{"id":2870,"date":"2015-07-21T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.buydig.com\/blog\/?p=2870"},"modified":"2018-11-04T11:37:22","modified_gmt":"2018-11-04T15:37:22","slug":"the-science-and-tech-behind-making-ice-cream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buydig.com\/blog\/the-science-and-tech-behind-making-ice-cream\/","title":{"rendered":"The Science and Tech Behind Making Ice Cream"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The days are getting longer, and the sun has never been stronger\u2014it\u2019s a good thing President Ronald Reagan had the foresight to declare July, one of the hottest months out of the year, National Ice Cream Month. In honor of this great American tradition, we here at BuyDig are going to equip you with the knowledge you need to make the most of this all American pastime.<\/p>\n

The Science Behind Ice Cream<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We all know what ice cream is\u2014a delicious frozen treat, but do you really <\/em>know what it\u2019s made of? If you really think about it, this frozen dairy product is a lot more than just sugar and cream; it\u2019s actually a complex, multifaceted emulsion of ice crystals, air, sugar, milk fats, proteins, and other solids. Getting all those different ingredients to form one cohesive emulsion is an amazing quirk of chemistry, but fortunately for the rest of us, you don\u2019t have to understand the laws governing emulsions to make delicious ice cream at home.<\/p>\n

How Ice Cream is Made <\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you had to worry about building up an ice cream empire like Bryers or Ben and Jerry\u2019s you would definitely want to brush up on your knowledge of emulsifiers, stabilizers, and aeration processes. Fortunately, making ice cream at home is just a matter of mixing the right ingredients together. Here\u2019s a brief overview of the science and tech behind making ice cream to better appreciate this wonderful summertime treat.<\/p>\n

Get your Ingredients to Stick Together with Emulsifiers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The ingredients of ice cream quite literally behave like oil and water. The trick to getting them to harmonize into the smooth delicious base you know of as ice cream is to mix in an emulsifier. The industry may have all manner of complex sounding chemicals to fulfill this role, but at home you can put your faith in the incredible edible egg. It\u2019s all natural, and since you don\u2019t have to worry about shelf life, you can take advantage of this incredibly delicious and nutritious ingredient.<\/p>\n

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It’s National Ice Cream Month! Curious about the science and tech behind making ice cream?<\/a><\/div>\n

Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

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Improve the Texture and Feel of your Ice Cream with Stabilizers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s the ice crystals within the ice cream that govern the structure, texture and overall mouth-feel of your ice cream. If the ice crystals get too large, your ice cream will feel grainy, and the smaller and more homogenous your ice cream crystals are, the smoother your frozen treat will be. You can use gelatin or starch as a stabilizer to absorb excess water and keep ice crystal growth down. Agar, guar gum, and xanthan gum work great too\u2014experiment and see if you can get the texture you desire.<\/p>\n

Prepare the Liquid Ice Cream Base<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Take the appropriate proportion of milk, \u00a0sugar, and water and mix it with the emulsifier and stabilizer combination of choice. Typically this liquid base will be 60% water (water content of milk included), 15% sugar, and 25% milk fat, but the the emulsion varies with the recipe.<\/p>\n

Pasteurization <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unless you\u2019re the type of person who can down raw eggs, most people stand to benefit from pasteurizing the ice cream base by stirring at 185 \u00b0F for at least 30 minutes to kill bacteria in the mixture, depending on the size of the batch. Upon completion, chill the base immediately to prevent bacteria growth from coming back.<\/p>\n

Homogenization<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Homogenization is just a fancy word for thoroughly mixing your ingredients together. Churning the ice cream base at high temperatures can readily free up the fat molecules and reduce their size into tiny droplets, but heat isn\u2019t required. The more evenly distributed your mixture, the better your base will be at absorbing air later in the ice cream making process. Depending on the recipe, you could choose to knead a ziploc bag filled with the ice cream ingredients, whisk them in a bowl with an egg beater, or rely on a mixer like the Cuisinart 5 Speed Stand Mixer<\/a> pictured above.<\/p>\n

Freezing and Aeration<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where you\u2019ll need an ice cream maker, like the Cusinart ICE-30BC<\/a> or the Cusinart ICE-21R<\/a>. This specialized machine will whip air into your ice cream base as it slowly freezes. The base is poured into a chamber surrounded by a refrigerant. A steady stream of air is introduced to the barrel as a mixer called a dasher whips the cream. The chilled ice cream that comes out of this step usually isn\u2019t quite ready to eat and may be a little runny. Place it in the freezer for some added stability and you\u2019ll have ice cream ready to go.
\nNational Ice Cream Month is for the entirety of July,\u00a0so be sure to gear up and be ready to take on the summer heat with some ice cream creations of your own!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The days are getting longer, and the sun has never been stronger\u2014it\u2019s a good thing President Ronald Reagan had the foresight to declare July, one of the hottest months out of the year, National Ice Cream Month. In honor of this great American tradition, we here at BuyDig are going to equip you with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[12,54,41],"tags":[86,87,88,85,84,81,82,83],"yoast_head":"\nThe Science and Tech Behind Making Ice Cream - BuyDig.com Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's National Ice Cream Month! 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