I got the idea to buy several of these for Christmas presents a few years ago and also bought one for us. This is a nice little gadget. Very low tech. Does not need electricity or much of anything else except a freezer, ice cream ingredients and a little manual labor.

In order to make ice cream, you put the metal cylinder into your freezer for about a day. (Tip: A good idea is to just leave it in the freezer in case you ever decide to make ice cream) Next, you put your ingredients such as milk, cream, chocolate, fruit, cookies or whatever into the cylinder and slowly crank for about 10 minutes pausing for a few minutes at a time to let the slush freeze. When you are finished you can eat (sort of soft)ice cream right away or put what you have made into the freezer to firm up a bit and serve later.

With today's premium ice creams on the market and all of the variety it is probably a bit impractical, (kind of like making ketchup, you can do it by why bother) but the fun part is experimenting and particularly showing kids that the stuff you eat does not just grow in a carton. I would categorize this under good old fashioned family fun rather than a gift for a gourmet cook.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): not much