Ice Cream Maker - Sounds Delicious, Doesn't it?

Ice creams have been around us for hundreds of years and have become part of our diet. Fortunately for us, with the creation of the electric ice cream maker, we can access this cold pleasure at the commodity of our own home. And don't worry about flavor limitations. You will see that ice cream maker recipes are abundant and offer a wide variety of options to choose from. Even the most exquisite palate will be satisfied.

What Are Ice Cream Makers?

Essentially, an ice cream maker is the home version of the industrial ones, in which users can prepare ice cream in their kitchen. In the recent history of ice cream makers, you will find two kinds of them.

The first one is the sub US$100 ice cream makers. This type of machine uses a doubled wall bowl which contains a coolant between them. The bowl is placed inside a domestic freezer for a period of 24 hours. Once a day has passed, the bowl is placed in the machine and the ingredients are mixed inside. Then the machine is turned on and after half an hour the ice cream is ready.

The advantage of this machine is its relatively low price, but it's disadvantage is the impossibility of preparing more than one batch. If you want to prepare another lot of ice cream, you will need to put again the bowl inside the freezer for another 24 hours. There is a solution, though, and it's buying a lot of bowls. But it isn't practical. Those bowls will occupy a lot of space inside your freezer and in your kitchen.

The other kind of ice cream maker is composed by those that cost more than US$100. Although, in reality, they cost more than US$300. The main difference of these machines is that they have their own freezer. That way, you only need to turn it on, wait for five to ten minutes to acquire the required temperature and start mixing your ice cream. After half an hour you will have a complete batch of ice cream ready to be eaten. And, if you want more, you only need to follow the same process again.

Manual, old fashioned ice cream makers shouldn't be considered, though. They consume too much of our time, so forget about them. They aren't practical.

How to Choose the Best Ice Cream Maker?

It depends on your needs. Do you really need to prepare batch after batch of ice cream? Or you only want an electric ice cream maker to prepare small amounts for your family at weekends? You have to consider these two options before buying this unit. If you aren't sure, then go for the cheap one. If you find that it's a necessity to have a bigger and quicker machine, then you can go for the more expensive one. The cheaper unit could serve as a backup or can be sold at a garage sale.

Continue to: Ice Cream Maker Recipes