Stuff You Should Know - Selects: How Ice Cream Works

Episode Date: May 10, 2025

We all scream for ice cream, sure, but did you know we're all technically screaming about a colloidal foam? As you hit play on this classic episode, prepare for deep cravings that will surely emerge as you learn the history of ice cream, how to make it yourself and lots more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The great episode celebrating the best dessert treat, in all honesty. I mean, it's just nothing better than ice cream. This is from February 5th, 2015. I don't eat ice cream much anymore because it disagrees with my body. But boy, every now and then, I get one of those pints,

get a little chubby hubby if you can find it, throw it down your throat throat and suffer the consequences. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and there's Jerry. So this is Stuff You Should Know, the Dreamin' of Summer and the Middle of Winter edition.

Oh, my friend, ice cream is a year-round treat for me. Yeah? Sure. I know, I had some last night. Oh yeah, what'd you have? We're gonna buzz mark it a lot, probably. Rocky Road and Vividly Vanilla. What brand is that?

The Kroger. Oh, yeah? Yeah, they were delicious. Nice. Was What brand is that? Programe. Oh, yeah? Yeah, they were delicious. Nice. Was it heavy or light? It was light. Yeah.

Yeah, after reading this I was like, man, this is very light. A lot of air in there. I taught myself to juggle with them. Oh, well that's exciting. That was a cross reference. Yeah, I'm a Ben and Jerry's guy. Well, yeah, it's great stuff. Yeah. Can't have too much of it though,

because I got the lactose issues. Really? Yeah. And ice cream is your favorite treat? Yeah, it's pretty sad. That's self hate. Yeah, ice cream followed by a large glass of milk. Right?

No, just kidding. Then you just inject a bunch of caseins directly into your neck? Yeah, I mean it's not like I don't have lactose issues such that any kind of milk product really it's just if I overdose on it. Huh. Like if I have a bunch of like pizza and ice cream or something. What do they call it? Like mildly sensitive maybe?

Maybe. Mildly intolerant? Yeah, I get the poopy butt. Like you're cool with lactose at work, but you don't want lactose marrying your kid. You're that kind of intolerant to lactose, right? Exactly. Terrible.

I just don't want it living next door to me. I can do a pint of ice cream, though. Is it the half pint? The Ben and Jerry's little one? I think it's a pint. Is it a pint? The little. Yeah.

Not the little baby one. That's just like a pint. Is it a pint? The little, yeah. Not the little baby one. That's just like a fistful. I'm not seven. Yeah, right. I think it's a pint is what they sell them at. Yeah, I can do a pint of like the Chubby Hubby. That's my old favorite. That's a good one.

Well, basically any Ben and Jerry's is good. I'm not a big fan of cherries and stuff. Ooh, me neither. But other than that, I'm like pretty cool with all ice cream. And I used to not like bananas and things, but now I'm like, I'm cool with bananas. Oh yeah? Yeah.

Like bananas and ice cream, I would never have eaten before and now I will. I'm pretty picky with my ice cream flavors. I'm trying to think of one I really don't like and nothing's coming to mind except for stuff with cherry in it. Yeah, I don't like mint. Crazy. I don't like and nothing's coming to mind except for stuff with cherry in it. Yeah, I don't like mint. Crazy.

I don't like coconut. Crazy. My favorite is the Chubby Hubby and then they have, you know, have the limited runs. Yeah. They have one out now called Candy Bar Pie. Candy Bar Pie? Like what kind of candy bar is it modeled after? It's ridiculous. I don't know. It's got nougat in it. It doesn't taste like a specific candy bar though. It's not like they're trying to be like a Snickers

ice cream sneakily. It just tastes, it's just delicious. Nice. I want to try that. I like Butterfinger in ice cream. Yeah. What about, so like places to get ice cream? Jenny's is delicious. Where is that? They have it here on the west side over by Star Provisions. And they got a new one in Croc Street Market. There's a place in Old Town Alexandria outside of D.C. called Pops. It's like an old timey ice cream parlor. Awesome. I think I went in there actually last summer. It's awesome.

But did they have like candy and all that stuff? Or is it just an ice cream shop? It's pretty much just ice cream. Okay. There's like a couple of like long cases They've got like the old like turn of the last century Like furniture and everything in the striped wallpaper sure like they're doing it right Yeah, but then their ice cream stands behind it too. It's good. And then of course friendlies it too. It's good. And then of course, Friendly's. Friendly's has the Reese's Pieces Sunday, which is probably the greatest ice cream treat ever created in the history of humanity. Yeah, growing up in Atlanta, they had something called Farrell's, which was... I remember Farrell's.

