Why use liquid nitrogen to make ice cream?
I turned on the TV yesterday just in time to see a guy use liquid nitrogen to make his ice cream. At first I thought it was just to make the show more exciting, but it seemed to be an important part of his ice cream making process.
What benefits (if any) are there to using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream?
Best Answer
Ice cream is an emulsion and in it, you have air, fat, and ice. The smaller the ice crystals, the smoother the icecream and better chance of achieving a velvety, creamy, smooth texture. The flavor is also elevated given the smaller crystals. Put it in the freezer, and ice crystals start to grow bigger and you lose the benefits.
Also, colder temperature inhibits the taste buds ability to pick up sweetness. At liquid nitro cooled temperatures, you can get an explosion of flavour as the icecream warms up and melts in your mouth and the taste buds start to pick up on sweetness.
Finally, aside from a show, it's much much faster to make icecream with LN2 than in a regular machine. Seconds versus 30-45minutes.
There are hazardous issues with liquid nitrogen and handling. As a starting point, look into this primer.
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Quick Answer about "Why use liquid nitrogen to make ice cream?"
The secret to the creamy ice cream is all in the rapid freezing of the mixture and the use of fats (from the cream) in the mixture. The liquid nitrogen causes the fat and the water particles to stay very small, giving the ice cream its creamy consistency. The goal is to avoid large ice crystals in the structure.Do you need liquid nitrogen to make ice cream?
A spokesperson for Dippin' Dots, which uses liquid nitrogen to flash freeze beads of ice cream at its factory before shipping the frozen treat to stores, says its ice cream is stored at \u201340 \xb0C (\u201340 \xb0F) before it's served to customers. At that temperature, the ice cream is considered safe to eat.Is making ice cream with liquid nitrogen safe?
The temperature of liquid nitrogen can readily be reduced to its freezing point \u2212210 \xb0C (\u2212346 \xb0F; 63 K) by placing it in a vacuum chamber pumped by a vacuum pump.Why is liquid nitrogen used for freezing?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned people not to eat liquid nitrogen ice cream. The FDA said the liquid nitrogen is so cold it could be harmful to a person's health. Officials said eating liquid nitrogen could burn someone's throat because it is so cold.How to make liquid-nitrogen ice cream safely — Speaking of Chemistry
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