backdoor of a more (I suppose) high endish restuarant and see if you can buy some of these things.

Good Luck.

2317/5000

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Hey. Ice cream is my passion. One thing you might try is increasing the sugar levels. As sugar is hygroscopic, it will hold onto the water molecules, preventing them from freezing into such solid crystals. This can also help improve the texture and mouthfeel of your icecream, making it smoother and more luxurious.

Timmy

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I find that if I used all cream and no milk, the ice cream is a lot softer than if I used a mixture of both. I'm thinking the higher milkfat helps?

Very nice thinking. All cream will yield a smoother, less icey and hard icecream. Also, as another posted said, in place of the eggs in the recipe you 1/2 -3/4 yolks and the rest eggs you will get a much richer product.

Home icecream machines incorporate less air then the machines you will find in an icecream shop or at a restaurant. Less air means a harder icecream, this is referred to as overrun.

Adding more sugar and a bit of alcohol will make the icecream softer, but these are just ways to bandaid the problem. And im not a huge fan of oversweet icecream, rich yes, but not sugary sweet.

Restaurants achieve scoopable icecream by first using a professional icecream maker (it churns the ice cream horizontal rather than vertical like you have at home) and they allow there ice cream to temper - meaning that they let small portions sit out at room temperate for 10 minutes before scooping. Also during service its common for restaurants to hold their icecream in the refridgerator to keep it soft and scoopable. Although, you dont need icecream this soft at home as your not quenelleing it or need it to look flawless on a dessert.

Most cookbooks that are devoted solely to ice cream have lots of information about the best way to make icecream at home and tips and techniques to making good icecream, such as slightly cooking or soaking fresh fruit in simple syrup to ensure that the fruit is soft when mixed in and eaten with the ice cream.

Good luck and thanks for the passion for food and ice cream, we love that!!

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Wow. I never imagined how helpful everyone is here! I hope someday I can be of help too!

After the first attempt, I switched to using all cream. Hopefully I'm on the right track here.

I think one of my problems is sugar. I live in Milwaukee, and if I wanted rich sweet ice cream, I'd go get some frozen custard. I've been making recipes and halving/quartering the sugar. I'll have to stop that for a while until I get the consistancy fixed.

I'll try adding liquor! Who wouldn't want that?!

I'll also try whipping up the mixute before spinning it. Do you do this right before spin, or do you whip and let rest in the fridge?

Inverted sugar is on it's way. L-epicerie - what a cool website!

Thanks again for all the help!

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  • 1 month later...

What happened when you used different sugars?

I have just bought Giorgio Locatelli's book and he has an awesome section on ice cream. He recommends using a number of different sugars - dextrose, atomised glusose etc, as well as powdered milk. He measures everything to the nearest 5g, so is very accurate. The idea is to keep it creamy when kept in the freezer, and he explains how the other ingredients help to do this.

Just bought my ice cream maker yesterday, so I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.

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Andy, I keep reading about how great the Locatelli cookbook is and now I see it mentioned again here. What's your opinion? Is it worth adding it to my ever expanding cookbook collection? I can't get a peek at it at the library or bookstore so I'll have to buy it sight unseen. Thanks.

Have fun with the ice cream maker (which one did you buy)? I love to experiment with mine.

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I think it's very good. I haven't cooked anything from it yet (which is a common habit of mine), but I've read a lot of it. The great thing is the way he spends pages explaining a topic in great detail, explaining WHY recipes call for various steps, and then provides some excellent recipes on that topic. I think the Risotto section is about 50 pages long, for only 10 recipes or so.

So it's great as an educational tool. The ice cream section seems excellent in this respect. And aside from anything else, it is a beautifully presented book, with plenty of pictures. I reckon go for it.

Are there no open copies in your nearest bookshop?

Bought a Musso Piccolo in the end. Bloody heavy, and enormous, but it produced a very smooth sorbet last night...

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Wow!  That Musso Piccolo makes my little Krups look like the orphan of ice cream makers.  I'll be looking forward to your ice cream adventures. 

P.S.  You convinced me to buy the Locatelli book.

I have had great results when use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of traganth gum. I have only used it with sorbets so far, but I am sure it will have the same result with ice cream.

I use my stab mixer to add it to the sugar syrup as it can be a little difficult to blend. I have yet to work out the best step for introducing it to ice cream ( maybe with the flavouring part before churning?)

Trishg

Melbourne, Australia

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After all my readings of different forms of sugars, after a few searches online, I can't find anywhere that stocks what I'm after. Does anyone have any ideas, preferably within the UK?

