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by L I on July 28th, 2005

L I

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My homemade ice cream keeps coming out gritty. What am I doing wrong?

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  • by ju_mox on October 2nd, 2005

    ju_mox

    There are two things that must be done, according to my Grandmother, whose homemade ice cream would stand up against any ice cream anywhere in the world! She was no chemist, and didn't even know that what she was doing was chemistry, but here it is:

    1. Today's recipes are "quick and easy". But the old recipes were "well worth the time" it takes to prepare them. The ingredients MUST be cooked! If nothing else, bring your milk to a boiling point, and no more, before blending with the other ingredients. And eggs are the ingredient that gives richness, but remember that you never pour hot liquid to beaten eggs, or you'll have scrambled eggs! Grandmother didn't know WHY cooking milk insured very creamy, non-gritty, ice cream, but the reason why is that it breaks down the lactose molecules in the milk, keeping them from freezing into crystal too quickly. Now, don't pour hot a hot mixture into your freezer! The heated milk will also help your sugar to dissolve much better. Cool the mixture completely before pouring into freezer. This heating method is especially important if you are using reconstituted powdered milk or evaporated milk in your recipe.

    2. The other factor that contributes to gritty textured cream is the temperature or melt of the salt/ice mix combined with the speed of the churn. You must maintain an even melt: too much salt will make your cream freeze to quickly as will a churn that is too fast. The electric freezers keep a steady, even churn. The hand-cranked freezers often challenge the men assigned to the task to see who can crank it the fastest! That's a big no-no! Too fast = gritty cream....because those lactose molecules to turn to ice more quickly than the rest of their little neighboring molecules! Table salt is a more desirable "melter", but the cost of the amount you would need makes rock salt the better bet. Just keep the ice/salt quotient at the directed method.

    I'm not a chemist. But I learned the hard way....trying to take short cuts and getting gritty cream! A little research showed me what my Grandmother had always known! Good luck and happy freezing!

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