The Secret to Making Ice Cream in the 17th Century
December 29, 2015It is unclear who first served ice cream. There are stories about the Roman emperor Nero and Catherine de Medici serving frozen treats, but the first confirmed mention of ice cream was in an account of a feast hosted by English king Charles II in 1671. The ice cream was flavored with orange blossom. Legend has it that Charles paid the person who made it an annual stipend to keep the recipe a secret. However, the secret was out by the 1680s, when the Grace Countess Granville wrote it down. Orange blossom was the only flavor of ice cream available until the end of the 17th century, when other flavors, including chocolate, lemon, and pumpkin, were introduced. When making ice cream at home, the secret is to mix salt with ice and add a container filled with cream, eggs, sugar, and flavoring. When the salt mixes with the ice, a…
Read MoreAffogato Is a Delicious Winter Dessert
December 23, 2015Ice cream is a dessert that can be enjoy at any time of the year. Make your ice cream special this winter by turning it into affogato. Affogato is an Italian dessert that consists of just two ingredients: gelato and espresso. Even though it couldn’t be easier to make, it is delicious and sure to delight guests at a party. The combination of cold gelato and hot espresso plays with temperature and texture. The hot and bitter espresso melts the gelato, creating a delicious café crème-colored dessert. You can easily make affogato at home for guests at a holiday dinner or as a quick dessert any night of the week. Here are some tips to make the delicious treat. For each scoop of ice cream, use about an ounce of hot espresso. You don’t want to use too much espresso because it will drown the gelato. Chill the glass, bowl,…
Read More7 Reasons to Eat Ice Cream This Winter
December 17, 2015Ice cream is most popular on hot summer days, but many people enjoy eating it year-round. Even if the temperature is below freezing outside, there is no reason why you should not enjoy ice cream in the winter. Here are some reasons to eat ice cream any day of the year. • Ice cream can put a smile on anyone’s face on any day of the year. If you have the winter blues, ice cream will brighten your day. • Winter brings seasonal flavors, such as eggnog, gingerbread, peppermint, pumpkin, and holiday flavors that are not available in the spring and summer. • You can make delicious treats, such as a warm brownie sundae or apple pie a la mode. • If you eat an ice cream cone outside on a cold winter day, it won’t melt like it would in the summer. • There won’t be as much of…
Read MoreCould Ice Cream Be Good for You?
December 10, 2015A recent study by scientists in Israel suggests that foods such as ice cream that are considered unhealthy may be better than so-called “healthy” foods for some people. The human gut has trillions of bacteria that affect the way food is digested and processed. Variations in the types and numbers of bacteria can cause the same foods to be processed differently by different individuals’ bodies. Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel studied a group of 800 people. They collected data on their eating habits, health, sleep, exercise, other habits, and blood sugar over a period of one week. The researchers found that after eating identical foods, people’s bodies did not respond in identical ways. They found that some people’s blood sugar rose more after eating sushi than ice cream, even though sushi is considered healthier. The scientists focused their research on blood sugar because high levels can…
Read MoreSolar-Powered Truck Serves Ice Cream Inspired by Colors of Sunset
December 2, 2015American artist Spencer Finch has created a sculptural installation that distills the colors of a sunset into soft-serve ice cream. His solar-powered ice cream truck will be serving ice cream cones free of charge to visitors at Art Basel Miami from December 1 to 5. The truck is solar-powered because the sun provides the inspiration for the colored ice cream that is served from it. It will be parked next to the sales center for Hyde Midtown Suites & Residence. Finch is well known for producing large-scale sculptural works of art, such as a sky-colored installation at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. He launched a concept called “Sunset” at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis in 2008. Finch painted a watercolor while looking at a sunset from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art overlooking Central Park earlier this year. He chose food coloring, which was…
Read MoreCreameries at Universities Teach Students How to Create Ice Cream Treats
