I scream you scream we all scream for icecream!

 

Ah well, summer is here and it’s ice-cream weather and I’m rather partial to a bit of the cold stuff from time to time. You can buy quite cheap ice-cream, but the good stuff is getting quite expensive, and it all seems to have additives in it, numbers, colours and flavours from chemicals rather than fruit that came from a tree or vine, preservatives, softeners so you can scoop it out, hardeners, so it stays the same consistency, you know what I mean.

For a long time I've looked at ice-cream makers so I could make it at home. There are some quite cheap ones out there, but I have found from experience, that with these cheap things, you get what you pay for, and the day after the 12 month warranty is over the thing throws in the towel and gives up the ghost, thereby needing another trip to the shop, more decisions about what brand to buy, and general frustration.

So I decided to buy an expensive one. I went back to the online shop, Kitchenware Direct, where I bought a pan recently. They have a chat facility where you can talk to someone there. So I did this and asked the lady about ice-cream makers. She has one, a fairly expensive one and says it churns out good ice-cream every time. So I ordered it and I have experimented a few times.

It makes yummy stuff. Not quite as thick as bought ice-cream, but pricewise probably on a par or cheaper than the good ice-cream, it is quick to make, and I know what is in it. Not much. Milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and fruit.

 

Everything is churning away. It only takes about 30 minutes per batch.

This is the machine. So far so good.

 I bought this one…..a Cuisinart. It is a solid machine, has a good warranty, a solid metal body and makes 2 litres at a time. I have used frozen fruit so far, mixed berries and raspberries. I still need to experiment with the juice that the berries make, I think I have put in too much of the juice and it is a tad thinner than I think it should be. You thaw out the berries and add half a cup of sugar to bring the juice out of the fruit. 

I don’t like chocolate ice-cream so won’t make that one. I do want to try hokey pokey ice-cream. Growing up in New Zealand, we had the best ice-cream in the world.

 

I find that even my favorite is full of 'stuff'.  These are the ingredients of hokey pokey ice-cream.

ICE CREAM [CREAM, MILK, LIQUID SUGAR, WATER, GLUCOSE SYRUP (FROM MAIZE), MILK SOLIDS NON FAT, EMULSIFIERS (477, 471), VEGETABLE GUMS (412, 410, 407, 401), NATURAL FLAVOURS, NATURAL COLOUR (160a)], HOKEY POKEY PIECES (6%) [SUGAR, GLUCOSE SYRUP (FROM MAIZE), BUTTER (CREAM, SALT), COCOA BUTTER, MINERAL SALT (500), GELATINE, NATURAL FLAVOUR, SALT].

 

 

 Tip Top is the best ice-cream you will every buy, (If you have never eaten Tip Top Hokey Pokey Ice-cream, you have not lived.) so I don’t expect to equal that, but my homemade stuff is pretty good. Fancy a scoop or two?