Hi, sometime ago I was at a market where as you watched, fresh fruit was put
into a large machine which churned and obviously cooled it making a healthy
fruit snack of a soft serve ice cream consistancy (which of course they were
selling). I would love to be able to do this at home, have tried blending
frozen fruit in the blender only to have a mushy icy mix at the end like
baby food. I tried blending some fruit and putting it in a regular ice
cream maker so it could churn it etc, but it came out a solid lump. I've
seen soft serve ice cream makers advertised - does any one have one, which
could do this? In looking online I've seen ones advertised which don't need
a canister to be frozen, (which would be much more convenient!), and
supposedly they do smoothies and some alcoholic beverages as well. They
would be great if they really did all that, easily, but more importantly the
fruit as well. Can anyone recommend anything they think might work? Also
I'm in Australia, so it would need to be available here (or not too
expensive to ship).
Thanks for your thoughts

"SaxLady" > wrote in message >...
> Hi, sometime ago I was at a market where as you watched, fresh fruit was put
> into a large machine which churned and obviously cooled it making a healthy
> fruit snack of a soft serve ice cream consistancy (which of course they were
> selling). I would love to be able to do this at home, have tried blending
> frozen fruit in the blender only to have a mushy icy mix at the end like
> baby food. I tried blending some fruit and putting it in a regular ice
> cream maker so it could churn it etc, but it came out a solid lump. I've
> seen soft serve ice cream makers advertised - does any one have one, which
> could do this? In looking online I've seen ones advertised which don't need
> a canister to be frozen, (which would be much more convenient!), and
> supposedly they do smoothies and some alcoholic beverages as well. They
> would be great if they really did all that, easily, but more importantly the
> fruit as well. Can anyone recommend anything they think might work? Also
> I'm in Australia, so it would need to be available here (or not too
> expensive to ship).
> Thanks for your thoughts


I have made mango ice cream (soft-serve consistency) in my regular ice
cream maker- 8 mangoes, pureed in a blender, some retained in small
chunks for texture, karo syrup (which is basically corn syrup with
vanilla) and milk. I used skim, so it was low fat - it was easy and
very tasty. The karo gave it the elasticity needed for the texture,
and helped it to blend more easily.

-L.

Bananas give the best creamy consistency. A vegetable juicer works
well. Freeze the bananas and feed them into the juicer. You'll get
that soft serve consistency.

If you're up for experimentation, the trick is to get it frozen but not
too frozen. Try freezing the fruit first, then blending it, then
putting it back in the freezer, then being willing to blend it again if
it freezes too froze. Each blending incorporates air. Each freezing
and thawing brings it closer to the right temperature. Also try adding
a little fruit juice concentrate. You get more fruit and pulp, less
pure water which tends to freeze solid. If you want it less frozen
before serving, you blend again with water. And remember bananas and
papaya as being the best for creaminess. A mixture of bananas and
strawberries will have a better chance at success than plain strawberries.

--Lia





SaxLady wrote:
> Hi, sometime ago I was at a market where as you watched, fresh fruit was put
> into a large machine which churned and obviously cooled it making a healthy
> fruit snack of a soft serve ice cream consistancy (which of course they were
> selling). I would love to be able to do this at home, have tried blending
> frozen fruit in the blender only to have a mushy icy mix at the end like
> baby food. I tried blending some fruit and putting it in a regular ice
> cream maker so it could churn it etc, but it came out a solid lump. I've
> seen soft serve ice cream makers advertised - does any one have one, which
> could do this? In looking online I've seen ones advertised which don't need
> a canister to be frozen, (which would be much more convenient!), and
> supposedly they do smoothies and some alcoholic beverages as well. They
> would be great if they really did all that, easily, but more importantly the
> fruit as well. Can anyone recommend anything they think might work? Also
> I'm in Australia, so it would need to be available here (or not too
> expensive to ship).
> Thanks for your thoughts
>
>