How To Choose The Best Ice Cream Maker

Does the thought of your favorite ice cream make your mouth water? Do you get the urge to rush out and buy a brick of your favorite ice cream at the most inconvenient times? Then why not make delicious ice cream right at home? It will be as good as you favorite store brand if not better! All you need to know is how to choose the best ice cream maker.

Ice cream makers are available in a wide range of prices from around $80 right up to $500. The reason some models cost so much is that they have a built in freezing compressor. For most homes the lower priced models work fine. There are to basic types to choose from. One style uses rock salt and ice to cool the ice cream mix, while the other has a canister that you put in the freezer to cool the mix. You can get either style with either a manual or electric crank.

If you are going to making large amount of ice cream at one you will want to purchase the style that uses rock salt and ice, because the canister only makes 1.5 quarts. Of course you can always save your ice cream buckets and make up several batches with the canister style. The overall cost of operation is cheaper with the canister style.

Ice cream making can also be a terrific family activity. In this case I would recommend a manual crank, that way everyone can take turns turning the crank. The crank style resembles the earlier ice cream machines that our grandparents may have had. You can buy a manual crank ice cream maker that uses either rock salt and ice or the canister.

One thing to be aware of, especially if your kids are young or have a short attention span. The crank style takes a fairly long time to accomplish the task. But think of all that exercise!

The electric crank is a lot faster and a lot easier and you do get better results because the bowl turns at a constant speed. The electric crank ice cream makers also have an automatic shut off, so when the ice cream has reached the right consistency it shuts off. Bet your wondering how it knows what the right consistency is. It calculates the consistency based on the resistance of the turning bowl. So when the bowl slows to a certain speed when turning the ice cream maker is smart enough to know that it’s completed.

Once you’ve chosen the ice cream maker that you want you’ll need to find the right ice cream recipe for you. There are plenty of different ones available so try a few until you find the perfect one.

The faster you are able to freeze your ice cream the richer the taste will be and the smoother the texture of the ice cream. Pre mixing your ingredients and then pre chilling them for at least 5 hours before putting them in the ice cream maker works really well.

You will know your ice cream is done by the look of it. It will look a lot like soft ice cream does. Once the canister has been in the freezer for a couple of hours you’ll have a nice looking solid texture ice cream. If the canister that came with your ice cream maker is plastic and you want your ice cream to freeze faster just move it to a metal bowl, cover it foil, and place it in the freezer. It will freeze up in ½ the time.

You can buy pre mixed ice cream packages if you like. Although they are convenient they do not have the flavor of ice cream made from scratch. You can try both and see which way you prefer.

Making ice cream at home will save you money over the long run, it’s lots of fun, and it lets you be more creative coming up with your own flavors. Once you choose the right ice cream maker for you, you are on your way to enjoying delicious, tasty, home made ice cream.


Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.