Hi there! Do you love ice cream? I sure do! It’s such a yummy treat, especially on a hot day. Today, we’re going to learn all about how ice cream is made. Let’s dive into this sweet adventure!
Most of the ice cream we eat is made in big factories. Imagine a place where lots of ice cream is made every day! In these factories, they start by mixing cream, milk, and sugar. This mix is like melted ice cream before it gets cold.
Next, a big machine stirs the mix. This machine is like a giant mixer you might have seen in your kitchen. It adds air to the mix, which makes the ice cream soft and fluffy. Then, they add flavors and yummy things like chocolate chips or cookie pieces.
Once the ice cream is ready, it goes into containers. These factories can make about a million pints of ice cream every day! That’s a lot of ice cream!
Did you know people made ice cream even before we had electricity? It’s true! A long time ago, people used ice from frozen lakes and rivers. They stored this ice in special places called icehouses to keep it cold all year.
To make ice cream, they would mix tasty ingredients like milk and sugar in a jar. Then, they put the jar in a container filled with ice and salt. After some time, the mix would freeze and turn into ice cream or slushies!
People all over the world have made different kinds of frozen treats. In Italy, they made a smooth treat called sorbet by mixing juice and sugar with ice and salt. In India, they created a delicious frozen bar called kulfi using milk, sugar, spices, and nuts.
You can make ice cream at home too! One fun way is to use two plastic bags. Fill one bag with ice and salt, and the other with your ice cream ingredients. Put the ice cream bag inside the ice and salt bag, close them tightly, and shake them for about 10 minutes. Ta-da! You have homemade ice cream!
That’s all for our ice cream adventure today. Remember, there are many ways to make ice cream, and you can even try making some at home. Keep exploring and stay curious about the world around you. Who knows what fun things you’ll discover next!
Ice Cream Detective: Next time you have ice cream at home, become an ice cream detective! Look at the ingredients list on the package. Can you find the cream, milk, and sugar? Talk with an adult about why these ingredients are important. Try to guess what makes your favorite flavor taste so good. Is it chocolate, vanilla, or maybe something else?
Ice Cream in a Bag Experiment: Try making your own ice cream at home using the plastic bag method described in the article. Gather your ingredients and follow the steps with an adult’s help. As you shake the bags, think about how the ice and salt help the mixture freeze. What happens to the mixture as you shake it? How does it change?
Frozen Treats Around the World: With an adult, explore different frozen treats from around the world. Can you find pictures or recipes for sorbet, kulfi, or other treats? Try making a simple version of one of these treats at home. How is it similar to or different from the ice cream you usually eat?
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(phone ringing) – Hi, it’s Jay. Ah, ice cream. It’s the best! Growing up in Wisconsin, I loved to get a scoop of ice cream that looked a lot like this one: cookies and cream on a cake cone. And here’s another frozen treat I enjoyed as a kid: paletas. I still eat paletas all the time. Maybe you’ve had one. They’re usually made with fruit, sugar, and cream, and frozen into a bar. They’re delicious on a hot day.
Someone named Ricardo has a question about ice cream. Let’s give Ricardo a call now. (phone ringing) – Hi, Jay. – Hi, Ricardo. – I have a question for you. How is ice cream made? – That’s a great question! I’m always curious about how things are made, and ice cream is no exception. One way we can find out is to visit an ice cream factory and see for ourselves. A lot of the ice cream we eat today is made in factories like this one in Vermont. Here, you can see a person adding a liquid mix of cream, milk, and sugar into a big machine. This mix tastes like melted ice cream, except it hasn’t been frozen yet.
And check this out! See that paddle? It looks like a big version of a mixer you might use at home. Watch how it’s stirring the mix. The stirring adds air into the ice cream as it freezes. Air is important in ice cream making because it helps make the ice cream soft. Ooh, and here you can see the workers adding flavoring and other ingredients, like chocolate chips or cookies. Once the ice cream is ready, it goes into these containers. This factory makes about 270 pints of ice cream per minute, about a million pints a day! To make this much ice cream, these machines have to run all day, every day, which just wouldn’t be possible without electricity.
But what if I told you that people have been making ice cream for a long time, even before electricity? It’s true! This is a painting from the early 1800s. Check out what that man’s eating: ice cream! And here’s another painting from around the same time showing a man selling ice cream. These were painted long before electricity was used. So how do you think people made ice cream back then? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Okay, are you ready? This is such an interesting question. Let’s think about it together. Remember the ice cream factory we saw? There was a big machine that stirred and froze the ice cream mix. So to make ice cream, you have to do two things: stir and freeze.
Okay, so that first part: stirring. No problem! People can stir ice cream mix without electricity. Sure, your arm might get tired, but you could definitely do it. But then there’s freezing. How did people freeze things without electricity? Well, they used ice. One way people got ice back then was to cut it from frozen lakes and rivers during the winter. To keep the ice frozen, they stored it in an icehouse. If you looked inside, you would see piles of ice covered with a thick layer of straw, which helped it stay frozen all year without electricity.
People used this kind of ice to make an early version of ice cream. They would fill something like a jar with different tasty ingredients, maybe milk and sugar, or juice and sugar. Then they would put this jar into a container filled with ice and salt. After a while, the mixture inside the jars would freeze, turning into slushies or ice cream. Around the world, people found creative ways to use ice to make different kinds of frozen treats, like in Italy, where this invention let people mix juice and sugar in a barrel full of ice and salt until it became a smooth and colorful treat called sorbet, or in India, where metal molds filled with milk, sugar, spices, and nuts created a delicious frozen bar called kulfi.
These cold treats took a lot of time and work to make. But by the middle of the 1800s, people found new ways to make a lot of ice cream so that many people could enjoy it. For example, in Pennsylvania, a milkman named Jacob Fussell built the world’s first ice cream factory. Remember, this was before electricity was available, so when Fussell built his factory, he made sure to also build an icehouse next to a source of ice: a creek that froze every winter. Fussell didn’t just use his ice to make ice cream; he also used it to ship ice cream. Packing train cars with ice and straw, his containers of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry traveled to cities across America without melting, even during the summer. Fussell’s ice cream company was a huge success. He built many more factories in other states, and his ice cream remained popular, even after electricity was widely used.
So in summary, most ice cream today is made in factories with big machines and freezers, but before electricity, ice cream was made by hand using ice. There are actually many ways to make ice cream. All you need to do is stir the ingredients as they freeze. People make ice cream in lots of places besides big factories, like in small factories that make one batch at a time and even at home with ice cream makers, where you can turn a crank that spins the ice cream and sugar mixture as it freezes.
You can even make ice cream in a plastic bag! There are lots of recipes online for this, but here’s the basics: Take two plastic bags. Fill one with ice and salt and the other with your ice cream ingredients. Put the ice cream bag inside the ice and salt bag. Make sure to close them both securely, and shake. In about 10 minutes, you should have ice cream! And if you make cookies and cream, save some for me.
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Ricardo, for asking it. We’ll be back with a new episode in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, here are some older questions from the question jar. You can vote on which one you think we should send out next week. You can choose from “How is money made?”, “Are unicorns real?”, or “Has a shooting star ever landed on someone?” So submit your vote when the video is over. We want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week!
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