Un-cone-able ice cream

[JayByrd]

I just made a batch of ice cream, loosely based on Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia.  I say loosely because I used Montmorellancy cherries from my tree instead of Bings, and cream and milk from my goats.  I sweetened the cherries and kept them soft in the ice cream by poaching them in sugar and cherry brandy.  Yum!  I chopped up a bagful of Lindt extra dark chocolate truffles, figuring they'd stay softer than most chocolate bits would.  It tastes fantastic!  I usually have problems with too much fat making the ice cream coat my tongue unpleasantly, but not this time.  

 

Problem is I can't scoop up a ball of the ice cream to eat in a cone.  It didn't freeze too hard, but it kind of crumbles and falls apart when I try to scoop some up.  It doesn't have the tendency to stick to itself that mos ice cream does.  I've never seen anything like this.  Was it the brandy?  I drained it off the cherries before adding them.  I'm stumped.  Any suggestions?  

[gardenmommy]

I wish I knew.  I can't make ice cream cones out of my home-made ice cream for the life of me.  Doesn't matter what flavor, it just sort of crumbles and falls apart.  It's super yummy, and everyone begs me to make it, but it won't go in cones for some reason.  Hopefully someone else will have a reason.

[Bantams]

Just add a bit of carrageenan and guar gum and it will scoop perfectly.... 

Just kidding!

Commercial ice creams have a lot of sugar, which inhibits ice formation and freezing, making for a smoother, less icy result.  The gums give it the thick, rich mouth feel w/o adding as much cream.

Normally homemade ice cream is too icy, or crumbly.  Adding more sugar would help, as would alcohol (also inhibits freezing). 

Too much fat can also make a firmer ice cream that tends to crumble when it's too cold, though it doesn't sound like the case with your ice cream.

Try this:

add more sugar/alcohol

add something like cream cheese, mascarpone, or melted chocolate to the base, all of which have emulsifying properties  

soften the ice cream before scooping

[Casha'sMommy]

EGG YOLKS!

Try an egg yolk in each batch. This is what is used in natural ice cream to keep it from forming ice.

Also, the more "water" you add the icier it'll be. For instance, even with the egg yolk my dd's fave strawberry ice cream is just a bit icy.

FWIW, I also use raw dairy.

HTH

Cate

[Arduinna]

Wow, how interesting I've never had that happen before. I'm completely stumped as to the cause.