A domestic ice cream maker or ice cream freezer is a machine used to make small quantities of ice cream at home. Ice cream makers may stir the mixture by hand-cranking or with an electric motor, and may chill the ice cream by using a freezing mixture, by pre-cooling the machine in a freezer, or by the machine itself refrigerating the mixture.
An ice cream maker must freeze the mixture, and must simultaneously stir or churn it to prevent the formation of ice crystals and aerate it to produce smooth and creamy ice cream. Most ice creams are ready to eat immediately, but some, especially those containing alcohol, must be chilled further in a freezer to attain a sufficiently firm consistency.
Some machines, such as certain low-priced counter-top models, require that the resulting mixture be frozen an extra four hours or more (or overnight), depending on the recipe, in order for the ice cream to harden to a desired consistency.
Read more about Ice Cream Maker: History, Manual Machines, Electric Machines, Vending Machines
Famous quotes containing the words ice cream, ice, cream and/or maker:
“How’d you like some ice cream, Doc?”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)
“In vain produced, all rays return;
Evil will bless, and ice will burn.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When you’re alone in the middle of the night and you wake in a sweat and a hell of a fright
When you’re alone in the middle of the bed and you wake like someone hit you in the head
You’ve had a cream of a nightmare dream and you’ve got the hoo-ha’s coming to you.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“A cry of bitter dead men who will never
Attend a gentle maker of musical joy.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)