How do you keep the texture of homemade ice cream like store-bought ones when you put it in the freezer?

When I purchase store bought ice cream, it’s never too frozen and is smooth and creamy. But when I make my ice cream and put it into a container and put it into the freezer, it becomes as hard as ice!
How come and how can I keep it nice and smooth?

The reason why the store bought stuff does not turn icy is because if you read the ingredient statement you will see one or more gums are used. These could be xanthan gum, guar gum, carageenan or carob gums. These gums suppresss the formation of ice crystals. What this does is it allows the ice cream mix to be sent to a blast freezer and the quickness of the -20F temp being blasted on the boxes, quickly freezes the mix, thus preventing the formation of large crystals. Water will form bigger crystals the longer it takes to freeze. Thus, quick freezing is a key essential in making ice cream smooth and crystal free.

What you can do is go to a health food store, and often, you can buy xanthan or other gums. You can make a SLURRY of gum, by dissolving a xanthan gum or carageenan or guar (or a mixture of these) at a rate of about 0.1% by weight of the mixture of the liquid ice cream mix. You will want to pre-dissolve the gum in a little bit of canola oil and then put the ice cream mix into a blender on medium, and then pour the gum/oil mixture into the ice cream mix. Gums are NOT water soluable and they will clump up in water, this is why it must be mixed into the oil first which will help to disperse the gums.

Another method is to mix the gum powder with about 5 times the amount of table sugar. Since there is table sugar in your ice cream (I am betting), you can disperse the gum and then add this instead during blending. Either method should work.

So for 1 pound of ice cream mix you have 453.6 grams of ice cream mix and you need to add 0.1% by weight gum.

453.6 x 0.001 = 0.45 grams, lets say 0.5 grams of gum

You will mix the 0.5 grams of gum powder then with let’s say, 10 grams of table sugar. This disburses the gum into the sugar and allows it to incorporate into the ice cream mix.

Put the 1 lb of ice cream mix liquid into the blender and set on medium, forming a vortex in the center. Slowly pour the sugar/gum mix into the vortex and blend a little longer to ensure thoroughly disbursing.

Then, go ahead and make your ice cream as you normally do. Ensure that the ice cream immediately is put into the freezer.

You may wish to experiment with different batches of ice cream, adding a little bit more gum and proportion the sugar. Dairies typically will use between 0.1 – 0.3% gum, so I have suggested the low end to you to begin with. Eventually you will find the best level of gum for the ice cream mix you are using.

Gums have a 1 year shelf life, so don’t buy very much of it. Otherwise, it will loose its strength after a year and you will have to throw it away. Buying a few ounces is better than buying a lot of it.

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