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Ice cream is a beloved summer indulgence. Explore more images of timeless treats.
©2008 MytourEach year, the U.S. ice cream industry sells over a billion gallons, offering cones, pints, sundaes, and various frozen desserts through stores and ice cream parlors. Remarkably, 8% of the country’s milk supply is turned into frozen dairy products [ref].
While making ice cream at home may seem straightforward, it’s actually a sophisticated creation. In this article, we’ll explore the making process, the ingredients involved, and the inventor behind it. We’ll also provide a quick guide for crafting ice cream in your own kitchen.
Ice Cream vs. Frozen Dessert: What’s the Difference?
Not every frozen dessert qualifies as ice cream. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, strict guidelines define what can be labeled as "ice cream." To earn the "Meets USDA Ingredient Standard for Ice Cream" label, a product must contain at least 10 percent milk fat and at least 6 percent non-fat milk solids. Additionally, a gallon must weigh a minimum of 4.5 pounds.
Ice cream’s milk fat content can range from a minimum of 10 percent to a maximum of around 16 percent. Most premium ice creams use about 14 percent milk fat. A higher fat content gives the ice cream a richer taste and a creamier texture. However, producers don’t go above 16 percent, as it would become too expensive and very calorie-dense. Such a high-fat ice cream would also be so indulgent that people might eat it in smaller portions, which isn’t ideal for businesses selling ice cream.
Desserts like sorbets, low-fat ice cream, and frozen yogurt are not considered true ice cream. Frozen custard is a type of ice cream that contains at least 1.4 percent egg yolk solids, while "soft serve" refers to any milk-based frozen dessert that hasn’t undergone the hardening process—more on that later.
The basic recipe for ice cream is simple, but scientifically, it’s quite complex. Ice cream is a colloid, a form of emulsion. An emulsion is a mixture of two substances that typically don’t combine. In ice cream, fat molecules are suspended within a water-sugar-ice structure, alongside air bubbles. This incorporation of air means ice cream is technically a foam as well.
Besides milk fat, non-fat milk solids, sugar, and air, ice cream also contains stabilizers and emulsifiers. Stabilizers help maintain the air bubble structure and improve the texture. While gelatin was once used as a stabilizer, modern ice creams often contain xanthan gum, guar gum, and other compounds. Emulsifiers keep the texture smooth and assist in evenly distributing the fat molecules within the colloid. Egg yolks were once used for this, but now, manufacturers often opt for other chemical alternatives. These stabilizers and emulsifiers make up less than one percent of the ice cream.
Next, we’ll explore the process of making ice cream.
Frozen yogurt offers a popular, healthier alternative to traditional ice cream. While it might seem like the process simply involves freezing yogurt, the truth is the process is the opposite. Instead of creating yogurt and freezing it, bacterial cultures typically used for yogurt are added to the ice cream base. This results in a dessert that’s lower in lactic acid than regular yogurt, creating a milder flavor.
Making Ice Cream
Ice cream baseWhether it’s being created in your own kitchen with a hand-cranked machine, at a local ice cream parlor with a standalone maker, or in a large factory producing thousands of gallons each day, the ice cream-making process remains the same. The only variation lies in the scale of production.
First, you need an ice cream base. Commercial ice cream mixes are available with a predetermined milk fat content. In ice cream factories, the mix is made by blending milk, cream, and sugar in a 3,000-gallon vat, with the proportions and mixing managed by computers. The mixture is then pasteurized, or heated, to eliminate harmful bacteria. If you're making it at home, you can pasteurize the mix using a double boiler, or by using pasteurized egg products or substitutes. This step is crucial to avoid foodborne illnesses, like salmonella. The Centers for Disease Control warns that groups most vulnerable include the elderly, young children, and those with weakened immune systems [ref].
Photo courtesy Ed Grabianowski and Deborah Hanny Electro Freeze batch freezerNext, it’s time to add flavors to your mix. The possibilities are endless, as ice cream comes in countless flavors. Whether it’s vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, or triple chocolate fudge brownie, all flavors are mixed into the base. In factories, this occurs in large vats with steel paddles that blend everything together. At home, you can use a big bowl and a food mixer or even just a wooden spoon and some elbow grease. Solid add-ins like fruit chunks, chocolate pieces, marshmallows, or candy are added later.
