Since you're reading this, you're probably wondering if it's worth the extra money compared to a lot of the other home machines on the market. I've had mine for 4 months now, and I can tell you that this is the King, the Cadillac, the Ultimate home ice cream machine. It's absolutely worth the extra money, and I'd recommend it to anyone that's serious about their ice cream.
You probably already know that this model has a built-in freezer, so you don't have to pre-freeze a bowl for 24 hours or so before making a batch of ice cream. It'll happily make back-to-back batches if you want, and the extra freezing power makes incredibly smooth ice cream. Every batch I've made has been on par with Ben & Jerry's, my favorite ice cream up until buying this machine.
Unlike most other machines, everything is made of metal, including the dasher, so it feels extremely durable.
It also has a large see-through plastic cover that you can lift off to have full access to the ingredients moving inside, which makes adding things like nuts, candy, chocolate pieces, etc. very easy, instead of having to funnel them down a tiny chute and not really being able to see how the freezing is progressing. One of the fun things about this machine is being able to stand over it and watch as the liquid starts transforming into ice cream.
If you've read other reviews, you've probably heard people complain about a few things, so let me ease your mind:
Weight - it's 44 pounds, which I have no problem lifting up onto the counter.
Cleanup - because of the way it freezes, it uses a non-removable stainless steel bowl. Use a sponge with warm water, and you'll have it cleaned out in less than two minutes. It's a bit easier if you let the bowl warm back up to room temperature first, but if you're in a hurry to start another batch, you can do it right away also.
Ice Cream Extraction - use the specially-designed plastic spoon that comes with it, and you'll have no problem getting it all out, even in the curves along the bottom of the bowl where the spoon fits perfectly.I generally pull the dasher out first. If you do that, be careful not to drop ice cream down in the crevice around the dasher spindle -- my one and only complaint about the machine, I wish they'd covered that a bit better. Small issue though, I have no problem getting the ice cream out.
The description says it's a 1.5 quart machine, but plan on making batches that are roughly 1 quart or slightly more. Most of the recipes I've found are for this size anyway.
I store the ice cream in quart-sized plastic containers and then put them in the freezer for several hours to get the consistency of store-bought ice cream. (although several batches have been eaten right after coming out of the machine -- it makes a very stiff, soft-serve consistency)
I'd recommend starting with Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. The sweet cream base is a good first recipe to try, since it's used in so many other recipes, and is delicious even on its own.
I've had fantastic success with any recipe using nuts, chocolate, or candy pieces, which are all added in at the very end of the freezing process. My first batch of peach ice cream resulted in a great taste and consistency, but the chunks of peaches ended up freezing into ice chunks, which apparently is a common problem, especially with home machines where you're not using stabilizers like guar gum and carrageenan that help prevent iciness.The easy solution is to puree fruit in the blender first, and then you'll have no problem. I've also seen books such as The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homemade Ice Cream include gelatin in some of the recipes to help with this. Although I haven't tried that yet, I do recommend the book since it has a lot of great info about the different types of frozen desserts like gelato, sherbet, sorbet, and ices, all of which this machine can handle with no problem. If you do end up with an icy batch like this, put it in the blender with some milk and make a shake!
Generally a batch takes about 30 minutes, although I've occasionally let it go to about 35. After a couple of batches you'll know when it's finished just by watching it through the top. I've had a couple of batches such as New York Super Fudge Chunk, with a lot of add-ins, actually stop the machine, but from what I've read elsewhere, this doesn't seem to damage it. You can also hear the machine start to slow down slightly before this happens, so it's a good indicator that it's time to toss in the add-ins for the last minute or two before extracting it.
If you're serious about ice cream, this is the one. I've even seen it on TV a couple of times when they talk about high quality machines and ice cream classes. Happy freezing!
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Entertaining instructions on how to use the ice orb!! This is a great item, makes great cubes...a little instruction is helpful!!
