Have you ever found yourself in a very hopeless situation and resorted to ice cream tubs to tackle your self-loath towards a particular downside of life? Whether it’s heartbreak or you come from a tiring day at work, the most soothing and cozy feeling on Earth is opening a tub of ice cream and sitting on the couch watching your favorite TV show. During times like these, it really can’t get better than this!
Ice cream may just be sweetened frozen food, but for a lot of people, it has many emotions attached. It can be the ultimate way to cheer someone up and be consumed when you’re out with your friends. Name a better dessert than ice cream and consider yourself in for a dual. When it comes to ice cream, everyone has a favorite flavor or two (or dozen haha!). Some people take ice cream so seriously that they’ve incorporated odd ingredients such as onion and garlic into the ice cream base, which can look quite deceiving. This has ultimately turned this sweet treat into an experimental one indeed.
Ice cream comes in different packages and different forms. You can find ice cream on a stick, in a bowl, in a cone, and even eat it directly from a tub. But the sole ingredients for ice cream are typically milk, cream, flavor, and sugar. Sometimes frozen ice popsicles are termed as ice cream too. If you think about it, ice cream has a personality of its own. It can have a variety of options; for instance, you can make your cold coffee taste better, you can consume it in an ice cream sandwich, an ice cream cake, and even an ice cream float or milkshake; the options are pretty endless. Ice creams also come in fruity flavors or sorbets such as blueberry or mango. But the real battle happens when picking between the ultimate competitors, i.e., chocolate ice cream or vanilla. The following YouGov poll was done on 1000 US citizens in 2022
- Vanilla Ice Cream: 59%
- Chocolate Ice Cream: 51%
Making ice cream
Most people tend to buy their ice cream from a local grocery store or an ice cream parlor. Ice cream is made from milk, cream, sugar, and whatever flavoring you prefer. Although they seem like ingredients that are available at home, the actual process of making ice cream is quite a tedious one. Ice cream is made at massive dairy facilities and factories. Major ice cream producers, such as Haagen-Dazs, Baskin-Robbins, and Breyers, get their milk supplied from large dairy industries or farms. They use this pasteurized milk and cream to churn the ice cream in large tanks. When the mixture is added with flavor and ready to go, it is put into a very cold ice cream maker, forming a creamy soft serve ice cream that is packaged and frozen into massive cold storage units and leadership across the country.
Although the ingredients seem pretty simple, the making of the ice cream itself is the contrary. This is why most people don’t try making ice cream at home. Even at restaurants where expensive and fancy desserts are served incorporating ice cream, dry ice is used to form a soft serve-like consistency. With the advancement of technology and the trend of making things at home, various companies have made high-quality ice cream machines that can allow you to whip up this delicacy at home too. In this way, you can incorporate the ingredients and flavors of your choice and have a fun time with your children while making it.
Ice cream-making machines
Although the market is full of fancy ice cream makers such as the following,
- The best ice cream maker overall: Breville Smart Scoop
- Best value ice cream maker: Whynter Ice Cream Maker
- Most versatile ice cream maker: Ninja Creami
- Best electric, old-fashioned ice cream maker: Nostalgia electric ice cream maker
- Best ice cream maker for kids: Play and Freeze Ice Cream Ball
Ice cream ball machines
Most people get whacked out when they hear about ice cream ball machines. The idea itself seems crazy. I mean, who heard that you could make ice cream while you play, right? This ice cream maker is shaped in… you guessed it, a round ball! The unique design of the plane freeze ice cream ball is quite attractive and cleverly designed. The exterior is just like a regular rubber ball that children play with. It makes the best gift or toy because of how fun it is. You can keep your children entertained for hours and thus encourage them to play outside and get their daily dose of exercise, with, of course, a treat at the end. It’s like the product of their exertion and indirectly a reward.
Specifications
- Price range: $22-$60$
- Exterior dimensions: 8.8 x 8.8 inches sphere (standard size)
- Weight: 2.2 pounds
- Capacity: 1 pint
How it works
This play and freeze ice cream ball is a genius idea running on principles of science. Using the ice cream ball machine is quite simple. All you have to do is add an ice cream base into the ball with ice and rock salt in a compartment around the ice cream base. After that, all you need to do is secure the opening of the ball and throw it to your kids. Now, what it requires is 30 to 40 minutes of rigorous rolling around through children playing. This helps manually turn the ice cream since the rock salt around the ice prevents it from melting, which, in turn, solidifies the ice cream base into a soft serve-like consistency.