November 24, 2015Universities across the country have dairy programs where students learn the science of creating ice cream and other delicious products. These labs are open to the public for samples and tours where visitors can learn how the treats are made. Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania is home to the Berkey Creamery, which was named after philanthropists who used to operate a dairy plant. The creamery introduces up to six new ice cream flavors every year and sells at least 20 flavors at any given time. They include Alumni Swirl (vanilla with blueberry swirls and Swiss mocha chips) and White House (vanilla and maraschino cherries). The creamery produces about 100 frozen desserts. It processes around 4.5 million pounds of milk every year and sells 750,000 servings of ice cream. The Call Hall Dairy Bar at Kansas State University, Manhattan, sells three dozen ice cream flavors, as well as cheeses, butter,…
Read MoreHow to Make Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie for Thanksgiving
November 20, 2015Pumpkin pie is a traditional Thanksgiving dessert, and everybody loves ice cream throughout the year. Why not combine them? Try this recipe for pumpkin ice cream pie at your holiday dinner this year. Ingredients: Crust: 2 cups graham crackers 5 tablespoons melted butter Caramel: ½ cup brown sugar 3 tablespoons half and half 1 tablespoon butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup pecans, toasted and chopped Filling: 1 pint butter pecan ice cream, softened 1 pint pumpkin ice cream, softened Whipped Cream: 1 cup heavy cream ¼ cup powdered sugar ½ teaspoon maple extract Directions: Crust: Add the graham crackers to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they are finely ground. While you are pulsing, add the melted butter. Pour the graham crackers and butter into a deep dish pie plate and press down into the bottom and sides. Freeze the crust for 10 minutes. Caramel: Add…
Read MoreCollege Students Learn the Physics of Making Ice Cream
November 15, 2015A class at Boston University teaches students the science behind the making of some of their favorite foods, including ice cream. Professor Rama Bansil teaches the Physics of Food/Cooking course. The course teaches students about phase transitions, or the processes by which things change between the states of solid, liquid, and gas. The course explores the physics of soft materials. Bansil teaches about the physics of cooking to attract nonscience majors and get them interested in thermodynamics, molecular physics, and molecular biology so they have a better appreciation of what happens to food as it is cooked. When making ice cream, it is important to minimize the amount of ice used. The milk and cream should be cooled down until they freeze and become thick, but ice crystals should not be allowed to form. Before modern ice cream machines were invented, glaciers, or French ice cream makers, would line buckets…
Read MoreSTEM Program Teaches First Graders How Ice Cream Is Made
November 14, 2015First grade students in Paradise Valley Schools in Arizona will have a special opportunity to learn how ice cream is made. The students will participate in Ice Cream Factory, an experiential learning science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program developed by the Paradise Valley Schools Community Education department. For four weeks this fall, first graders will participate in weekly live 20-minute broadcasts. The sessions will be hosted by a student at a local high school. The children will also be able to have their questions answered by agriscience experts in real time. Then they will spend 40 minutes participating in hands-on STEM activities. This is the second year the Ice Cream Factory program has been included in the first grade curriculum. The Community Education department created an English Language Arts component for the program this year. It includes two on-level readers that teachers can use for guided reading groups, independent…
Read MoreHow to Host an Ice Cream Social
November 13, 2015An ice cream social is fun for kids and adults at any time of the year. Here are some tips to help you plan and set up your ice cream party. Serve at least three or four flavors of ice cream. Choose a variety of flavors, some classic and some complex, to appeal to everyone. Offer your guests lots of toppings. Include chocolate, butterscotch, strawberry, caramel, and marshmallow sauces; nuts; sprinkles; candies; maraschino cherries; whipped cream; and sliced strawberries and bananas. Cookies go perfectly with ice cream. Offer your guests sugar wafers, vanilla wafers, or sandwich cream cookies. Your guests might not want to have their ice cream in a cup or bowl. Give them other options by supplying ice cream cones and root beer and glasses for floats. Choose beverages that will complement the ice cream without overwhelming your guests’ taste buds. Ginger ale, root beer, iced tea, iced…
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