Here’s three quick ways to make homemade ice cream

You’ll score points with family and friends if you learn how to make ice cream.  In fact, you probably have most of the ingredients in your cupboards and refrigerator.  This is one dessert that is enjoyed all year round. 

The biggest ice cream flavors are chocolate and vanilla.  But you can make whatever flavor you like.  That’s the beauty of making your own ice cream.  You get to make your favorite flavor, the one that the grocery stores do not carry.  This means you can add chocolate and freshly brewed coffee to make a mocha-coffee flavor as weak or strong as you like it.  The benefits of learning how to make ice cream are endless.

If you love fruit, you can make all types of ice cream.  You could make blueberry, peach, pineapple, or whatever you favorite fruit is.  You could even combine fruits to make a unique flavor.  How about pineapple and strawberry?  What about blueberry and raspberry?  The possibilities are unlimited!

How to make ice cream

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup milk (any type) (makes one serving)
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract or chocolate syrup
• lots of ice
• rock salt:  can be purchased in nearly any grocery store — it may be labeled as “cubed sodium chloride.”  You can make your own rock salt from regular table salt.

Pot-Freezer Method

Before modern refrigeration, ice cream was made this way with a hand-cranked bucket. 

1. Empty the ice cream ingredients in a bowl.
2. Put the bowl in a tub filled with ice and salt. The ice and salt mixture should not spill over the edges or into the bowl.
3. Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix vigorously.  The salty ice water will absorb heat from the mixture, bringing it below the freezing point of water and turning the mixture into ice cream.  Mix as thoroughly as you can to prevent the formation of ice crystals.  For better results, use a whisk or a hand-held mixer.

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Ice Cream in a Bag

1. Fill a gallon-size freezer or ziploc bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt.  Seal the bag.
2. In a smaller, pint-size freezer or ziploc bag, add milk, vanilla, and sugar.  Seal the bag.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one.  Carefully seal the larger bag.
4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream — takes about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off the top of the small bag — open it carefully.  Voila!  Homemade ice cream.

Freezer Method

This method is best with a custard-based recipe, because the result will be much smoother.  However, you do have to wait 2 to 3 hours before eating it.

1. Pour the ice cream mixture into a deep baking dish, bowl made of plastic, or stainless steel.
2. Freeze the ice cream for 45 minutes.
3. Check the mixture.  When it starts to freeze at the edges, take it out and stir it vigorously with a whisk or hand-held mixture until all the ice crystals are broken up. .
4. Check and stir every 30 minutes until the mixture turns into ice cream.  This could take 2-3 hours.

Teaching children how to make ice cream is a great learning activity.  This fun science project is one that all children will enjoy participating in during school.  They’ll learn how a liquid changes to a solid by freezing. When they eat the ice cream, it will turn back into a liquid because it will melt.

It’s easy to learn how to make homemade ice cream.  All it takes is a little time and patience.  Do you know how long the ice cream sits in the freezer in the store?  If it has a lot of ice crystals that means it’s been sitting around for quite some time.  You don’t want to serve that to family and friends, do you?  Make homemade ice cream instead.  It will be fun for the entire family!