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Pacojet Competitor? The Ninja Creami

andrewk512

By andrewk512
in Kitchen Consumer

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palo

palo

Posted
Posted

I think the reason they are saying 24 hours is so that the temperature is constant throughout - 1F on the surface, higher internally - just my guess - ice cubes freezing on the surface but liquid inside

 

p

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andrewk512

andrewk512

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Posted (edited)
15 hours ago, mgaretz said:

Happy to report my new recipe stayed nice and scoopable after 24 hours in the freezer.  No sign of iciness.

 

 

I have this weird and unscientifically based theory that post-processing hardening is from the unfrozen water in the mixture turning to ice, and that because the mixtures processed by the Ninja are thoroughly frozen before processing, there is little/no residual water to turn to ice post-processing and thus minimal hardening even if the ice cream gets much colder in the freezer overnight. Effectively most of it is already very finely pulverized ice so it can't harden further. This is at least how I explain why my sorbets with ideal serving temp of -12C are completely soft and scoopable at -18C which wouldn't have been possible in my other machine

Edited by andrewk512 (log)
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mgaretz

mgaretz

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39 minutes ago, andrewk512 said:

 

I have this weird and unscientifically based theory that post-processing hardening is from the unfrozen water in the mixture turning to ice, and that because the mixtures processed by the Ninja are thoroughly frozen before processing, there is little/no residual water to turn to ice post-processing and thus minimal hardening even if the ice cream gets much colder in the freezer overnight. Effectively most of it is already very finely pulverized ice so it can't harden further. This is at least how I explain why my sorbets with ideal serving temp of -12C are completely soft and scoopable at -18C which wouldn't have been possible in my other machine

 

I made the non-dairy chocolate recipe from the book, with just a few substitutions (documented up thread).  It was ok after churning (ok from a scoopablity perspective, flavor and mouthfeel were lacking) and it was rock hard the next day.  A solid block of ice.  So forgive the pun, but I don't think your theory holds water...

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
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49 minutes ago, palo said:

I think the reason they are saying 24 hours is so that the temperature is constant throughout - 1F on the surface, higher internally - just my guess - ice cubes freezing on the surface but liquid inside

 

p

 

Thanks for answering.  I used a Thermopen and stuck it into the dead centre of the frozen mixture so I think it must be that temperature all the way through.

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
On 9/8/2021 at 5:19 PM, andrewk512 said:

My Ninja Creami finally arrived, after being sent to the wrong location twice!

 

20210908_162326.thumb.jpg.3ef23c9bc6993ece0d1d7ad40ea990fe.jpg

 

First thoughts: larger than expected, but not too heavy. The blade is oddly loose, although the packing says this is standard. I am actually going to set it up in my basement, where I run my auxiliary cooking equipment, after this first round of testing. It is just a little taller than a standard vitamix container I believe.

 

20210908_165746.thumb.jpg.bbafad54a56f66d7c9d5812df76cc607.jpg

 

Bases freezing in the Vesta Frysta blast chiller cause I'm impatient. Left: Dana Cree's phildelphia ice cream base, with vanilla, using cremodan 30 to stabilize; Middle: a tin of lychee, pureed and added a bit of rose water and cremodan 64; Right: the peach sorbet recipe I described in my earlier posts

 

 

 

What is the tray on which the Creami containers are sitting?  It is different from the tray Vesta sent me.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, andrewk512 said:

It's an aluminum quarter sheet pan, it actually came with my Vesta, what did they send you? 

 

An hotel pan.  I have a quarter sheet pan that I could test but I'd have to excavate it first.

 

Meanwhile I went back to the QVC website to lust for the new Creami:

"We're sorry.  This item is not available at this time."

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted

Tonight I spun the mango sorbet and the strawberry ice cream.  I'm very pleased with both.  Neither had to be re-spun, both were very smooth and creamy.  I started making some limoncello tonight in that I got the lemon peels into some vodka.  I want to make the lemon ice cream in the book.  Also up is the Dulce de Leche.  I need more containers and Ninja Canada does not show them for purchase on their web site.  I can order them from Ninja.com but I have to pay shipping and then the lot gets converted to Canadian dollars and I'll have paid an arm and a leg.  Not gonna do it.  I'll wait until BBB re-stocks.

 

I'm very pleased with this little machine and can't wait to make  more.

20210917_202330.jpg

20210917_201612.jpg

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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34 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Tonight I spun the mango sorbet and the strawberry ice cream.  I'm very pleased with both.  Neither had to be re-spun, both were very smooth and creamy.  I started making some limoncello tonight in that I got the lemon peels into some vodka.  I want to make the lemon ice cream in the book.  Also up is the Dulce de Leche.  I need more containers and Ninja Canada does not show them for purchase on their web site.  I can order them from Ninja.com but I have to pay shipping and then the lot gets converted to Canadian dollars and I'll have paid an arm and a leg.  Not gonna do it.  I'll wait until BBB re-stocks.