The perfect gift for children
The ball itself is made from a durable plastic material. The idea behind it is quite simple and fascinates children alike. It is also the perfect gift because it teaches children how to work with science. They realize how things such as salt can lower the melting point of ice and how it can quickly freeze the liquid into a semi-solid because of movement. It also teaches children patience because it gives them time to admire the product of their hard work. It’s even better because the hard work itself is what children love to do. That is kicking around a ball and playing.
Reviewer response
“my eight-year-old nephew got it from us for Christmas and he was very excited to use it. The best advice I can give you is to put in lots and lots of ice with the salt. Also, don’t roll around for too long or the ice cream just gets harder and harder and harder. I would say just check after 20 minutes, 30 minutes and then 40 minutes.”
Pros
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Cons
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The best ice cream ball maker/ play and freeze ice cream ball
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- Play and freeze ice cream ball
This ice cream maker ball has an intricate rubber exterior. Made from polycarbonate material. The brand name for it is ‘hand2mind’, and it is very cheap. This ice cream maker comes in two options. You can buy the ice cream maker itself, or you can buy it as a combo with complementary rock salt (which you will ultimately have to buy). It requires only 30 minutes of kicking to and for a solid ice cream to form. It is a number one best seller on Amazon and is also on Amazon’s choice list.
- Play and freeze ice cream ball
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- Yay Labs Soft Shell Ice Cream Ball
The Yay Labs soft-shell ice cream ball is available in two sizes. The first one is in pint-size while the product is also available in quart-size. This product is available on various websites and is one of the leading ice cream ball machines. It usually comes in blue color and is constructed from durable material. It Is made from Safe BPA-free free materials. These are fairly easier to clean and dishwasher-safe. The pint-size measures approximately 8.5 inches in diameter while the quart size is a bit larger and measures 9.5 inches in diameter. Yay Labs, soft shell ice cream also gives a one-year warranty to its users. With Yay Labs cream-making ball, you can bond with your children and make ice cream in that process! go ahead and add various flavors to the ice cream ball to get the ice cream of your choice!
- Yay Labs Soft Shell Ice Cream Ball
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- UCO play and freeze ice cream maker (The Ice Cream Ball)
This ice cream ball maker comes in a different exterior design than the previous two balls. This one is having a harder exterior with multiple lines and curvy outward ridges around it. this ice cream ball looks more like a scientific machine than an actual toy. On other sources, you can find it in multiple colors but the standard color is always blue. It is also 8 x 8 “and comes with a different lid that you can turn and fit into the ball. It also comes with a bowl to serve your ice cream in.
- UCO play and freeze ice cream maker (The Ice Cream Ball)
Precautions
- Do not allow the ball to be kicked around for too long because the ice cream will get harder and harder
- Make sure that you stir the mixture in intervals for a creamy consistency
- Make sure that you thoroughly disinfect and clean the exterior of the ice cream ball, when storing it to avoid the entry of any dirt
- Advise your children to wear protective sneakers while kicking around the ball since it can get very hard and heavy because of the ice and rock salt around it.
Most people can’t resist having a scoop or two of ice cream even when it’s practically snowing outside. Some people go as far as to presume that ice cream is the food of the gods, because of how much it’s enjoyed all around the world. The ice cream ball machine has stepped up the game of ice cream making from old conventional ice cream makers in high-end kitchen-stored ice cream makers, to making ice cream through the simple act of playing. It is a unique and productive purchase because you can make ice cream through a fun and playful process. It is indeed an exciting product since it allows you to switch around making homemade ice cream out of the kitchen into a process, that is a game. You can let your children or even dog kick around the ball and allow the ice cream to form. It’s really hard to imagine that one can make ice cream wherever they are. It’s even better that you can keep your children busy at the campsite, kicking around a ball while you enjoy your time. After sweating from running around with a ball, what’s better than a cold and well-earned reward, such as ice cream? The ice cream ball can be a thoughtful and fun gift that can allow this to happen. This is why you need to go ahead and get one.