Oh, did they have those? They had that in Ohio too. And on your birthday, they'd come out with that big drum. Oh yeah. Scare me to death. I went under the table a couple of times. Just like old school ice cream parlor scaring the bejesus out of children everywhere. Now they had a lot of candy selection too. Yeah. Yeah. Man let's just talk about, let's just not even do this. Let's just talk about ice cream we love. I like this flavor. I like this flavor. Everyone's starving right now for it though. I guarantee it that intro. I have one more though

have you ever been to the Plaza Fiesta, I think is what it's called over on Buford Highway. Yeah. Yeah, okay They had they have a gelato place there that had tuna flavored gelato Raw tuna flavored gelato and by God it tasted exactly like raw tuna flavor. I thought you were gonna say it was good. It wasn't bad. Really? Yeah, if you eat like sashimi or something like that. I love sashimi.

You would appreciate this. It's not something you're like, oh man I've got to get some tuna flavored gelato, but you're not like, it's not like one bite and you spit it out. Yeah, yeah. You're just like, this is really odd. Interesting. Unusually tasty. I'll have to try out. Yeah, yeah. You're just like, this is really odd. Interesting. Unusually tasty. I'll have to try that.

Yeah. My other quickly, my other thing I like lately is a little heat in the ice cream. Like some of them have a little cayenne in the chocolate. Oh yeah, with cinnamon or something? Yeah, that and some salted caramel. I am so over salted caramel, or bacon and sweetness. I'm just so sick of that combination.

Really? Yeah, it's all basically a ripoff of Wendy's fries and a frosty dip together. That's good too. That's fine. That's the original. That one like you need no improvement. The original salty sweet.

All right, well I'm salivating now. I am as well. Let's get through this and we can go get some ice cream, okay? Yay. You're buying. Okay. So, the history of ice cream, Chuck. How long could it possibly have been around?

Where'd you find this, by the way? We need to give a good shout. Was that the Dairy Association? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I think the International Dairy Association, the big guy. Not the Regional dairy association? No. They came up with this kind of history of ice cream or frozen dairy treats, is a better way to put it.

Right. Because ice cream is the lion's share of frozen dairy treats, but technically it falls under the umbrella of frozen dairy treats. Along with things like sherbet and gelato and frozen yogurt. Right. Or ice cream sandwiches. Yeah, novelties. Exactly. Those are good, too.

Well, my friend, it goes back, they say, as far as 2nd century BC, but they can't pinpoint a definite person or place for sure. They just know that it started popping up in history, like with Alexander the Great. He had flavored ice and snow with honey and nectar. Yeah, snow cone. Yeah, that makes sense that that would be the origin of ice cream. It makes me laugh in this thing. They said that Nero and Claudia Caesar would frequently send runners to the mountains for snow. Right. That just seems like a very Roman emperor thing to do, like, that's like something cold and sweet. Go! And like three hours later they'd come back, you know, half dead.

Yeah. Here is your ice snow cone. Exactly. But they would flavor those with fruits and juices and that was sort of another part of the beginning of ice cream. Apparently all this is going on in a vacuum, too, like over in Asia. In different places? Yeah, in the Mideast in Asia, wherever they had mountains in these areas, and they could get snow and ice. Because Marco Polo, in I think the 13th century, came back to Italy and said, check this idea

out. Frozen fruit treats. And that was basically the origin of ice cream in the West. Yeah, in England they were big on what they called cream ice. Yeah. Because in England, you got to say it's slightly funny. Or they would probably call it proper. Right. You know. There's an E at the end of cream. Is there? No. No, but there would be. And Catherine Di Medici, who we mentioned in the episode. Oh, Nostradamus.

Nostradamus episode, that's right. She was big on it. She was the wife of Henry II. And back then though, it was, you know, in the 1500s and the 16th century, it was only like for royalty, in the 16th century, it was only for royalty because ice was, they didn't have freezers and they didn't have ice machines. You needed a guy to go run up to the mountain and bring it down.

