More about Ice Cream.Basic recipes, types and Icecream cones.

A basic ice cream is described as a frozen food made from dairy products. It is sweetened and was originally invented as a dessert. With changing times, all kinds of fruits, flavoring and coloring has been added. This caters to people from all over. Commercial brands add a stabilizer or emulsifier. This increases the shelf value of the ice cream.

• Ice-cream without dairy milk is available for the lactose intolerant. 
• Tofu or soya milk is used in such ice cream recipes. 
• Vegans can opt for eggless recipes. 
• It may be used as a part of another dessert. 
• Apple pie is served with ice cream on the side.

Before fancy ice cream machines became available, innovative people had invented their own recipes. The ingredients required for any basic ice cream are sugar, corn flour, vanilla essence and full fat milk. An egg is an important binding factor in ice-creams. Egg less recipes are available for vegetarians.

Spumoni is an Italian ice cream. It uses different colors and flavors together. Minimum three flavors are used. It can also have whipped cream with candied fruits and nuts in between. Still very popular with the Italians.

Ice-cream recipes vary from country to country. The definition has been expanded to include gelato and sorbet as well. But to make things easier, ice cream is regulated by the amount of cream used. Fancy frozen yoghurts that do not have cream are labelled as dairy desserts.

Ancient manuscripts have emerged to show that old ice cream recipes existed before the eighteenth century. Tin ice pots were filled with cream to make a more primitive recipe. Fruits like raspberries, currants and cherries were added for variety and taste.

Recipes are also written on some Ice cream cartons and tubs. These are available at convenience stores, supermarkets and milk bars. These are also used in sundaes and to make milkshakes more exciting.

Ice-cream cones are very popular nowadays. But they came into existence by accident. In 1904, an ice cream seller borrowed some waffles from a Syrian waffle maker at a big fair. He needed something to keep his ice-cream together. The waffle design became a hit and the cones came into permanent use.

• There are many recipes available for homemade and commercial ice-creams. 
• Strawberry, vanilla and chocolate are the all-time favorites. 
• Odd recipes like bacon and oyster ice-creams are also liked by some people. 
• Green tea ice cream is known for its health benefits.

For a basic homemade ice-cream recipe, chill some fresh cream (350 ml) for two hours in the fridge. Boil full fat milk (3 cups) so that it simmers down to 2 cups. Add the sugar (1 cup) and corn flour (1 tbsp.) Let it thicken and cool. Leave to chill in the fridge. Beat the cream well. Add it with the vanilla essence (1tsp) to the milk. 

Cover with plastic wrap and put back in the freezer. Mix this ice cream mixture after an hour. Freeze again. Mix it twice at a 45-minute interval. 
Voila, your homemade healthy ice cream is ready!

Faith Durand is a popular food blogger. She published the ‘one ingredient’ banana ice cream recipe. It is still great for people who are Vegan and on a no gluten diet. It is also a dairy free and sugar free ice-cream. 
It involves peeling overripe bananas and cutting them into coins. Freeze in an airtight container for two hours or preferably overnight. Then blend continuously till the bananas change texture from crumbly to gooey. 

The high pectin content makes the bananas creamy. They finally develop an ice cream texture and look. Since this might not appeal to many, Faith has gone on to add cocoa, strawberry, condensed milk and cinnamon at times. This gives the ice cream variety.

Perfect to cool down on a hot summer day!