My freezer is set at -21°C (-6°F) and tubs of ice cream come out hard as a rock and are near impossible to scoop. But if I set it a few degrees warmer, yet still way below the freezing point of water, I can scoop it easily. So, is there such a thing as both frozen and *really* frozen? Conversely, a boiling point is a boiling point, I believe. Heating water to a temp above 100°C gets you the same steam that you got at 100, just faster. Right?
In: 102
ice cream is typically made by churning the fat sugar water mixture to incorporate air as it freezes. this prevents ice crystals from forming above a certain size. a good ice cream is technically a frozen foam with millions of microscopic ice crystals and should feel like snow even at -21C.
the problem happens when storage is actually not as cold as reported. warmer than -18C, ice crystals can start to fuse into large crystals over time or even over several cycles of taking it out into the room for a few minutes.
same thing happens with snow. if it cycles through warm periods eventually the powder snow becomes rock hard.
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