Can Ice Cream Go Bad?
Can ice cream go bad in the freezer? The worst thing about making everything for yourself from scratch is not having a clearly defined use-by date which would clear a number of things up, and allow you to easily know when to throw out old food. How long is homemade ice cream good?
Instead, you have to learn a number of things about bacterial growth and freezer burn, and then apply your knowledge in the long run. This isn’t too bad a situation, but it’s certainly inconvenient.
In this article, we’re going to talk about storing homemade ice cream, and some things that you should know to be food-safe in your home.
How long is homemade ice cream good for?
Can ice cream go bad in the freezer? Well, the thing which makes homemade ice cream degrade is freezer burn. The name is a little odd, but essentially it’s when ice crystals form on and within food that you’re storing in the freezer. These large crystals will disrupt the molecular structure of your food, leading to poor texture the longer it’s stored in your freezer.
Luckily, homemade ice cream is no more susceptible to this than any other food, store-bought or otherwise. The best way to prevent it is to create an air barrier between your food and the rest of the freezer. This is often done with tubs or containers being stored within one another, though we would recommend using an appropriately-sized tub with baking paper wrapped around it. This will create a small barrier that will slow the approach of freezer burn.
How long before homemade ice cream is unsafe?
The thing that makes ice cream unsafe is small bacterial growth over time. The thing that causes this is when ice cream thaws to room temperature and then is frozen again. Over the course of this happening several times, you can be sure that bacterial growth will slowly increase a little, which will make the ice cream unsafe to eat.
Can ice cream go bad?
With store-bought ice cream, this takes place over about a month. Within homemade ice cream, though, you aren’t using any of the preservatives that a factory would, so it only lasts about half the time. To be on the safe side, we’d recommend eating your homemade ice cream within about two weeks of making it – this will result in the best texture, freshness, and safety in your dessert.
What’s the best way to keep homemade ice cream good for longer?
There are a couple of small things that you can do to keep homemade ice cream good for longer.
The first is to limit the contact of the ice cream container with cold surfaces within your freezer – you could stand it on an insulating sheet of cardboard, for example, and the base would thereby get less freezer burn over time.
You can also take a more general approach to this tip, and wrap your ice cream container in a sheet of baking paper, or a tea towel. This will slow the approach of freezer burn, keeping your ice cream good for a longer amount of time.