The reasons people get started making their own ice cream are many. For a lot of people it is the fun that compiling the ingredients and working the ice cream maker is and how it can become another great part of any family event. The memory of being on the farm with the aunts and uncle and grandparents and everybody having a role to play in making the ice cream with the old, hand-cranked churn is a strong one for a lot of adults. So by recreating that event with their own ice cream maker, it becomes part of the memories the kids will have of growing up too.
When you buy your ice cream maker to make this part of your family life become a reality, the choices are pretty broad. You can get a modern churn that looks somewhat like the old fashioned kind but you still work it on the porch with family members taking turns working the crank so the ice mixes with the ingredients inside to make great ice cream. There are old-fashioned models of ice cream makers that, although not old, look like throw backs to another time in history. And of course, finding an antique ice cream maker can really make the experience authentic. You might hesitate at using that unit because of its age. It makes a great display piece in the living room and a great conversation starter though.
There are also ice cream makers that are nothing like the old-fashioned kind at all. They are electric models that are fully automated. They look and perform very much like any other kitchen appliance. You compile the ingredients the same and put it all together. But when you plug it in and let it go, the gentle whirring sound lets you know it is churning the ice cream. It all happens in the kitchen so some of the ambiance of the family working on the ice cream on the porch is lost.
Whether or not to use an electric ice cream maker is a decision that you should make before making your purchase decision. There are some real advantages to going this route. For one thing, the churning action is consistent and continuous when it is being handled automatically. So the ice cream is made more efficiently. By letting the machine do the churning, you take much of the tedium out of the process. You don’t have to time how long to churn because the machine does that and it knows when to stop because it can gauge when the ice cream has "set up" inside the interior chamber.
The good news is that you don’t have to give up the atmosphere and the fun of having the whole family involved just because you want to get an ice cream maker that automates the churning. There are models made to look like the old-fashioned kind and models that can be operated on the porch. In most cases, that constant churning was something the family dreaded anyway. So by automating that part and combining the best of technology with the old-fashioned art of making your own ice cream, you get the best of both worlds.
There is nothing like the fun of making ice cream at home to give your back yard barbeque that authentic old fashioned feel. But when you go to buy an ice cream maker, you will find that some of the finest new models are far from primitive. A new ice cream maker can cost as little as $40 or be as expensive as $500 depending on how elaborate you want the features. While some of the most sophisticated models such as the ones sold by Cuisinart are pricey, the ice cream product you end up making will come out consistently good and of the perfect kind of quality that you want from your own ice cream.
A quality ice cream maker like the Cuisinart model is operated by electric motor and it uses rock salt to freeze the ice cream in the internal chamber in a consistent fashion. In a way, by moving away from the hand crank models of ice cream makers, you lose a little of that feel of sitting on the back porch at Grandma's farm turning that crank to make the ice cream set up inside of that old fashioned churn. But truthfully, the charm of the crank method pales when it is hard to get someone to sit on the back porch and turn the crank. And the gentle sound of the Cuisinart motor working away in the kitchen to make tonight's desert of delicious and very fresh ice cream can become a tradition of family gatherings as well.
Of course, the machine doesn’t make great ice cream. You make great ice cream but coming up with a delicious recipe that produces a rich blend each time. Now, if you invest in a good ice cream maker like a Cuisinart, you probably will develop dozens if not hundreds of ice cream variations that you can whip up in your homemade ice cream maker. Your core ingredients of cream, sugar, vanilla and maybe egg to make the ice cream rich and smooth will remain pretty much standard. But after you dump those basic building blocks of ice cream into the ice cream maker, you can then add your custom ingredients.
Just watching the fruit, nuts, chocolate chips or other wonderful flavors going into the ice cream maker can get your mouth watering for the finished product. So when you put the lid on the interior container and seal it up and plug it in, the anticipation alone is a big part of the fun. A quality ice cream maker like the Cuisinart model "knows" when the ice cream is ready because it can tell by the consistency of the blend in the interior chamber. You then take the ice cream out and slap back the hands that want a sample so the ice cream can then be put in the freezer for a few hours to come out and delight the entire family for desert that night.
A good ice cream maker will get plenty of work out making great ice creams at family events. Between events, if you are like many ice cream lovers, you will find yourself "playing" with new recipes and variations on the core ingredients to find new and fun ways to make ice cream that has your own personal stamp on it. But that is the fun of making ice cream at home and it is what makes buying a good quality ice cream maker a great investment in fine eating.
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