Ice Cream
At Jacob Springs Farm we make Ice Cream with extra milk as available and aim to keep enough in the freezer to sell all year round.
The Economics of Ice Cream on our farm is funny; We can probably make more money on the raw material by selling more milk shares. Fluid milk usually brings a higher price even not counting labor costs since it takes so much milk to make cream (and Ice Cream is typically a third to a half cream) If a pint of Ice Cream takes a half pint of milk and a half pint of cream - and a half pint of cream takes the skimming of 2.5 pints of milk - 3 pints of milk go into each pint of ice cream - we are already at $7.50 cost not counting a couple eggs, sugar, flavorings, add-in and, of course, the cost of labor. At $10 per half gallon for raw milk in our area, Ice Cream is barely worth doing even at $10 a pint. So why do it? Three reasons:
1. It's a way to recover materials during times of excess production and salvage value from them. Cows produce more in the spring and summer, but share customers buy more or less the same amount all year. We can only sell so many shares doing the summer months to avoid shorting people in the winter. Egg production sometimes exceeds sales - and this is a way to use eggs.
2. Customers like it, and we like making them happy. Its a labor of love.
3. If any items can entice people to stop and make a transaction during their milk pickup, they may be more likely to buy other things as well.
Seasonal Considerations:
- At times of year when cream and eggs are abundant, we tend to make more French Style Ice Cream which is rich and creamy
- When theres plenty of cream but less eggs we make more Philadelphia Style Ice Cream
- When there's little cream we can only make Sorbet, Sherbet and Gelato
- Summer drives sales - that when theres abundant materials for ice cream making
- Fall and Holiday sales pair well with certain flavors
Contents
Flavor Master List
- Coffee (or Café au Lait - a milder version)
- Green Tea
- Mint Chip
- Rum and Rasin
- Key Lime
- Toasted Hay
- Burnt Honey
- Green Cardamom
- Basil Cinnamon
Seasonal Flavors
- Late Summer
- Peaches and Cream
- Jalapeno Peach
- Autumn
- Salted Caramel (fold-in)
- Pumpkin Pie
- Butter Pecan
- Holiday
- Popcorn
- Egg Nog
- Candy Cane
Making Ice Cream
We have a Vevor Hard Ice Cream Machine that can hold about 5 quarts of ice cream batter at a time - but we definitely find that 3.5 Quarts is the sweet spot - 22 minutes at this size seems to be enough in the summer.
The goal with cheaper machines like this is getting as much air whipped into the ice cream as possible - this makes it softer and fluffier - more scoopable and more pleasant to eat. Higher-end machines take this to an extreme in search of profits. Ice cream is sold by volume in the USA and more air means full containers with less ingredients and LESS CALORIES - which some customers evidently think they want.
Recipes
We use the excellent book "Hello My Name Is Ice Cream" by Dana Cree as the basis for our recipes. Quadruple all Recipes
- Coffee (or Café au Lait - a milder version) 56
- Green Tea
- Mint Chip 84
- Rum and Rasin
- Key Lime 88 or 108 or 123 or 126
- Toasted Hay 60
- Burnt Honey p 62
- Green Cardamom 64
- Basil Cinnamon 80
- Banana 68
- Parmesan 87
- Honey Chai 134
Seasonal Flavors
- Late Summer
- Peaches and Cream
- Peach Sweet Tea Sherbet 102
- Jalapeno Peach 132
- Autumn
- Salted Caramel (fold-in) 58
- Pumpkin Pie 72
- Butter Pecan
- Holiday
- Popcorn 92
- Egg Nog 66
- Candy Cane
Blank Slate Custard Ice Cream Base Recipe
- Cream 30% - 1,200g
- Milk 40% - 1,600g
- Light Corn Syrup 5% - 200g
- Sugar 15% - 600g
- Egg Yolks - 10% - 400g (about 20 yolks)
- Xanthan Gum - 4g
Prepare an ice bath.
Fill a large bowl two-thirds of the way with very icy ice water and place it in the refrigerator.
Boil the dairy and sugars.
Put the cream, milk, glucose, and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, and place it over medium-high heat. Cook, whisking occasionally to discourage the milk from scorching, until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil, then remove the pot from heat.
Temper the yolks and cook the custard.
In medium bowl, whisk the yolks. Three times add ½ cup of the hot dairy mixture to the yolks while whisking so the hot milk doesn't scramble the yolks. Pour the tempered yolks back into the pot of hot milk while whisking. Place the pot over medium-low heat and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot constantly with a rubber spatula to avoid curdling.
Chill.
When you notice the custard thickening, or the temperature reaches 180°F on a thermometer, immediately pour the custard into a shallow metal or glass bowl. Nest the hot bowl into the ice bath, stirring occasionally until it cools down.
Strain.
When the custard is cool to the touch (50°F or below), add 4 grams (one teaspoon) of Xanthan gum and sea wand mixture to blend it in. Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any bits of egg yolk. (This step is optional, but will help ensure the smoothest ice cream possible.) Cure. Transfer the cooled base to the refrigerator to cure for 4 hours, or preferably overnight. (This step is also optional, but the texture will be much improved with it.)
Churn.
Place the base into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. The ice cream is ready when it thickens into the texture of soft-serve ice cream and holds its shape, typically 20 to 30 minutes. Empty the machine into a one-third hotel pan.
Harden.
Using a spatula immediately transfer it to brown paper 12oz containers, lid and store in freezer.
