Ice cream

Ice cream (originally iced cream) is a frozen dessert made from dairy products such as cream (or equivalents), combined with flavourings and sweeteners. This mixture is super-cooled by stirring while reducing its temperature to prevent large ice crystals from forming. Traditionally, the temperature has been reduced by placing the ice cream mixture into a container that is immersed in a mixture of crushed ice and salt. The salt allows liquid water to be below the freezing point of pure water, allowing the immersed container with cream to make better contact with the melted water/ice mixture.

Production

Before the development of modern refrigeration by German engineer Carl von Linde during the 1870s, ice cream was a luxury item reserved for very special occasions and was consumed with gusto.

Related Topics:
Refrigeration - German - Engineer - Carl von Linde - 1870

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The making of ice cream was originally an extremely laborious process. Ice was cut commercially from lakes and ponds during the winter and stored in large heaps in holes in the ground, insulated by straw. Ice cream was made by hand in a large bowl surrounded by packed ice. The hand-cranked churn was invented in 1846, making production simpler, and the world's first commercial ice cream factory opened in Baltimore, Maryland in 1851.

Related Topics:
1846 - Baltimore, Maryland - 1851

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The development of modern refrigeration during the 1870s obviated the cutting and storing of natural ice. The continuous process freezer was perfected in 1926, allowing commercial mass-production of ice cream and the birth of the modern ice cream industry.

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The most common method for producing ice-cream at home is to use an ice-cream machine, generally an electrical device that churns the ice cream while refrigerated inside a household freezer.

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