Exactly. Yeah, no, it was a big deal to have ice. Unless, of course, it was winter, in which case you were like, oh yeah, I can have a frozen treat. But if it were summer and you were enjoying a frozen dairy treat. Send the runner. you're rich. You're super rich. So apparently by about the 17th century, there was at least one cafe in Paris, I think it

was the first cafe in Paris, that started selling ice cream to the public in 1660. Nice. They basically made it egalitarian. And from that point on, ice cream was a definite luxury item, but you didn't have to be royalty to obtain it. Yeah, that's a good way of saying it. In the United States, the first time they found it in print was in a letter in 1744 by a guest of the governor of Maryland, William Bladen, and there was an ad in 1777, May 12th, the New York Gazette for ice cream. So it was for sure for sale to the people back then by that time.

Right. Yeah. George Washington had a recipe. Thomas Jefferson had a recipe. Yeah. Dolly Madison used to like to serve it at the White House. George Washington ate a lot of it, right? Didn't he say $200 for one summer?

Yeah, and I failed to go to the West Egg Currency Converter. That's a lot of ice cream. I imagine that's a lot of money. Yeah, but he made, you know, he had guests and he may have shared it with his staff. Oh, I would hope so. You never know. Especially if that's like $50,000 worth of ice cream. You can't eat that in one summer.

Even if you're Joey Chestnut, world record holder for most ice cream eating. Is he? Yeah. How much did he eat, you know? 1.8 gallons in six minutes. 1.8 gallons in six minutes. That doesn't seem like that much. Oh, that's a lot. Yeah, that's pretty speedy. Yeah seem like that much. Oh, that's a lot.

Yeah, that's pretty speedy. Yeah, it is. But hey, that's why I use Joey Chestnut. Plus, don't forget the brain freeze. Oh, yeah. Man. Do you have a thing on that? Brain freeze? No, I've done a Don't Be Dumb on it though before.

Do you remember what it is? Like, what is brain freeze? Yeah. Oh, what is brain freeze? Yeah. Oh, what is brain freeze? There's a blood vessel that runs from your brain into the roof of your mouth that becomes constricted, which changes the volume of your brain, which gives you a headache. Gotcha. Which is why if you place your tongue against the roof of your mouth while you have brain freeze,

it warms up that blood vessel, allowing it to relax again. Or just light a match and hold that under the roof of your mouth. That's another way to go. Yeah. You'll concentrate on that pain instead of the brain freeze. Interesting. I don't get brain freeze because I think as an adult, you know how not to wolf it down like that.

I've gotten it accidentally though as an adult from time to time really Yeah, no good. No, it's terrible. It's as terrible as an adult as it is when you're a child It's probably worse as an adult. It's just debilitating. You know, yeah, it's so painful So like you said until around 1800 it was Mostly for the upper class, but then like everything else in industry in America around that time, manufacturing became more widespread and cheaper, and all of a sudden you had warehouses that were big freezers, and you had shipping. You could ship things cold and frozen.

Right, so you had like the manufacturing aspect in place. Yeah, homogenizer machines, electric power, mechanical refrigeration basically. But even still, you had the manufacturing in place. The distribution though was still limited to say like a store, somebody who could make money by investing in some freezer cases and then selling it to the public. It wasn't until ice boxes became widespread in America that the ice cream industry really blew up because then you could sell to the guy down at Pops, you could also sell to Pops' next door neighbor who took it home to keep in his freezer.

And thank God that happened. And actually, as far as making ice cream, the hand crank ice cream maker that used rock salt and all that stuff, that was invented by a woman named Nancy Johnson in the 1850s, I think? And she patented it, and apparently everybody ripped her off. She sold the patent for like 200 bucks, and the guy who bought it from her turned around and like made A fortune off of it, but I guess he ultimately got ripped off by a bunch of copycats

But that that same thing is still in use today Like you can go buy the Johnson crank that same yeah the Johnson crank ice cream maker and make your own ice cream the 1850s way Well, you mentioned take home ice cream being a big deal as far as it's spreading. I do have a little modern stat. Oh, yeah. Released from a few years ago. That is still the biggest part of the market.

67% of the overall market is take-home ice cream. Well, I saw that 87% of Americans have ice cream in their freezer right now. Yeah, I don't. I can't. It doesn't stick around? No, like, you know, if you're going to get a pint, you might as well just plow through it and be done with it. Right. And then get some a few weeks later. You're not a quitter.

