It’s burning hot outside, summer is merciless. To keep your soul cool you need to have something cold and yummy. Yeah, I’m talking about ice-cream. But what if you cannot go outside or cannot buy readymade ice-cream? You have to make it at your home. Alright, but what about ice crystals? To Prevent Ice Crystals In Ice Cream is the biggest challenge.
We all love creamy smooth ice cream. Hard ice crystals can ruin your joy and I just hate it. But making ice cream at home without letting ice crystals for is seems to be almost impossible. However, it’s not impossible. There are a few very useful ways that can help you to prevent ice crystals to form in your ice cream.
Is ice cream considered candy?
How to Prevent Ice Crystals In Ice Cream?
To prevent crystals in ice cream check the temperature of your freezer first. Although, temperature plays a very important role in setting your ice cream. But it cannot completely prevent crystals. Here are a few very important points that can help you to avoid crystal forming in the ice cream.
Whip it for longer
Before putting your Ice cream mixture into the freezer, you should whip it well. No matter whether you are using whipped cream or fresh milk cream, whipping for longer makes the mixture smooth. And smooth, well-whipped mixture form very less ice crystals.
This is one of the most important steps of Ice cream making. Longer whipped ice cream mixture form perfect smooth creamy textured ice cream to scoop out.
You can use a normal whisk, automatic whisk, or use a food processor with whip option. Mix and whip the mixture perfectly. Make sure you are mixing it before garnishing. If you mix it after garnish it will get all messed. Decorate it at the very last.
Temperature 0 degrees or below
Check the temperature of your refrigerator and fix it to 0 degrees or less. Faster the heat gets removed faster it will change its state to solid. The slow freezing process results in slow removal of heat.
The vapor could not scape and gets condensed on the surface. As a result, we see small and big droplets converted into ice crystals. These crystals generally are tasteless or contain the very light flavor of the ice cream mix.
You should set the temperature of the refrigerator to the minimum to freeze it quickly and prevent ice crystals in the ice cream. Do not put ice cream in the refrigerator door shelf as it takes more time. You may not get that perfect texture.
Mix it once after 2-3 hours to prevent ice crystals in ice cream
Mix your ice cream when it is half frozen helps a lot in reducing tough crystals. Ice crystals start forming as the ice cream starts freezing. I apply this mixing technique and it works really well for me. This is very simple to do.
Put your ice cream mix into the freezer and let it get set for a few hours. I usually leave it in the refrigerator fully covered for 3-4 hours. After al east 3 hours, I take it out and cut it into pieces. Then smash it and let it get soften first. And then again whip it to a creamy texture.
Put it again into the refrigerator and garnish it at this stage if you want. Cover the lid of the container and let it for 6-8 hours to get perfectly condensed icecream texture.
Put it in an airtight container
It is very important to put your ice cream container in an airtight container. Many people put it directly in the freezer without a lid or put it in a container with a loose lid. This will make your ice cream hard as a rock.
Remember when we were kids we use to pour mango juice or cola in the ice cream frame. And put the icecream stick with the lid on it. After a few hours, it turns into a hard ice cuboid. It cannot be creamy or smooth and the reason is water content in it.
Store the ice cream in an airtight container. This will prevent direct freezing. The temperature distribution to the entire container will make the mix harder evenly and will prevent ice crystals from it.
Cover it with plastic or foil wrap
If you do not have an airtight container you can use foil wraps also. Wrap the container completely and close the lid if it is loose. Or you can cover the ice cream container completely with the aluminum for. The foil will prevent direct cooling and also prevent the crystals to form in the ice cream.
Usually, I try doing all these steps so that I can prevent crystals. But the truth is, freezing is the process of crystallizing the mixture. We only minimize the hard crystals forming and also fast cooling reduces the size of ice crystals.
How to prevent Ice crystals in homemade Ice cream?
Avoid using water or only fruit juice, and whip it properly. If you try freezing fruit juice or any artificially made justice using water, it gets harder. Water turns into ice but to make smooth ice cream you need a mixture with very low water content.
To prevent ice crystals from ice cream always keep it in an airtight container before putting it in the freezer. Mix it once when it is half frozen and again put it to set for 6-7b hours. You should cover the opening of the container completely so that to avoid direct cooling.
Try to make a creamy mixture with very less or no water in it. Whip it for longer for a smooth creamy texture, mix it once before it is completely set.
These are some really very easy steps that I use to do to prevent crystals. Please try all the mentioned steps and let me know how it worked for you. Do not hesitate to let me know if you have any suggestions or questions in the comment box below.