The next crucial step involves using an ice cream machine to both freeze and whip the mixture. In factories, the process takes place in a large tube surrounded by freezing pipes. These pipes contain chemicals like ammonia that cool the tube quickly, although ammonia never touches the ice cream. The mix is pumped through this tube, chilling rapidly. Inside, a dasher (a blade) rotates, whipping air into the mixture to help form the ice cream's texture. The dasher also scrapes the tube’s walls to remove any ice crystals, which keeps the texture smooth and prevents large, undesirable crystals. In smaller shops, a batch freezer accomplishes the same process on a smaller scale, with computers monitoring every detail.
Photo courtesy Ed Grabianowski and Deborah Hanny A single batch in the Electro Freeze takes 15 to 20 minutes and produces two gallons of ice cream.This step can be done at home using a mixture of rock salt and ice to freeze the mixture, along with a hand- or electric-powered dasher to mix and scrape off any ice crystals.
Photo courtesy Ed Grabianowski and Deborah Hanny With a bit of creativity and some experimentation, the possibilities for flavor combinations are nearly endless.Once the ice cream has been churned by the ice cream maker, the process isn't over yet. While the mixture is frozen, it's still in a soft state. Now, chunks of candy and other treats are added, and the ice cream is transferred into containers. In factories, machines pour it directly into cartons or buckets, or it can be molded into shapes and have wooden sticks inserted for individual servings.
Photo courtesy Ed Grabianowski and Deborah Hanny After being extracted from the machine, the ice cream is placed in a -20 degree Fahrenheit freezer to harden.At this stage, the ice cream must be chilled to a very low temperature, below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Factories go even colder to keep the ice cream frozen during packaging and transportation. The freezing process must be rapid to prevent large ice crystals from forming, a process called hardening. "Soft-serve" ice cream is often simply a version that has not yet undergone this hardening phase.
Next, we will explore the commercial side of the ice cream industry.
History and Business of Ice Cream
Photo by Ed Grabianowski and Deborah Hanny | Sweet Jenny's Ice Cream located in Williamsville, NY.In 1999, the United States, which leads the world in ice cream production, saw over $4 billion in retail sales of ice cream. By 2002, more than $20 billion had been spent on frozen desserts. The top states for ice cream consumption include California, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and New York. In 2004, the average American consumed 21.5 quarts of ice cream each year [ref].
Given the immense profits at stake, the ice cream industry often operates with secrecy and some level of dishonesty. Deborah Hanny, the owner of Sweet Jenny's Ice Cream in Williamsville, NY, guards her recipes with great care. Her shop has been photographed by individuals in business attire, and she once caught someone hastily copying her recipes in her upstairs office.
The art of ice cream making is no longer something passed down through generations. So, where do industry professionals hone their skills? They go to ice cream school. Pennsylvania State University offers a week-long 'Ice Cream Short Course' for industry experts, where they learn the science and technology of ice cream production. Additionally, they offer Ice Cream 101 for enthusiasts who want to deepen their knowledge of the beloved frozen treat. Ontario's University of Guelph, home to the Dairy Science and Technology school, also boasts a long history of ice cream science education.
The earliest accounts of flavored ice desserts trace back to the Romans and the Chinese. Marco Polo, after his famous travels, brought back fruit-flavored ices, noting that they had been a part of Asian culture for millennia. These frozen delicacies gained popularity in France in the 1500s, but only among royalty. Over time, the methods of making these treats evolved, from hauling ice from the mountains to using salt and ice freezing techniques. The introduction of cream as an ingredient in the 1700s led to a dessert strikingly similar to modern-day ice cream.
In 1846, Nancy Johnson invented the hand-cranked ice cream freezer. At that time, ice was readily available from large warehouses, making ice cream a treat accessible to all, not just the wealthy. A further revolution in ice cream production occurred in 1851 when Jacob Fussel launched the first wholesale ice cream manufacturing operation in Baltimore, Maryland. Fussel had excess cream from his dairy business and decided to make ice cream. His business quickly became the leader in ice cream sales, surpassing his dairy products.