No, and I can't just keep like a gallon of ice cream in the house. Oh, that's a bad move. That's a bad move for me. Yeah, that's a bad move for everybody. Well, no, some people have willpower. Yeah, I guess you're right. You're one of them. I don't keep a gallon of ice cream in my house. Yeah, but you got willpower to a large degree, I think.

Yeah, well. You're the guy who quit smoking by just saying, I'm not going to smoke anymore. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I guess I do have a degree of willpower. But I do not. So we're now in the 19th century in late 1800s and the professional soda jerk at soda fountain shops pops up and they make things called like root beer floats and Coke floats and soda floats. Which I haven't had one in a long time. I used to love root beer floats. But I don't know why. It's not something I

see very much anymore. Well, you have to go to the trouble of putting it together yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you don't see floats very often anymore I'm sure there's some places that sell them, but they were good though Oh, yeah, man root beer and ice cream is a winning combination. Yeah I mean I haven't had one since I was a kid probably coke works to yeah coke floats good to root beer floats are the thing No, I think you're right I was a kid probably. Coke works too. Yeah. Coke floats good too. Root beer floats are the thing though. I think you're right. And then this was for me the fact of the show. I did not know about this.

Religious criticism back then, they didn't like you eating things that were so rich and like a gluttonous I guess. They thought it was sinful. Yeah, well, yeah. On Sundays that is. And so in response, they took out the carbonated water or the root beer or whatever and made a sundae. And so we called it a sundae originally. But apparently they were like, are you mocking us? And the Soda Jerks Union said, no, no.

And they changed the spelling from S-U-N-D-A-Y to S-U-N-D-A-E. Because they were mocking them. Right. Yes. And they were like, this is their act of retribution changing the spelling of Sunday and the other cool thing too was during World War two apparently it was the Armed Forces were all trying to Outstep one another in providing ice cream to the troops in new and exciting ways because it was such a morale booster Of course to get ice cream when you're at war right you know a little taste of home

And I think that was it the Navy that had the ship yeah the world's first get ice cream when you're at war. Right. You know, a little taste of home. And I think that, was it the Navy that had the ship? Yeah, the world's first floating ice cream parlor. That's awesome, in the Western Pacific. Well, even before that, in World War I, ice cream was deemed an essential food. And so ice cream manufacturers got rations of sugar, so they could keep making ice cream during the war, even though everything else was being rationed. Yeah, and Ed points out that during the Depression everything kind of slowed down that was a

non-essential, including ice cream. But it never went away and through the years it's pretty much gained in popularity. I think in the 70s is when you started to see a little more health conscious efforts Yeah, like the frozen yogurts and the like fro yo fro yo, right? Emily loves the fro yo, it's good stuff like the new stuff that's really like from the Greek yogurt, you know Oh, yeah, it's tangy changes everything not like I think this can't be yogurt growing up. Was that even yogurt? That was just like soft serve ice cream. Wouldn't it is it it this campy? I thought it was the country's best yogurt. TCBY? We heard it was this can't be yogurt. Maybe it was different, I wonder.

It had to be the same. Yeah, TCBY. No, TCBY was great. I don't know what it was. I think it's still around. It had to be yogurt because they couldn't call it that. But it wasn't definitely not the tangy stuff that you see like at Pinkberry and stuff like that. So good. Yeah, I'm not the hugest fan. I love that stuff. Each bite is just like,

it's just a trip through a flowery meadow. Every bite of, yes. Do you get the vanilla and add your stuff to it or? I get the regular, like the, yeah, just the, I guess, plain version. Yeah, and then you throw in a little mango, some blueberries, the white yogurt chips on top. That's a good combination. Or if you want to go a different route, there's like, you know, chocolate crunch and maybe

some other kind of chocolatey delicious treat on top. Man, I want some ice cream so bad. All right, well, we'll get to the science of ice cream, which is decidedly less yummy sounding right after these messages. [♪ music playing. Have you ever wished for a change but weren't sure how to make it? Maybe you felt stuck in a job or a place or a relationship? Join me, Emily Tish-Sussman, over on She Pivots, where I explore the inspiring pivots of women, dig deeper into the personal reasons behind them them and leave you with the inspiration you need

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You're so wrong on that one, Rodger. From Campside Media and iHeart Podcasts, listen to GO! Boy on the iHeart Radio radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend.