 

I'm very pleased with this little machine and can't wait to make  more.

20210917_202330.jpg

20210917_201612.jpg

 

The Ninja.com domain is up for sale.  Was it where you found containers?

 

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

The Ninja.com domain is up for sale.  Was it where you found containers

 

I found them at Ninja Kitchen.  I tried to copy the address but wasn't able to.

Edited by ElsieD
Fixed a typo (log)
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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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14 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I found them at Ninja Kitchen.  I tried to copy the address but wasn't able to.

 

Thanks.  At the moment Ninja Kitchen shows stock of a set of two containers, but not of the set of four containers.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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andrewk512

andrewk512

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Posted
11 hours ago, ElsieD said:

 

I found them at Ninja Kitchen.  I tried to copy the address but wasn't able to.

I took a look this morning just for fun to see what the final cost of 4 containers would be, and they aren't even allowing purchases to be shipped to Canada anymore :(

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andrewk512

andrewk512

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6 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

I just tried the same thing.  And, their Canadian site doesn't show them at all.

 

😢  - then I just checked the cost of shipping to the border and using Cross Border Pickup to ship to my home - 91 CAD for 4 containers 😮 😮 $77 if I picked up in GTA

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted

I have a couple of questions.  

 

First, those of you who have made the chocolate ince cream from either the booklet that came with the machine or from their site, can you tell me which recipes to avoid?

 

Secondly, I was in a Mexican shop yesterday and checked out their frozen fruit purees.  One of the ones they had was labeled "Tree Fruit".  Does anyone know anything about this fruit?  I asked the lady in the store but she had trouble explaining it in English so I thought I'd ask here.

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Smithy

Smithy

Posted
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18 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Thanks.  At the moment Ninja Kitchen shows stock of a set of two containers, but not of the set of four containers.

 

 

4-pack Ninja CREAMi pint containers, on Ninjakitchen.com. I see no evidence that they're out of stock, but I haven't tried to buy them...yet.

 

I'm waiting for my $20% coupon to arrive from BBB. Another enablee here! Damn you lot!

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Smithy

Smithy

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3 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

The Ninja site shows out of stock.  Nice pie!

 

I swear that "Out of Stock" label wasn't there 20 minutes ago. These things must be flying off the shelves!

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ElsieD

ElsieD

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15 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

I swear that "Out of Stock" label wasn't there 20 minutes ago. These things must be flying off the shelves!

 

Maybe they shipped a bunch to Canada?  Yeah, right.  I'm calling the Canadian branch tomorrow to ask where we can buy them.  I'll post their answer.  Won't help you much, I know, but it will likely be of interest to my fellow Canadians.

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andrewk512

andrewk512

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Posted
3 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I have a couple of questions.  

 

First, those of you who have made the chocolate ince cream from either the booklet that came with the machine or from their site, can you tell me which recipes to avoid?

 

Secondly, I was in a Mexican shop yesterday and checked out their frozen fruit purees.  One of the ones they had was labeled "Tree Fruit".  Does anyone know anything about this fruit?  I asked the lady in the store but she had trouble explaining it in English so I thought I'd ask here.

 

Are you referring to this? https://goya.es/en/products/frozen-foods/fruit-pulps/tamarillo-fruit-pulp  - I have never tried it

48 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Maybe they shipped a bunch to Canada?  Yeah, right.  I'm calling the Canadian branch tomorrow to ask where we can buy them.  I'll post their answer.  Won't help you much, I know, but it will likely be of interest to my fellow Canadians.

will save me a call, thanks

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
On 9/13/2021 at 8:22 PM, andrewk512 said:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/366957831711451

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1228781500908535

 

Someone on FB also called QVC and confirmed that the 1000watts was an error, only thing different is the color

 

 

 

 

I did two sorbets today - a prickly pear sorbet and a new watermelon recipe. I am pretty happy with how these turned out and I think I am getting the hang of the machine.

 

Processed at -16c and came out at ~-11c. I left them in the freezer for a bit to reharden to -16C. Ideally I'd process colder but I think I was opening my freezer too much. They were still nice and soft despite ideal serving temp being calculated to -12C.

 

There is a small amount of ice crystals but overall I'm very satisfied considering these are both very high water low solids ingredients. Much better than my freezer bowl machine and much easier; not as good as my peach sorbet I did on the initial run though. I am going to purchase some inulin and start experimenting to see if I can get an even denser creamier texture with watery fruit sorbets.

 

Oh also I am processing with the sorbet button now. I realized the manual suggests this has a much faster blade RPM and longer process time.

 

I now have 4 sorbets in my freezer and an ice cream so I think this is the part where I start eating things before making any more.

 

 

20210913_200552.jpg

20210913_201656.jpg

 

Have you considered using a rotovap to concentrate the solids?

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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