Homemade ice cream

By Taylor Melton
Translated by Anna Yang

Homemade ice cream is quick, easy, fun and cheap to make. Without preservatives and using only a handful of ingredients, it has a unique and delicious flavor and texture not found in commercial ice creams. Making your own ice cream requires no cooking, skill, timing, or expensive equipment. This is a great activity for couples, house parties, and even kids, who can get in on the action.

The only equipment needed to freeze the ice cream is ice, salt, a large ziplock bag and a large pot. The salt lowers the freezing point, causing the ice to melt and bringing the temperature of the water down to -6 Celsius--just the right temperature to freeze the ice cream. Placing the bag in the freezer will freeze the mixture too quickly, resulting in a block of ice.

A vanilla ice cream base involves only four ingredients and makes one serving.
1/4 cup (70ml) milk
1/4 cup (70ml) cream
1 tablespoon (18ml) white sugar
1/4 teaspoon (1.5ml) vanilla extract or 1/4 vanilla bean.

Mix the above ingredients into a large ziplock bag and seal well. Fill the bottom of the pot with ice and cover with 1/4 cup (70ml) of regular table salt. Place the ziplock bag with the ingredients on top of the ice and salt mixture. Cover with more ice and another 1/4 cup (70ml) of salt. Grab the pot handles and shake in quick, hard circles for 5-10 minutes. If the ice cream doesn't begin to harden after five minutes, shake the pot harder.

Open the bag, scoop into a bowl, garnish with fruits or sauces of your choice and serve immediately.

This basic vanilla ice cream recipe can be used as the basis for flavored ice creams, for example:

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream:
Add as many chocolate chips as desired to the ziplock bag before shaking.

Chocolate Ice Cream:
Add one teaspoon (6ml) chocolate syrup to the vanilla base before shaking.

Blueberry Ice Cream:
Place ice cream ingredients into a blender with 1/4 cup (85g) blueberries and blend until smooth. Follow the above instructions. Substitute blueberries with any other berry or berry combination.