Scoop School: Thoroughly hydrating your mix

 In this segment of scoop school, we learn how to properly hydrate ice cream powder, frozen yogurt powder, custard powder, and more before running it through our batch freezers. Why is this important? When mixing product, powder, and toppings into a base you have to let the product hydrate with the liquid. This hydration process brings the flavor to the surface. Without this step, the powder will not have time to properly hydrate and will not dissolve. Your product will have a much duller taste without this step as well. You will see this when you go to pour mix into your used ice cream machine and find remnants of powder stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Similarly, you may find powder stuck in the hopper that won't seep through to the barrel because it hasn't been properly mixed. 

Scoop School suggests letting your product prepare overnight with a lid to ensure all the powder is thoroughly hydrated. This step requires planning ahead so if you know you're going to be making a batch of strawberry ice cream tomorrow you should prepare your mix the day before. Once you've mixed it together snap a lid on it and let it dissolve overnight (12+ hours). 

If you're not working with this kind of time, Mr. C suggests letting it soak for a bare minimum of twenty minutes to get a good mouth-feeling product.

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