White Mountain Means Great Ice Cream

Reviewer: sparksfly - See all my reviews
I have owned a hand-cranked White Mountain 4-quart freezer for twenty-three years. All freezer parts have held up extremely well. White Mountain has a reputation for quality that has withstood the test of decades.

The day before you plan to use the freezer, fill the wooden bucket with water and let it stand overnight. This causes the wood to swell, so the process is neater the next day. Empty the bucket before you set things up to churn.

If you set the churn up on a sturdy plastic stepstool, churning will be easier ergonomically. Use the recommended ice-to-salt ratio and be sure to keep the bucket topped up. As you churn, make sure the drain hole in the bucket doesn't get blocked and the brine flows out freely, or you will have salty ice-cream. It is a good idea to put the whole contraption in a shallow plastic basin to catch the brine, because the brine that drains out will murder grass, corrode metal, and stain some wooden surfaces. Churn slowly until the crank will not budge. The best way to do this is to have a small person sit on a folded towel on top of the churn while folks take turns cranking. After the ice cream is firm, remove the dasher, replace the lid, and put a cork in the hole in the lid. (You may have to buy your own cork.) Drain off as much brine as you can without letting brine slip in through the edge of the lid. Add more of the ice-and-salt mixture, mounding it over the top of the bucket. Cover with the towel and let the ice cream "ripen" for a little while in a cool place.

After serving, put any leftovers in a plastic box in the freezer. If you want to reclaim some of the salt for future use, you can turn the slurry in the bucket out slowly onto several sheets of newspaper, letting the water run off. Let the salt dry thoroughly in the sun. It is important to wash all parts of the churn thoroughly within a few hours of using them, since the salt slurry is highly corrosive.

Kids love the whole process - I frequently tease them into sharing the cranking duties by telling them they may not have any ice cream unless they help.

My favorite flavor is peanut butter! Closely followed by mint-chocolate-chip, Butterfinger, peppermint, peach, strawberry, Heath Bar crunch....

[Sunday, August 20, 2006]

First Class Doorstop!

I just recieved a white mountain Ice Cream Freezer...

The motor only turns when it is upside down,

And the catch tab on the inside of the container is missing...

High priced junk and it is expensive to ship back and forth at $25 a shot!

[Wednesday, July 12, 2006]