Fun 5 Minute Ice Cream In A Bag
by
Chantai Snellgrove 
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Cooking with kids: Five-minute ice-cream-in-a-bag
This recipe is more of a fun, creative science experiment than a “cooking” class. We won’t be “cooking” anything; we’ll just be mixing up ingredients.
David Helseth suggested this recipe.
When this recipe first came to me, I was like, what…?
Five-minute ice cream in a bag??
But…I was intrigued by this recipe suggestion.
So here’s a BIG shout out of “THANKS” to David!
We found this recipe extremely fun and suggest you try it with your kiddos (maybe even make it your “kick-off” to start the summer).
Here is the list of ingredients you will need:
- 1/2 cup whole milk half and half, or cream
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp sea salt
- 2 cups of ice
- sandwich-sized ziplock bag
- gallon or quart-sized ziplock bag
Meagan@4Sonsrus inspired us. Get directions via her link.
Watch the video below as Kailee and I try making this recipe.
I tried this recipe before filming our above segment for the “Create, Cook, and Talk” show. My daughter, Kailee, and I posted a new show every Thursday on Facebook during COVID-19. This recipe/activity was so easy and so much FUN!
I was very excited to bring it to you all. It also made me very curious about how it worked. I wanted to learn more for myself, but I wanted to explain it to Kailee so she could understand how it was made.
What’s the expression? Google is your friend. So, I searched and found great information on how ice cream is made.
Image courtesy The Kids Should See This.com
How ice cream is made: This video provides a great overview of how to make ice cream, starting at the farm with cows. via The Kids Should See This
In the above video, we learned that ice cream is a foam made of tiny ice crystals that are locked in a mixture of sugar, fat globules, and air bubbles. Wait…..fat globules?????
Image courtesy Sushilbandhu.com
What are fat globules?
Well, if you can envision fat and water (or oil and water), the milk fat exists as small globules (liquid fat droplets) distributed or disbursed throughout the milk serum (the watery part of milk).
Chris Clark, the author of The Science of Ice Cream, told Live Science this: Ice cream is basically made up of little ice crystals and air bubbles and fat droplets, all glued together by a viscous sugar solution. via Live Science
OK, that helped me understand a little bit more, but why do we need to add salt to the bag of ice? The Sci Guys video on Melting Points: Ice Cream in a Bag was helpful (starting at about 2:24).
Image courtesy: The Sci Guys: Science at Home: Melting Points: Ice Cream in a Bag,
Why do we need to add salt to the ice?
Since ice cream isn’t made up of just water, it has cream, sugar, and flavoring, but, it needs to be a little colder below 32°F to freeze.
By adding salt to the ice, we lower the freezing point. The melting ice absorbs heat from the ice bag, allowing it to freeze our treat quickly.
Placing the ice cream liquid into the bag of ice with salt water, as it melts, creates a kind of saltwater slushy.
The salt affects how water freezes. It lowers the freezing/melting point of water. The saltwater surrounding the bag of ice cream liquid allows it to cool enough that it starts to thicken and freeze.
As the ice cream base starts to freeze, it forms into ice, but by using a steady shaking or turning process, we break up the ice crystals as they form by beating air into the mixture.
Voila!!! There you have it: How you can make five-minute ice cream in a bag. Only now, you have a little bit of the science behind it.
Here are some additional fun facts about ice cream.
- 16. 5 pints of Ice Cream in 6 Minutes: Miki Sudo set the world record for ice cream eating last year at the Indiana State Fair. via Fox News.com
- July is National Ice Cream Month.
- The most popular day for buying ice cream is Sunday.
- Did you know that ice cream testers use gold spoons? This is so that they can taste the product 100% without a slight aftertaste from typical metal/steel spoons.
Plan to make this fun treat a science experiment activity with the whole family.
Enjoy!
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