Frozen Dessert Industry & Machine Articles — Getting Started

What Is Overrun? Overrun is the percentage of ice cream that is air incorporated in the product during the freezing process to expand & make more product with less materials. For example, when you make hard ice cream with an overrun of 30% that means that you have expanded the product by 30%. Here's another example: 1 gallon of hard ice cream mix will produce 1.3 gallons of finished hard ice cream mix. A gravity fed pump machine usually has a 25% -35% overrun versus a pressurized machine yields about 65% or more. If you want to produce premium quality...

What makes a good scoop of ice cream? Is it the amount of ice cream or the amount of toppings? Neither is that important in the grand scheme of things. What makes a good scoop is a friendly employee correctly portioning how much ice cream to give you without giving you too little or too much. The greatest challenge with this is the risk of portion complications. Mr. C of scoop school suggests that portioning and weighing the ice cream before serving takes the novelty away from the experience. Sure, customers are there to buy delicious ice cream, but what...

First we want to thank Singing Dog Vanilla for providing this incredible information.  So, what is vanilla powder? The popular definition of Vanilla Powder has evolved since our company started. When we first entered the vanilla business in 2004, Vanilla Powder was a vanilla flavored sugar or dextrose. This was used for sprinkling on coffee or as a dusting for pastries.  Often the vanilla flavor itself did not come from real vanilla. Some vanilla powders on the market today do have flavoring that is derived from real vanilla but they are using another, non-vanilla base, or bulking agent. Searching the term “vanilla powder” on...

 Down seasons are the best times to revamp your shop's menu. This could mean adding more vibrant pictures to your menu board, more signage in the dining room, or another batch freezer in the kitchen.  If you're currently experiencing down time, Scoop School suggests some way to make changes to your shop that can enhance the experience for your customers. Plating is a major component in the ice cream universe. Its essentially how your product is being presented to the world. Many ice cream shops take the traditional route and use commercial plastic cups to display and serve their products. There...

In this segment of Scoop School, Mr. C gives us the rundown on how to make our own waffle bowls for ice cream. You'll want to start with about a quarter-cup of batter and pour it directly in the center of your waffle maker. After a couple seconds scrape the batter from the waffle-iron and onto the base of your waffle cone molder. Using the accessory tool or handle, gently press the center of the waffle until a nice bowl shape is formed. Once you press on the center of the cone you stretch the bowl out a bit and...