Over the following decades, the ice cream industry steadily progressed. Manufacturing methods and ingredients improved, and refrigeration technology became more affordable and effective. By the 1920s, home refrigerators and freezers were commonplace, giving the ice cream industry another significant boost. During World War I, the U.S. government rationed sugar, but the ice cream industry successfully argued that their product was an 'essential food.' As a result, ice cream factories were allocated sugar rations, allowing production to continue.
Ice cream's popularity grew until the Great Depression led to a decline in sales of most non-essential products. However, sales picked up again in the years leading up to World War II and remained stable in the post-war era. The rise of large supermarkets created demand for inexpensive, mass-produced ice cream, but quality often suffered. The 1960s brought a resurgence of 'premium' ice cream, and in the following decades, the market expanded to include low-fat options for the health-conscious, such as frozen yogurt, fruit bars, ice milk, fat-free ice cream, and numerous other varieties. Despite these changes, ice cream still dominates around 60 percent of the frozen dessert market [ref]. While ice cream is enjoyed globally, it has become an enduring part of American culture.
In the next section, we'll discover how to whip up ice cream in just five minutes—no freezer required!
Overrun refers to the increase in volume that occurs as air is incorporated into the ice cream mix, turning a gallon of mixture into a larger quantity of ice cream. For example, if a gallon of mix expands into 1.5 gallons of ice cream, it has a 50 percent overrun. Commercial ice cream often has a 100 percent overrun, meaning half of it is air. Premium varieties tend to have a lower overrun.
To gauge the quality of an ice cream, you can weigh it. Heavier ice creams are generally of higher quality. However, you should compare similar volumes and flavors, as some flavors naturally weigh more, and any solid ingredients added to the ice cream can affect the weight as well.
The invention of the ice cream cone is a matter of dispute. Italo Marchiony, an Italian immigrant, claims to be the inventor, as he patented a cone-making machine before anyone else had the idea. However, there are accounts suggesting that the French were eating ice cream from cones or pastry cups long before the American cone came into existence.
No matter who created it first, the ice cream cone gained widespread fame at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri (also known as the 1904 St. Louis Fair). There are various stories about waffle makers who began folding their waffles into cones for ice cream vendors who ran out of plates. Regardless of the details, the fair saw a large number of waffle makers and ice cream vendors, and the idea of enjoying ice cream from an edible cone truly took off there.
Making Ice Cream in Five Minutes
Photo courtesy of Ed GrabianowskiThere are countless ice cream recipes available for making at home, but did you know you can make your own ice cream in just five minutes with the help of two Ziploc bags?
To get started with this experiment, here's what you'll need:
1 tablespoon of sugar
½ cup of milk, cream, or half-and-half
¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract (or another flavoring of your choice)
6 tablespoons of salt
Ice to fill the gallon-sized bag halfway
1 gallon-sized Ziploc bag
1 pint-sized Ziploc bag
Photo courtesy of Ed Grabianowski. Fill the gallon-sized bag halfway with ice and then add the salt.Regular table salt will do, but salt with larger crystals, like kosher or rock salt, works far better. Mix the salt into the ice and set it aside.
Photo courtesy of Ed Grabianowski. Pour the milk, sugar, and vanilla extract into a bowl or any suitable container, and stir them together.
Photo courtesy of Ed Grabianowski. Gently pour the mixture into the pint-sized bag.
Photo courtesy of Ed Grabianowski. Seal the pint bag securely, ensuring it's fully closed.
Photo courtesy of Ed Grabianowski. Place the pint bag into the gallon bag.Ensure the pint bag is surrounded by ice. Close the gallon bag tightly. Shake both bags vigorously for five minutes. You might want to use a towel to hold them as they will become quite cold and slippery from the condensation.
Photo courtesy of Ed Grabianowski. Take out the pint bag, open it carefully, and grab a spoon.Helpful Tips:
- Using milk results in a lighter, lower-calorie ice cream, whereas heavy cream creates a richer, creamier version.
- This method produces a small batch of ice cream, perfect for two people. If you'd like to make more, try experimenting with other techniques, such as using two coffee cans of different sizes in place of plastic bags.
- The possibilities for flavors are endless. Chocolate syrup is a simple starting point, but you can explore many other variations using flavor extracts from your local grocery store’s baking aisle. For instance, you can combine mint extract with chocolate or toss in some chocolate chips.
