Ice cream frustrations

[Jared77]

Can anybody tell me why I keep getting ice cream thats as hard as a rock? When its first made and setting up its fantastic. Let it sit in the freezer overnight and its as hard as a rock. Ive tried a few different recipes including the Ben and Jerry's one and thats still REALLY hard.

I'm using a Ziplock container to freeze them in it. I can't imagine thats the issue since many ice cream cartons are nothing but thin cardboard.

 

[Carol Dee]

Hey Jarred, I assume you are talking home made icecream. I have NEVER made ice cream that kept well in the freezer! Always hard after a night in the freezer. I figure that is NORMAL! Might as well eat it ALL at the 1st sitting. yummy

 

[schmije]

Mine gets hard too. I just set it on the counter for about 10 min before I serve it, and that helps a lot. I've also been known to nuke it for 10-15 seconds to soften it.

I have noticed that the custard (egg based) ice creams don't get as hard. Have you tried both custard and non-custard varieties?

 

[peteyfoozer]

I was going to say the same thing as schmije. I make the custard based ice cream and it doesn't get as hard, not much harder than commercial ice cream, but it tastes ooohhh so much better!

 

[curly_kate]

I've made a custard-based strawberry ice cream, and about half of it is a glacier in the freezer right now.

 

[desertlady]

somewhere a while back I was told to put in Junket, for Icecream. I cant remember if thats whats its for ! But I think its to keep it from being lumpy and hard. Its been a while since I made Ice cream !

 

[so lucky]

Back when I was a kid, making home made ice cream was a regular summer treat. My mom would always use Junket, which is rennet. I don't really know what it was for, since we have made it for years without it, now. Ours always gets hard in the freezer, but waiting for it to thaw just enough to get some out of the container is equivilent to the "Anticipation" of waiting for ketchup to come out. Worth the wait!

 

[Jared77]

Good to know I have not tried the custard varieties yet. Ill give that a go and Ill look for a Junket recipe. Im also going to try supplimenting the milk for more heavy cream. Im glad its not just me though its been making me bonkers!!!

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

I have tons of fresh goats milk this year since I'm milking 4 goats 2 times a day, and bought me an ice cream maker. I made the custard recipe with fresh strawberries and it was hard as a rock after I froze it. Then I made peach, still custard recipe but replaced some of the milk with cream and it helped, a little.

Just like everyone else, I leave mine out for a few minutes to defrost around the edges and take a knife and hack away at it, lol. No good fixes here either.

 

[schmije]

Regular milk will get harder than cream. The more fat that you put in, the softer it'll be. I have a 'lite' recipe (half & half instead of heavy cream) that tastes great, but it gets harder in the freezer.