Buying An Ice Cream Maker

basil ice cream

Big Pink

When I completed graduate school in the spring of 2008 at the tender age of 50, I decided to go back to basics and get myself an ice cream maker. However, as soon as I started shopping, I went into sticker shock. I wanted something automated, not the hand-cranked kind, but all the electric ice cream makers were well out of my price range at that time.

Then I hit on a brilliant idea: eBay! Dozens and dozens of gently used electric ice cream makers were being auctioned off that summer. I put in an opening bid of $5 (with a top bid limited to $20), crossed my fingers . . . and lost.

And lost.

I continued to lose every auction I entered. Used ice cream makers were going for almost as much as new ice cream makers that summer. After a while, I gave up on the idea of owning an ice cream maker any time soon.

deep dark chocolate frozen yogurt

In July 2008, I decided to try one more time. I found an eBay ad for a 2-quart Rival ice cream maker. The seller did not include a photo in the listing. The starting bid was $15, but included free shipping.

I sent the seller a message asking why he did not include a photo, since he included photos for all his other auctions. His response was "It's ugly," then he expounded on the machine's other qualities.

I was intrigued and placed the minimum bid -- $15, with free shipping. And I WON!!! (Of course, I was the only bidder.) The seller thanked me by email for buying it.

As I pulled my new ice cream maker out of the box, I understood why the seller didn't bother with a photo. The thing was big and (mostly) puke pink. The puke pink of the outer bucket clashed with the equally obnoxious cartoon pink of the machine's decals. My only photo of Big Pink does not do the pukiness of its color scheme justice:

WARNING: The item in this photo is uglier than it appears.

After I stopped laughing, I went to work making a lovely banana ice cream, the kind my family made when I was a kid. It was exciting! I was returning to my roots! (Kind of.)

I mixed together milk, cream, sugar, mashed bananas, real vanilla extract, a dash of fresh shaved nutmeg, and poured the concoction into the ice cream maker's inner container. Following directions I'd found online (the machine did not come with an owner's manual), I packed crushed ice with layers of rock salt into the outer chamber, attached the turning motor, turned it on . . .

. . . and was nearly knocked on my butt by the din. My new ice cream maker sounded like a cross between a car with no muffler and a table saw slicing through an endless length of 3/4-inch plywood. The next hour and fifteen minutes was a nightmare of noise that forced me and the dogs out of the house, into the back yard.

Big Pink--true to the seller's word--did an excellent job freezing my banana cream mixture into a dense soft serve. After the second bite, I forgave the ice cream maker all its faults and made the decision that, from now on, all ice cream making would take place in the basement. I set aside a bowl of deliciousness to eat right away and packed the rest into containers for the freezer.

I made three or four more flavors of ice cream that summer and early fall, sharing it with friends. However, later in the fall, housemates moved in upstairs. They tried, but even with the ice cream maker in the farthest recesses of the basement, they reported that the sound was obnoxious and went on too long. Thus ended my ice cream making for a time.

Flash forward now to last month, July 2011, when I decided to make ice cream at my friends' house. I brought ingredients and Big Pink to their kitchen and set about making Sherry Shake Ice Cream. I didn't think there would be a problem. It was summer time and we were barbecuing; everyone and their dogs were outside at some distance from the kitchen.

But I was wrong. As soon as I turned it on, people started to complain. Our dessert that day turned out great and took only an hour to churn, but I knew that the time had come to say goodbye to Big Pink.

Little Red

Since 2008, my financial situation has improved, so this time I went looking for a newer model ice cream maker. I wanted the kind where you pre-freeze the inner container before you start. Besides the noise, I wanted to avoid the whole crushed-ice-rock-salt mess. And I wanted the whole process to take less time. Feeling flush, I figured I could spend $50 to $60, maybe $75 at the most.

Once again, sticker shock beat me down. My best bet for a 2-quart maker was $145. A 1 1/2 quart maker ran $90. Smaller models seemed hardly worth the effort, since I tend to share what I make with 8 to 10 other people. Although I could probably "spurge" after fall semester begins and I start getting paid again for my second job, the idea of paying $145 for a single-purpose machine was ridiculous; I knew I'd never do it. I put the 2-quart ice cream maker on my wish list, groused about the rising cost of kitchen gadgets, and forgot about it.

But something happened to the ice cream maker market at the end of July. Prices started coming down. Amazon notified me that items on my wish list had dropped in price. And, then, one fateful payday Friday, I discovered that the 1 1/2 quart Cuisinart ice cream maker had dropped to under $45, with free shipping, and that it came in a lovely shade of chili pepper red.

When the box arrived, I had another pleasant surprise. Little Red came with a 2nd freezer bowl (once a $40 value, now a $25 value), so that it is now possible for me to make 2 different flavors and up to 3 quarts of ice cream in one day!

I had to rinse out, dry, and wrap the two freezer bowls in plastic and put them in the coldest part of my deep freezer for 24 hours. But the next day, as soon as I could, I set about making ice cream. My first two flavors were Basil Ice Cream and Deep Dark Chocolate Frozen Yogurt, which I will detail in my next two blog entries.

Little Red Ice Cream Maker

Little Red is extraordinarily easy to use and clean. Once you have your ingredients ready, just pour the liquid into the freezer bowl, put the clear plastic cover on, and turn the machine on. There's an opening at the top where you can add chocolate chips, drizzle in caramel, or whatever, towards the end of the churn. I love it.

It's far less noisy than a blender. My dogs, in fact, didn't seem to care or notice when I turned it on. And, boy, is it FAST! Only 25 minutes to soft serve! Let the ice cream making begin!