K_Line Christian Online

Many years ago, when I was a boy, we would make home made ice cream, in the summer. My folks had a freezer at home. My grandparents had one at their place too. The making of ice cream necessarily involved the children in the family, because of the need to crank the freezer. I’m not sure of the recipe used years ago. My grandmother sometimes used one that involved cooking the mixture before freezing it. Other than that, my job involved taking my turn at cranking the handle until the ice cream had hardened. We periodically added ice. No bags of ice in those days. We’d have big blocks of ice, frozen in a tub in the freezer. And we had to use an ice pick to chip out chunks of ice to chill the freezer. Frankly, I don’t know who has an ice pick these days. I don’t. We use bagged ice now. But I digress. How did you know when the ice cream was hard enough? When you couldn’t turn the handle any more.

Enough History. Here’s my description of how to make home made ice cream today. Here’s what you need, for starters:

1. An ice cream freezer. I highly recommend the electric variety. Though if all you have is the crank model, I hope you have a strong arm, and/or plenty of help. Usual sizes are 4, 5 or 6 quart. You can buy smaller or larger sizes. Do a Google search to find one online.







2. Bagged ice. Two or three bags for a 6 quart freezer should be sufficient.
3. Rock Salt.
4. The ice cream mixture/recipe. This is a separate topic. There are lots of them, including the ones described on K_Line Christian Online.

Procedure:

• Put the mixture in the can, position the paddle. Place the can in the wooden/plastic tub. Fasten the electric motor/crank mechanism on top of the can.
• Put the ice in the tub, surrounding the can. Add a bit of ice at a time, then pour on some rock salt. Repeat, until the ice is up to the top of the tub.
• Add ice and salt as needed while you or the motor turns the can.
  Crank until the motor strains and shuts off. Or until your arm strains and shuts off. In the case of the hand crank, switch arms a few times until both arms feel line you can’t move them at all. Hint: I use the ice cream freezer in a large laundry room sink. As the ice melts, salty water drains out of the freezer, so think about where you would like the water to drain.
• If possible, let the ice cream sit in the can for another hour, in order to harden up a bit.
• Remove the ice cream with a spatula or spoon it. Store it in your freezer, or eat it.