How and from what do ice cream? How to make homemade ice cream?

In any country, ice cream is one of the most popular desserts. Almost all children adore him and many adults enjoy eating with pleasure. What is the cause of this love and what does such an attractive person find in this product? To answer this question, you must first find out what ice cream is made of.

Composition and description of the product

For starters, it should be noted that the history of ice cream counts more than 4 millennia. Scientists say that for the first time this dessert appeared in China. However, then it was an ordinary snow with ice and pieces of fruit. And only in the 18th century the product became what everyone is used to seeing it now. So what is ice cream made of these days? Its composition is extremely simple and fully corresponds to the definition that can be found in any dictionary. According to the generally accepted description, it is a sweet frozen mass made from dairy products with the addition of various aromatic and flavoring additives.

If you examine in more detail what ice cream is made from, then the main ingredients that make up this delicacy can be distinguished:

• milk;
• cream;
• Various oils;
• Dry dairy products;
• Food additives (stabilizers, emulsifiers);
• Flavoring substances;
• water.

Being exposed to temperature and mechanical processing, these components are transformed into the very favorite delicacy, which everyone knows from childhood.

Important details

At first glance, the listed substances are the whole set of products. If you carefully study the production process and learn more about how and what ice cream is made from, you can also add air to this list. Although it is not a product, it is with its help that dessert acquires its own homogeneous structure. First, in special devices (homogenizers) with high pressure, the size of the fat globules decreases, and then after cooling the mixture is beaten, saturated with air. It is at this stage that the ice cream becomes so gentle and soft as everyone is used to seeing it. Without such additional procedures it would be possible to get only a loose fatty clot, which nobody will enjoy. In principle, ice cream is also appreciated for the fact that it:

• Cold (refreshing in the heat);
• sweet;
• Air;
• Nutritious.

All these qualities allow ancient dessert for many years to be a favorite product of millions of people on earth.

Technological process

The first factory for the production of ice cream appeared in the 19th century. It was in Baltimore (USA) in 1851. The production process was then quite primitive. And how do ice cream at the factory these days?

Today almost all enterprises use the same technology, which includes the following stages:

1. Acceptance of raw materials. At this stage, chemical analyzes of products are carried out.
2. Preparation of the original components. Liquid components (water, cream and milk) are heated to 40 degrees, and dry (sugar) - sift.
3. Cooking mixture. Prepared products after weighing come from a bath, equipped with a water jacket. Here they are mixed for several hours with constant heating.
4. The finished mixture passes through filters to remove possible lumps from it.
5. Then the mass goes to pasteurization, where it heats up to 85 degrees. The process lasts no more than 5 minutes. But this time is enough to destroy all the microorganisms that are contained in the mixture.
6. After that, the composition passes through homogenizers, where the mixture improves its consistency and becomes more plastic.
7. Then it is cooled to 0 - +6 degrees, pumped into special tanks and stored in them for 24 hours.
8. After passing through all these stages, the mixture becomes like thick milk. To make it easier to freeze, mass whisk in special friezers. Here it is saturated with air and becomes more "obedient".
9. Then comes the final stage - packing. Air dairy mass, passing through the dispensers, is deposited in molds or special containers (wafer cups, paper or plastic boxes).
10. Semi-finished products are sent to the freezer, where they are tempered to a temperature of minus 12-14 degrees.
11. Hence the finished products go for packaging. Some of them are preliminarily passed through a vending machine, where they are sealed in colorful film or paper.

Boxes with ice cream are sent to the cold stores for storage, and from there they already enter the sales network.

Features of the recipe

The resulting finished product must meet certain technological indicators. For example, in the ice cream "Plombir" according to the approved standards, the mass fraction of fat should be 15 percent. This is easy to achieve by using cream, the fat content of which can reach 55 percent. And what if this particular product is not available? How to make ice cream from milk?

Here everything is very simple. In the recipe, you only need to add a certain amount of unsalted creamy cow's butter. The issue of fat content will be solved. But by standards it is also necessary to control the mass fraction of dry substances. For the same "Plombir" in the finished product, they must be at least 40 percent. This problem can be solved by the introduction of dry whole or skim milk. At the same time, the technology of the production process remains largely the same. Small changes occur only at the stage of mixture preparation and homogenization. It takes a little longer and maintains a higher pressure level to ensure the required uniformity of the mixture.

Dessert with own hands

Some housewives are sure that a product made with their own hands is always better than the one bought in the store. That's why they are interested in how to make homemade ice cream. The recipe for the preparation of milk dessert provides for the availability of the following products:

3 cups of cream should be 3 chicken yolks, a glass of sugar and a little vanilla.

The cooking process is as follows:

1. First yolks need to grind well with sugar. At the same time, you can immediately add vanillin. Intensive mixing of the products is carried out until the sugar is practically dissolved.
2. Separately in a saucepan or scoop, heat the cream. Do not bring them to a boil, otherwise the finished product will have an unpleasant aftertaste.
3. Gently put the hot product into the egg mixture and put it on the fire. The mass must be heated until it begins to thicken.
4. Pour the liquid mixture into molds and put in a freezer.

The process can be considered finished after the composition has completely hardened.

Technology to help

Modern science does a lot to make it as easy as possible for a woman to work in the kitchen. For fans of popular cold dessert a special device called "ice cream maker" was invented. With her help, a favorite treat can be made much easier and faster.

It remains only to figure out how to make ice cream at home. The recipe with the use of a specialized unit (ice cream maker) is practically the same as usual. For work you will need:

For 0,5 liters of cream 3 eggs, 170 grams of sugar, a glass of boiled water, 5 grams of gelatin and a little vanilla.

The sequence of actions will change slightly:

1. The first thing to do is to grind the egg yolks with sugar and vanillin.
2. Warm up the cream.
3. Add gelatin to them. The mixture is heated until foam disappears, and the product does not thicken.
4. Mass should be filtered using a normal sieve, and then transferred to a freezer.

After 25-30 minutes the product will be ready for use. It can be transferred to the crockery, and mixed with various fillers.

Recipe Options

For those who try to follow their figure, the use of cream is highly undesirable. Such people are interested in how to make homemade ice cream from milk. In this case, there will not be much difference. Only the component ratio will change:

2 ½ cups of milk will require 200 grams of sugar and 4 egg yolks.

The order of the work:

1. First the milk must be brought to a boil and then cooled to room temperature.
2. Egg yolks to grind carefully with sugar.
3. Pour in the milk and put the mixture on the fire. Heat until the desired density is reached.
4. The resulting mass must be cooled, and then sent to the freezer for 2 hours. To prevent the formation of large ice crystals, it should be stirred every 40 minutes.
5. Soft ice cream is spread over the molds and sent again for final freezing.

In the same way, you can prepare, for example, chocolate ice cream. To do this, when heated in a mixture, add cocoa powder.