"I doubt whether the world holds for anyone a more soul-stirring surprise than the first adventure with ice cream." -- Heywood C. Broun, American writer.
Broun may be right, but purists contend that the first taste of homemade ice cream might surpass your first ice cream adventure. Making your own ice cream takes a little more fuss than the supermarket variety, but the results are worth it.
What's the difference between homemade and commercial ice cream?
MacKay's Cochrane Ice Cream has been a destination spot for Calgary and area gourmet ice cream lovers for nearly 60 years. "Cochrane ice cream is still made by hand in very small volumes at a time," says Megan Van Ham, general manager for MacKay's Cochrane Ice Cream Ltd. "We believe that smaller volumes mean better quality control."
Making your own ice cream means you have the ultimate quality control. You can decide on the ingredient proportions, adding fruit, pecans, or chocolate as you like.
"We still see vanilla as being the most popular flavour," says Van Ham. "The basic flavours -- vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, maple walnut -- continue to be the best sellers." But ice cream lovers aren't limited to the basics, especially when they're making it themselves, resulting in flavours like cookies and cream, chocolate fudge chunk, and tropical mango.
Making ice cream: Tools you'll need
You can make ice cream by simply using freezer trays or manual hand-crank ice cream makers, but today's ice-cream lover will appreciate the ease of an electric ice cream machine.
You'll also need: a saucepan, a sieve (for straining seeds from berry mixtures), freezer storage containers, a whisk, and an ice cream scoop.
Ingredients
Cream and milk - Homemade ice cream is made with a mixture of cream and milk. You can change the ratio of cream to milk, but that will affect the taste and texture of the ice cream.
"We don't have low-fat ice cream," says Van Ham. "We recommend people have one ice cream as a splurge and really, really enjoy it." High fat content adds to the texture and flavour. "Low-fat ice cream won't hold together as well, the texture won't be as smooth and creamy, and it won't last as long on the cone."
Sugar - Ice cream is sweetened with sugar, honey, or syrup. During the first step of making ice cream, the sugars are dissolved through heating and/or beating. Sugar lowers the freezing point of the mixture, meaning the ice cream will never freeze completely solid. The sweetness of sugar decreases with freezing, so the final product may taste different than it did in its unfrozen state.
Eggs - Eggs improve the texture of ice cream by suspending the milk fat globules, resulting in a creamier, richer final product. Emulsifying agents are typically added to commercial ice creams instead of eggs.
Air - An essential part of the process, air is trapped in the mixture as the ice cream maker churns, causing it to increase in volume. Commercial ice creams are as much as 50 percent air; homemade ice cream has much less air, which can lead to a superior tasting product.
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