Handchurn real food icecream

Oct 18, 2013by Elizabeth Beavis

Earlier this year when Molly was producing lots of cream, I experimented with making real food ice cream in a borrowed ice cream machine. I tried a few difference recipes and I had a lot of fun figuring out how to make ice cream from simple ingredients. I enjoyed it so much I decided to buy my own ice cream machine. When I was looking on ebay I came across a hand-churn machine and I really liked the idea of turning it by hand, the machine was relatively cheap, so I decided to give it a try.

The ice cream machines all use a similar design. They have a metal bowl filled with a fluid that freezes at lower than 0degC, so that when you put it in the freezer, it gets down to freezer temperature (about -7degC). You then put that bowl in the machine, pour in your ingredients and a blade scrapes the frozen mixture off the side of the bowl. In the electric machine, a motor turns the bowl, and the blade is stationary. In the hand-turn machine, the bowl remains still and the blade is turned by hand.

The two things I didn't like about the electric ice cream machine was the noise (you couldn't hear the TV over it) and the lack of control over the speed. It only turned at one speed (surprisingly slow) and in one direction. The hand-turn machine is virtually silent and the turning speed can be varied. At first you can turn the handle slowly, and only every couple of minutes, you can also turn it back the other way if the mixture is accumulating on the sides of the bowl. As the mixtures starts to thicken, you can turn the blade faster and I think this incorporates more air into the mixture and gives a better texture.

When you finish churning the ice cream, its not quite ready to eat (although I don't mind it runny), you need to pour it out into a bread tin and put it in the freezer for a few hours to solidify, but it will keep the softer crystals as turning the ice cream has broken up the ice crystals.

You can buy a new hand churn machine of the same model I have, or the electric machine that I borrowed, but do check out ebay because plenty of people seem to buy ice cream machines and then get sick of them!

Do you make ice cream? Have you tried a hand-churn machine? Any tips?

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