History of Homemade Ice Cream and Recipes
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Over fifty years ago, my father would bring out the hand crank ice cream maker and we would take turns cranking. We always made simple, delicious vanilla. Sometimes we would drizzle a little homemade maple syrup on top. Vanilla is still a favorite with me, but I haven't found any as good as the homemade ice cream we made back then. Thanks, Dad!
Fudge Ripple and Mont Chocolate Chip are my favorites. Of course, vanilla is perfect. You can put other stuff with it like freshly sliced strawberries and peaches in season!:) I like fruity flavors in sherbet more than ice cream.
I have to be honest, I have never cranked ice cream. There were only three in my family and an ice cream maker makes too much.
The problem with electric freezers is that they don't have sufficient power, and tend to stop way before the ice cream is done enough. And of course hand cranking is takes a lot of muscle, especially once the ice cream begins to stiffen (the longer you can crank, the better the ice cream - just don't overdo it and break anything). But if you can find two freezers - one electric and one crank - with tops that are interchangeable, here's what I do. Start making it with the electric top. Let it go until the motor stops, then quickly switch to the crank top. Be careful not to let the tub float up and trap ice underneath! Now, (since you have two machines) you can immediately start a second batch, perhaps a different recipe or flavor, in the second tub with the electric motor. By the time it stops on this batch, the first one should be done so that the crank top can be switched over to batch two. This saves a LOT of cranking, plus you can make twice the ice cream in much less time!
I've looked all over the place online for a durable hand-cranker, and have had absolutely zero results. Everything offered nowadays is either electric, soft serve, or commercial use. We managed to lose TWO hand crankers in changing our residence 10 years ago. Would anyone on your site have an idea where I might find one without any plastic gears which have a tendency to break?
Thank you.
Does white mountain not make them anymore? They are the best hand cranked.
I’ve found some at flea markets and might look on eBay.
I found a very nice old one on eBay for $37 and it works great. There's a family owned business in the Midwest that still makes and sells them too. Lehman's I think is the name of it. They do all the old school stuff, hand crank washing machine, laundry mangle's, lots of stuff
I grew up in a large extended family that always made ice cream. The younger kids would take turns sitting on the machine while the adults cranked it. Such great memories! As an adult, we’ve purchased several ice cream makers over the years. They just don’t make them like they used to! Our favorite flavor is banana chocolate chip!
I am 60 years young now and I remember at first fighting with my brothers and sister on who would crank first and then fighting about who had to crank towards the end! We now have an electric one and plan to make ice cream on Father's Day. We attempted to make it on Mother's Day but my dad forgot the sugar. It was still good and we just added flavoring to our taste. So you can have sugar-free ice cream. My favorite flavor is pineapple.
I have not had much luck making peanut butter ice cream. It has come out almost tasting dry... not sure what I'm doing wrong. Anyone have a good recipe? I like to put some homemade fudge sauce on it, delightful!
As a child, myfamily would get the old ice cream maker and have fun turning the crank. My made used to make a custard with eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla and whatever fruit was available, sometimes just plain vanilla. YUM! I learned so much about the science of how it came to be ice cream. A great learning experience with some delicious results.