Ice Cream Maker Glossary

Churning: process of mixing and freezing mixture to minimize crystallization by incorporating air. Clotted-Cream Ice Cream: made from richest creams for luxurious texture and taste - clotted cream and chocolate or clotted cream and berries. Eggs: add richness; allow fats and water to combine better; slow down melting. Electric Ice Cream Maker: 3 levels of ice cream makers with hollow inner chambers filled with coolant to process ice cream to a soft stage in 20-40 minutes. Flavorings: most recipes call for vanilla; additional flavors can be added. Flavorings with alcohol slow the freezing process. Frozen Yogurt: made from low-fat or fat-free yogurt, gelatin, corn syrup, and flavorings that are processed in an ice cream machine to soft-serve or hard consistencies. Gelato: Italian frozen dessert similar to ice cream, using milk, sugar, fruit, liquors, spices, nuts, chocolate, flavorings, and processed in an ice cream or gelato maker to a semi-frozen or hard consistency. Hand-Cranked Ice Cream maker: ice cream maker that uses ice and salt to freeze, requiring about 20 minutes of hand-cranking to reach a soft stage.

Ice Cream: a dessert made from a combination of milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and flavorings. The mixture is precooked, cooled, and placed in a White Mountain ice cream maker for processing.

Luxury Ice Cream: made from double cream and sugar for extra richness.

Milk: skim, 1%, 2%, whole, and soy milks each achieve a different consistency of ice cream; lighter and often with a more watery taste than cream produces.

Organic Ice Cream: made from organic whole milk, organic cream, organic refined sugar, pasteurized organic eggs - most often in vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate flavorings.

Overrun: amount of air churned into ice cream during freezing - 50% for luxury ice creams.

Paddles: part of a Cuisinart ice cream maker that churns the mixture during the freezing process.

Soft Ice Cream: produced in 20 to 40 minutes from a soft serve ice cream maker - a completely smooth, easily scooped dessert.

Sorbet: a low-fat, vegan (free of animal products) frozen fruit dessert made from fruit puree and sweetener.

Still-Frozen: Freezing ice cream or gelato without churning.

Sweeteners: most often sugar is used because it dissolves well, but honey, brown sugar, maple syrup, and artificial sweeteners can be used.

Whipping Cream: gives ice cream its smooth, creamy texture because of the higher fat content.