Dextrose (actually this is easy enough to find)

Invert sugar

Atomised glucose

Sorbet stabiliser (mentioned in Locatelli's book as a natural plant based stabiliser)

He also adds milk powder to some of his ice creams.

Ramsay's recipes just use liquid glucose instead.

Or even the Traganth Gum mentioned by Trishg?

Got the Musso as an eBay deal - £220. Risky, but it seems in good nick and worked fine last night. Fingers crossed!

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After all my readings of different forms of sugars, after a few searches online, I can't find anywhere that stocks what I'm after. Does anyone have any ideas, preferably within the UK?

Dextrose (actually this is easy enough to find)

Invert sugar

Atomised glucose

Sorbet stabiliser (mentioned in Locatelli's book as a natural plant based stabiliser)

He also adds milk powder to some of his ice creams.

Ramsay's recipes just use liquid glucose instead.

Or even the Traganth Gum mentioned by Trishg?

Got the Musso as an eBay deal - £220. Risky, but it seems in good nick and worked fine last night. Fingers crossed!

Hi Andy

I bought the traganth gum from a cake decorating supplier, but you can also get it from a natural handmade cosmetics supplier (google for company names) - it's added to creams etc to add with the smooth feel, and is usually food grade. Guar gum, pectin and gelatine can be used. I believe that these ingredients are the basis (in some combination) of the commercially available sorbet stabilisers.

Trish

Trishg

Melbourne, Australia

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  • 3 months later...

Anyone have some knowledge on this topic ? I have made several homemade ice creams and sorbets and I think one of the long term problems is storage.

The problem I encounter is what i'll call a 'hard as a rock' state. Meaning, once frozen for over 24 hours they tend to be literally hard as a rock and must thaw to get near the appropriate consistency in order to serve. Obviously, this isnt a problem with store bought varities and I think has nothing to do with the temp of the freezer itself.

Perhaps I haven't been making them correctly - is it a question of ratios at all ? But while they all taste very good - mine often suffer from the hard as a rock thing. One possible culprit ? I store them all in plastic gladware type containers. Bad idea ?

If so, what and where are the best containers available ?

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My experience is that a touch of 80-100 proof alcohol of some sort helps prevent this (roughly a tablespoon per quart).

The sugar percentage contributes as well: I use less sugar than most commercial brands, which can produce harder ice cream. Fat percentage may also affect the texture once fully frozen, though I've found problems at both extremes.

Manufacturers often use various stabilizers that probably also help control this problem, and they probably also have more air overrun than the home ice cream makers.

I use tall metal airtight canisters. I don't think there's a problem with your choice of storage containers.

Jason Truesdell

Blog: Pursuing My Passions

Take me to your ryokan, please

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Anyone have some knowledge on this topic ?  I have made several homemade ice creams and sorbets and I think one of the long term problems is storage. 

The problem I encounter is what i'll call a 'hard as a rock'  state.  Meaning, once frozen for over 24 hours they tend to be literally hard as a rock and must thaw to get near the appropriate consistency  in order to serve.  Obviously, this isnt a problem with store bought varities and I think has nothing to do with the temp of the freezer itself. 

Perhaps I haven't been making them correctly - is it a question of ratios at all ?  But while they all taste very good - mine often suffer from the hard as a rock thing.  One possible culprit ?  I store them all in plastic gladware type containers.  Bad idea ? 

If so, what and where are the best containers available ?

The ice cream freezer at my shop runs at 10-15 degrees F. Any colder and the ice cream is hard as a rock. Some flavors are firmer than others at the same temp. I don't know about homemade ice creams, so this comment may not be helpful.

Ilene

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I do a lot of ice cream at home and this last summer I took the World Pastry forum hands on class on ice cream and sorbets.

According to the chefs from the French Pastry School, who taught the course, the most likely culprit of the "hard as a rock" syndrome is water in the case of sorbets and water and fat in the case of ice creams. I use the term most likely because there are other minor things that can occasionally cause this such as extremely low temps, . The fat becomes very hard and the water becomes ice crystals thus making the product very hard. If you have ever tried to cut butter that is frozen you will know what I mean.

Most commercial ice creams have stabilizers in them and they bind up the water and fat so that it is not free to freeze solid. Alcohol will lower the freezing point and help a little and the very sweet ice creams are helped by having the sugar tie up (I think that is the correct term) some of the water in the ice cream.

I know I have started using stabilizers in my ice creams and sorbets and have improved the keep ability of them. LOL not that they last long in our house anyway. You will find stabilizers here http://www.chefrubber.com/Shopping/shopdis...ucts.asp?page=3 Hope this helps it certainly has helped my ice cream.

Edited by FWED (log)

Fred Rowe

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