Pacojet Competitor? The Ninja Creami

[cdh]

I'm having great success with sorbets from frozen supermarket fruit.  Put a quarter cup of sugar in the blender,  add frozen mango chunks, squeeze a little lemon on top, a pinch of xanthan and enough water to make it go... once reduced to puree freeze in the creami pint.  

[andrewk512]

16 hours ago, jedovaty said:

I made dairy-free cookies and cream this weekend and it had good taste and sweetness, but no body.  I used mostly oat milk with a spoon of vegan cream chesee (trader joe's brand has the most neutral taste of them).  I used sugar, dextrose, and corn syrup in a 3-2-1 ratio, and also added a tablespoon of inulin.  Sine I've no idea what I'm doing and it was late, I didn't track exact measurements.  Suspect there wasn't enough fat?  I made another similar batch adding coconut creme, great body but the coconut was too strong and overpowered the oreos.  Egg allergy, so cannot add eggs.

 

Any suggestions?  Pour some oil into it, more inulin or?

 

Assuming its lack of body and not thinness due to high freezing point depression, add more solids, you can use 4% inulin by weight. I have no evidence for this but I've found that hydrating the inulin can help it work a bit better. Remove the corn syrup and use more powdered sugars, like more dextrose.

[andrewk512]

20 hours ago, weinoo said:

So I've got 3 bases in the freezer:  

 

Coffee (Jeni's -using MP's Perfect Gelato and no cream cheese)

Peach (from cans, using MP's Perfect Sorbet)

Vanilla (Cree's - using MP's Perfect Ice Cream).

 

I should probably keep some notes. That remains to be seen.

 

Anyway, how long has anyone kept a base in the freezer before Creami-atizing, or whatever the heck it's called? This isn't going to be an experiment, as I plan on using them soon, but I am just wondering.

 

 

Months. I don't recommend it though, it breaks down/separates, some larger ice crystals form, and the final product isn't as good.

[curls]

After a few hiccups with UPS tracking and delivery, my refurbished Ninja Creami from Woot has arrived! It came with two containers — will probably pick up two more. For a trial run, I have put some Trader Joe’s canned mandarin oranges in one container and placed it in the freezer. Now I need to pick up ingredients for more batches of various flavors. Looking forward to giving my container a spin tomorrow night! 🙂 

[ElsieD]

43 minutes ago, curls said:

After a few hiccups with UPS tracking and delivery, my refurbished Ninja Creami from Woot has arrived! It came with two containers — will probably pick up two more. For a trial run, I have put some Trader Joe’s canned mandarin oranges in one container and placed it in the freezer. Now I need to pick up ingredients for more batches of various flavors. Looking forward to giving my container a spin tomorrow night! 🙂 

 

Looking forward to reading about the result.

[jedovaty]

1 hour ago, andrewk512 said:

Assuming its lack of body and not thinness due to high freezing point depression, add more solids, you can use 4% inulin by weight. I have no evidence for this but I've found that hydrating the inulin can help it work a bit better. Remove the corn syrup and use more powdered sugars, like more dextrose.

Got it!  Can you describe with "thinness due to high freezing point depression" is?  I know what freezing point depression is, but I don't understand the "thinness due to high" that precedes it.

[andrewk512]

6 hours ago, jedovaty said:

Got it!  Can you describe with "thinness due to high freezing point depression" is?  I know what freezing point depression is, but I don't understand the "thinness due to high" that precedes it.

 

I mean like if you have a lot of sugar in something, then the mixture might be too "thin," like a slushy/soupy sort of texture, because it cannot adequately freeze. To me, something can taste thin because it is low in fat or solids, or because it is too "melty" (generally too much sugar added)

[jedovaty]

Gotcha, thanks @andrewk512.  It was definitely not that.  Best analogy I can think of: dilute some milk in water, it'll taste like milk but be missing that creaminess, which I'd characterize as missing body.  It was thin, but not sloshy/melty.

[blue_dolphin]

On 8/1/2022 at 2:14 PM, jedovaty said:

I made dairy-free cookies and cream this weekend and it had good taste and sweetness, but no body.  I used mostly oat milk with a spoon of vegan cream chesee (trader joe's brand has the most neutral taste of them).  I used sugar, dextrose, and corn syrup in a 3-2-1 ratio, and also added a tablespoon of inulin.  Sine I've no idea what I'm doing and it was late, I didn't track exact measurements.  Suspect there wasn't enough fat?  I made another similar batch adding coconut creme, great body but the coconut was too strong and overpowered the oreos.  Egg allergy, so cannot add eggs.

 

Any suggestions?  Pour some oil into it, more inulin or?

 

 

This is zero help with rescuing your current batch and may not be the direction you want to go in but I remember someone on one of the Creami groups recommending the coffee creamers from NutPods as a base. They have sweetened and unsweetened, flavored and unflavored versions and are sold in groceries around here. Most of their line is an almond/coconut base but they also have an oat milk line. Their ingredient list is less scary than a lot of nondairy stuff. 

[Shelby]

I made the best thing I've ever done in the Ninja yesterday.  Cantaloupe sorbet.  Melon from our garden.  Pureed --about 2 1/2 cups.  Simple syrup--3/4 of a cup.  Mixed together.  Frozen overnight.  Sorbet setting.

 

O M G

 

Can't wait for watermelon to get done.

