Making home made ice cream, that's just as tasty as any premium store brand, can be really easy with the right ice cream machine. And not only is it delicious but because you made it at home, you control what goes into it. Of course, there are a few things to consider if you're thinking about buying an ice cream maker and that's what this article is about. Things like, how much ice cream you'll need to make, price, style ( think soft serve ice cream vs regular vs sorbet vs frozen yogurt vs gelato etc) of ice cream that your family likes, and ease of use all need to be thought about before making a purchase. And yes ease of use is a factor, some people swear by the old hand cranked ice cream machines for taste and texture but other people just don't want to work that hard.
Probably the first thing you need to think about is what kind of ice cream you want to make. While there is some crossover between ice cream machines—for example, you can make frozen yogurt in a regular ice cream maker—it’s usually best to buy the right machine for the job. So while you can buy a specially prepared soft serve mix for ice cream freezers, you’ll get the best results with an actual soft serve ice cream machine. These days, Cuisinart, and Rival are very popular while I know Alton Brown has recommended Krups in the past. When it comes to soft serve ice cream machines, Cuisinart is about the only company making a specific soft serve ice cream maker. The unit is however reasonably priced around $80 dollars. Traditional ice cream makers by the way can run usually anywhere from $39 up to several hundred for the kind which also contain a refrigeration compressor.
Next, how much ice cream do you need to make? Most home ice cream makers usually make about a quart and a half of ice cream. That’s usually enough for two or three people. If your family is larger or perhaps you making ice cream for a church social, machines that produce four or six quarts may serve you better. This limits what kind of ice cream equipment that you can get as generally the only machines that maker larger batches use rock salt and ice as the method of cooling the ice cream mix. As far as these machines are concerned, White Mountain, owned by Rival, is the standard so while you’ll see “imitation” models for less, many people swear by those made by White Mountain.
Finally, ease of use is an important consideration. By far, the messiest and most difficult to use are the hand cranked ice cream makers. But what they lack in convenience , they make up for in the quality of the ice cream—meaning that because it’s human powered, you can sense when the ice cream is starting to harden and increase the mixing speed to work more air in the mixture resulting in better ice cream. Next come the electric versions which while similar to the hand cranked models replace the people power with a motor and yes they still have the mess of melting ice and rock salt. Next are the canister-style ice cream makers which use a reusable and freezable insert. These are a lot easier to use but require that you plan ahead to give the insert enough time to chill in your freezer. Lastly, there are compressor-style ice cream makers that are the easiest of all. Ingredients go in, flip a switch and after a short amount of time voila, ice cream! Of course the biggest drawback to these is the price which usually run in the several hundreds of dollars. Italian models like those made by Musso or Simac can easily go over a thousand dollars and are probably aimed at the Ben an Jerry ice cream fanatic types.
Hopefully in this article, I’ve given you some useful tips if you’re thinking about buying an ice cream machine for home use. As for what I use, I have a couple. I use a White Mountain hand cranked unit that I use when I really want good ice cream. I also use it when I go camping which is something you can do with any other kind of ice cream freezer. And of course I also use it when I’m having guests over for dinner. The machine I use on a more regular basis is the Cuisinart Ice 20 which I’ve found to be a decent canister-style ice cream machine. Drawbacks are that it seems to be a little more cheaply made than the White Mountain but that’s to be expected considering that it’s almost all plastic. The Cuisinart is also fairly popular which is useful when shoping around because it has a lot of reviews so you can really get a sense of what other people think about it. I really enjoy making ice cream for my family. Not only do I feel good because I know what’s in my ice cream but I feel I’m passing on sense of tradition from my grandmother and other people who endured the Great Depression and now to my children who’s learning that things really do taste better when they’re homemade.
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