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150+ Years of Home Made Ice Cream
The White Mountain® Ice Cream maker is such a simple machines but they sure do bring back fond memories for many families.
Ice cream made with a home ice cream maker seems to be one of those foods that speak a language of its own. While the flavors and styles may change, kids and adults alike will seldom turn down the opportunity to indulge.
Sit back and relax in your favorite deep seated piece of patio furniture as we take a little trip back in time when life appeared to be a little bit simpler and families could gather for a day of enjoyment culminating with a dish of their favorite homemade ice cream. There is nothing like making your own.
What is your favorite flavor? Is it still the same as when you were a kid?
Image rights aquired from Kozzi
An Ice Cream Maker by White Mountain
Hand crank style
The White Mountain Products company was founded in 1853 with its signature offering of the hand cranked ice cream freezer. The triple action dasher allowed the ice cream mixture to be folded into itself as well as beating it while the canister rotated in the rock salt and ice mixture. The canister moved in one direction while the dasher was able to move in two different directions. The result was the smoothest ice cream possible.
By Fannie Merritt Farmer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
I grew up on a farm in Iowa and some of my fondest memories were when the ice cream freezer would come out of hiding. To the best of my recollection even back then our choice of freezer was the White Mountain® Ice Cream maker.
Once you knew what was coming, it was difficult to wait for the mixture to come together. Back then, we did not have much worry about using raw eggs in the mixture, so eggs, sugar, milk, cream, vanilla and any other flavors from fresh fruit became the ingredients of a delicious frozen treat.
If you have no ice-crusher, use a wooden mallet. Put the ice in a bag or a square of strong burlap or carpeting, take it out at the door-stone or over a beam in the floor and pound it till fine and uniformly crushed. never use an iron hammer.
Frozen Dainties
The above quote is just one of the quaint and unique tips you will find in this book. Just reading this book for the flavor of the language of the times would justify the cost but there is another benefit in that you end up with 50 different ice cream recipes.
In today’s modern world we refer to plating when talking about the appearance of food placed in front of those being served. On page 4 of the book highlighted below you will be introduced to the art of “moulding” and how it applies to homemade ice cream. I think you will find it a most enjoyable read and you might just discover a new ice cream recipe or two.
Click on the link below to get your very own copy.
Frozen Dainties
Sometimes old is better. In this book you will find 50 different ice cream recipes.
The author begins with 5 recipes that form the basis for all ice creams and ends with several recipes for sherbets and water ices.
I called them recipes while the author uses receipts, the more picturesque term of the time.
If you are familiar with homemade ice cream at all then you know that the flavor and texture outshine all the “store-bought” stuff. There is the satisfaction of knowing you made it first of all, but couple that frozen desert with your favorite fresh fruit and you have a heavenly combination.
Very little has changed with the White Mountain ice cream maker since its inception in 1853. Oh, there may have been a few tweaks here and there but the fine quality craftsmanship remained the same.
There are only four different products in this line of freezers. There are two models of the hand crank freezer and two distinct models of the freezers with the electric model. Both the hand crank version and the electric version offers 4-quart and 6-quart sizes enabling you to have plenty of that great tasting homemade dessert on hand.
The White Mountain Freezer and a little ingenuity
Above I have shown you the official version of what was used to replace the hand-cranking of yesteryear. The electric motor with 12,000 rpm was introduced for those folks seeking to replace the task of sitting and churning the freezer so they could go on to something else while only looking in occasionally to add ice or salt.
Below is a video showing another labor-saving device using the White Mountain Ice Cream Maker. Enjoy!