 

Question for all of you smart people:  I want to make more of this but I don't want to make it into sorbet yet.  If I freeze the pureed mix (melon and syrup), will it be ok?  I'd thaw it out then refreeze in the proper container later when I'm ready to make more.

[rotuts]

@Shelby 

 

I understand you completely.

 

you want that intense perfectly ripe

 

flavor and aroma 

 

into something deliciously creamy

 

but complementary 

 

I bet its gong to be good.

 

but I can't help you w Cream , stabilizers etc.

 

Id save a few of those Perfectas

 

do exactly as you have done

 

and add 1 - 2 T   ( not enough to de-stablablize the result )

 

of complementary flavor :

 

Gran Marinier ?

 

Tia Maria ?

 

Chreme du Menthe ?

 

*  maybe 1 T of CbM , it potent )

 

you are looking for flavor

 

not booze.

 

your favorite liquuor ?

 

not too much 

Edited August 3, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[ElsieD]

@Shelby I'm no expert but I think it should be fine.  I'd freeze it in a Creami container and when frozen, take it out of the container and transfer to plastic bags.  I'd vacuum seal them.  I think you have a machine?

[curls]

First flavor done! Mandarin orange sorbet. This was so much fun! I want the orange flavor to be more intense but the texture of the sorbet was amazing. Sorry the pictures are a bit out of focus and have shadows. Mixed up a batch of vanilla from the Ninja Creami recipe book that I will try tomorrow. Haven't gone to the grocery store yet so I used Trader Joe's shelf stable cream and Philadelphia brand neufchatel cheese. Hope to do more experimenting this weekend.

 

   

 

[ElsieD]

11 hours ago, curls said:

First flavor done! Mandarin orange sorbet. This was so much fun! I want the orange flavor to be more intense but the texture of the sorbet was amazing. Sorry the pictures are a bit out of focus and have shadows. Mixed up a batch of vanilla from the Ninja Creami recipe book that I will try tomorrow. Haven't gone to the grocery store yet so I used Trader Joe's shelf stable cream and Philadelphia brand neufchatel cheese. Hope to do more experimenting this weekend.

 

   

 

 

Did you add anything to the can of of mandarins?  I'll bet it's delicious.

[curls]

5 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Did you add anything to the can of of mandarins?  I'll bet it's delicious.

I didn't add anything to the can of mandarins. I filled the container with orange segments and poured in the syrup, from the can, until it covered the oranges. Very easy and tasty.

 

I would like more orange flavor. Might be interesting to add some orange juice concentrate (just the frozen stuff from the grocery store). If that doesn't do it I can start using specialized pastry ingredients. Just not sure how much I'm going to play with mandarin oranges. I am thinking of lemon sorbet with a swirl of lemon curd for another experiment. 

[cdh]

1 hour ago, curls said:

I would like more orange flavor. Might be interesting to add some orange juice concentrate (just the frozen stuff from the grocery store). If that doesn't do it I can start using specialized pastry ingredients. Just not sure how much I'm going to play with mandarin oranges. I am thinking of lemon sorbet with a swirl of lemon curd for another experiment. 

Try orange oil.  Dissolve some in some vodka and add it by the drop. I've got a bunch of citrus oils about 1% oil in 99% everclear stored in atomizer bottles. A mist or two of that makes citrus flavor pop. Big fan of the bitter orange oil, and the blood orange oil.  The tangerine I've tried has been a bit disappointing.  Be careful about keeping the dilution to about 99:1... too concentrated it can become irritating. 

Edited August 4, 2022 by cdh (log)

[weinoo]

Or a tablespoon of orange liqueur?

[mgaretz]

35 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Or a tablespoon of orange liqueur?

 

Or some orange zest?

[rotuts]

Id bet all of the above work.

 

to different degrees.

 

the oil idea might present 

 

many more options 

[cdh]

1 hour ago, mgaretz said:

 

Or some orange zest?

A very fine source of orange oil that lots of people have handy!  I wonder how candied orange peel would work as a mix-in? 

Edited August 4, 2022 by cdh (log)

[weinoo]

I just made two sorbet bases to go into the freezer:  Raspberry and Campari/Grapefruit. S/B interesting.

[ElsieD]

23 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I just made two sorbet bases to go into the freezer:  Raspberry and Campari/Grapefruit. S/B interesting.

 

How did you make the raspberry?

[gilbertlevine]

Just spun a fresh roasted apricot sorbet. For my taste this is the best one I’ve had yet

ive made just about every other stone fruit sorbet and non of them compare

just roasted very ripe apricots ,simple syrup, 1 T Mathilde peach liquor, 1/2 lemon juice

citric acid for color retention

anyone else try fresh apricot?

[gilbertlevine]

2 hours ago, weinoo said:

I just made two sorbet bases to go into the freezer:  Raspberry and Campari/Grapefruit. S/B interesting.

I make a fresh grapefruit/aperol  sorbet (cause I don’t have any Campari in the house )

one of my favorites 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by gilbertlevine (log)

[weinoo]

I had two small containers = weighed about 300 grams.  Blended them with a little water, 100 gms. sugar, 1 T NHFCS, 1 gram of Modernist Pantry Perfect Sorbet, a splash of lemon juice and a splash of Kirsch.  Splashes are about 1/2 T. 

 

We'll see how they work out.