Ice Cream Makers

There are quite a few different brands of ice cream makers on the market which can only be good as far as prospective buyers of ice cream machines are concerned. Somewhat confusingly though there are also quite a few different types of machines that can be employed to make homemade ice cream.

We'll take a quick run through these different types of ice cream makers, pointing out a few of the pros and cons of each type of machine and hopefully clearing up some of the confusion along the way.

Ice and salt ice cream makers.

These are the traditional type of ice cream makers that have been around for over 150 years. Traditionally they were hand cranked but more recent models have replaced the crank with an electric motor. The mixing canister is positioned in a bucket of ice and salt, the salt reducing the melting temperature of the ice.

Purists claim that with experience and a feel for the churn, the hand cranked versions produce the best possible homemade ice cream. That as it may be there are very few manual ice cream makers still being produced, notable exceptions being the models from White Mountain.

Powered ice and salt versions are more numerous with models available from White Mountain and Rival.

The big plus for ice and salt type ice cream makers is that capacity is not a limit. Four and six quart machines are quite common and even bigger sizes are available.

On the negative side, they can be noisy, they need attention and they can be messy.

Gel canister ice cream makers.

Gel filled mixing canisters came along in the 1980's as a solution to the hassle of dealing with ice and salt. The canisters are double walled and contain a gel or liquid with a low freezing/melting point. You stick the canister in your freezer for anything between 8 and 24 hours to freeze the gel/liquid as hard as, dare I say it, ice.

Once again you have manual or motorized options. The Donvier is an example of a hand cranked gel canister ice cream maker while motorized versions are available from a whole host of brand names, you can tell this is the hotspot in the market at the moment, including Cuisinart, Rival, Krups, KitchenAid, Delonghi and Deni.

The main drawbacks of gel canister ice cream makers are their capacity with an upper limit of about two quarts, having to re-freeze canisters between batches and the space the canisters take up in a freezer.

Recently gel disc ice cream makers have appeared as an attempted solution to the freezer space problem. Instead of freezing the whole canister only the gel packs are frozen and are then placed in the canister when you are ready to crank. Rival have machines with this technology.

Electric ice cream makers.

Of course it is not necessary to mess around with ice, salt, freezing canisters or gel packs. You can get self contained ice cream makers that have their own build in compressors and motors. A couple of minutes after switching it on, their mixing bows are down to the ideal working temperature for making ice cream and you can make as many batches as you need, one after the other.

This versatility comes at a price, which is their main drawback, they do tend to be expensive.

Models are available in different capacities, with 1 to 2 quart sizes being popular for home use as well as being the most affordable.

Popular makes include Cuisinart, Delonghi, Deni and a gaggle of Italian brands such as Musso, Simac and Letto