Apart from the recipes, with which this chapter shall not deal, the most important part about ice-cream is the freezing of the mixture. Its dangers are many. First of all, freezing incorporates air into the mixture and therefore increases its bulk. Ice-cream can be frozen too slowly or too fast, and experience here is the best teacher. If frozen too rapidly, says the Omaha State Experiment Station, the ice-cream doesn’t expand very much (this is more important to the commercial maker of ice-cream). Without the air incorporated, it is soggy and heavy. It will also be grainy and will fall apart. If frozen too slowly, it is buttery, greasy, non-expansive and fat will rise. If frozen too long, it will be churned creamy, it loses expansion, it is greasy, soggy and heavy. These are the reasons why cream is not a velvety, smooth, ungrained stand-without-hitching quality. Here are some other defects and their causes: First, the cream must be clean and creamy, combined with flavoring material which blends with the cream to a full delicious flavor. There may be defects in the flavor, due to the cream used, such as sour, old, bitter or metallic cream flavor. It may be due to the filler or stabilizer, such as a starch, gum or gelatine. Defects may also be due to other ingredients. It may be too sweet, not sweet enough, coarse flavor due to flavor material, stale fruit, rancid nuts, moldy nuts. The cream must be firmly frozen to be smooth and velvety. If it is not, these conditions may prevail: Icy: Due to improper packing. Coarse: Too thin cream or packing while too soft. Sticky: Due to fillers, such as gelatine or a sweetened condensed milk. Buttery: Use of cream partially churned before freezing, or to cream too cold when put into freezer, or because freezer was operated at too high speed. THE CURE First, buy a good freezer, never less than a gallon, because you can always freeze a little in it and always be ready for a crowd. There are various types of freezers on the market. (1) those that you turn by hand, (2) by motor, (3) ones that aren’t turned at all, (4) ones that are oscillated only and in which, at home, two flavors can be frozen at once. In this type it takes longer to freeze cream, but as the arm only works back and forth it is not so tiring. The can in the tub is partitioned in two segments and the paddles and dasher only turn half way. The freezer that isn’t turned at all needs no lyric from me. It tells its own story in making good ice-cream of a smooth mousse-like consistency, but real ice-cream. It is rapid and restful. The various motorized freezers are good for large families and the small motors attachable to small freezers geared for motors are joys. There are some kitchen units that are clumsy, some that are convenient which turn the freezer, polish the silver, sharpen the knives, in fact do everything but shine one’s boots. (See Chapter XXV).