At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptUSkids.org to learn more. Brought to you by Adopt of that stuff is frozen dairy treats. But not necessarily ice cream, because there's a definition, correct? Yes. So ice cream is a colloid, right?

Yeah. Which is an unusual and complex substance. And actually, quicksand is a colloid. It's a colloidal gel, technically. I remember that. But ice cream is a colloid, and a colloid is a substance where you have things that don't normally mix that are mixed together. Right. that are mixed together. And in this case, you have fat and sugar and milk mixed together with a little bit of air thrown in.

And what you need to create a colloid is something called an emulsifier. That's the bonding agent that holds everything together, these things that don't normally mix. And in the earliest cases, egg yolks were the emulsifier that held everything together. And of course, if you're making ice cream at home, you can still use egg yolks as an emulsifier. It's an easy go-to thing. But if you're manufacturing it on a large scale,

you're probably using something like xanthan gum or something else to emulsify and stabilize the whole thing, to hold it together. But yes, ice cream specifically is a colloid that has undergone a very specific manufacturing process. And if you take or add different ingredients or different steps in the process, then you have something different like frozen yogurt or soft serve ice cream or sherbert. Yeah, because frozen yogurt isn't just yogurt that they freeze, which I never knew.

It's actually during the ice cream making process they'll put in the yogurt cultures to make it frozen yogurt. Yeah, you don't start with yogurt, you make yogurt during... Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know that either. Pretty cool. Agreed. Which is why every time I just throw the yogurt in the freezer it doesn't taste anything like

I want it to taste. It's just really cold yogurt, you know? It's gross. Yeah. The USDA actually has an ingredient standard for it to be labeled ice cream, which has to be at least 10% milk fat and a minimum of 6% non-fat milk solids. Like casons. And a gallon has to weigh 4.5 pounds. I think that's neat. Yeah, sure. The federal government can't get its act together on anything, but it can define ice cream. Yeah, sure because as we learn can't get it to act together and anything but it can define ice cream

Yeah, and the reason they have the minimum or the yeah, the minimum poundage is because as we mentioned earlier lighter ice cream is generally Cheaper because it's means there's just more air whipped in there Okay, and that's why a Ben and Jerry's pine is like a brick in your stomach. Yeah, and the grabster who wrote this points out that that's usually a general rule of thumb that the heavier the ice cream, the higher quality it is.

But he points out to be fair, you need to compare like types. Like you can't compare something that's loaded down with like brownies and Snickers with like a plain vanilla Because you know the brownies and Snickers are gonna add weight and throw off your judgment That's right in more ways than one. Yeah, so milk fat there is a Range of milk fat you can use premium ice creams max out at about

16% at the most but generally they're about 14%. And ice cream in general is a minimum of about 10%. And butterfat, which is another name for it, sounds so great. Both of them sound great. Butterfat makes it taste good and it makes it creamier and richer. But it's interesting that they found that 16% is about as high as you want to go, though. It's not like, oh, just make it 50%, because that would be even better. You'd just vomit after every bite.

Well, you would, and people, they point out, or Ed points out, you wouldn't, people wouldn't eat as much. Right. Because it is so rich, and it is so calorie rich as well, and so they found that perfect combination of enough to make you plow through that pint and want to get another one the next night. Yeah, about 14 to 16 percent. Yeah, that sounds pretty good when you're talking butterfat. 10 percent for the cheap stuff that like Ned Flanders would eat.

You know? Yeah, totally. So like I said, ice cream is a colloid and it's created by adding egg yolk to milk fat and sugar. And I think that's a custard if you use the egg yolk, right? I think you use more egg yolk. Yeah, 1.4% at least. Something like that. I thought it was higher than that. Yeah, frozen custard is at least 1.4% egg yolk solids.

Okay. So that's even worse for you. Right. So that's just like, well not necessarily. Well cholesterol-wise, sure. But the ice cream itself is specifically just this combination of different types of ingredients with other agents that hold the whole thing together that's put through this process, right?

So when you have your sugar, when you have your cream, your milk, and you have your eggs or whatever you're going to use as a stabilizer or emulsifier, you put the whole thing together and what you have right there is an ice cream mix. And no matter whether you're making it at home or if you just bought a factory or inherited it from your rich uncle who just died and left it to you, then you're going to be following pretty much the same process using virtually the same ingredients. Yeah, I've got an ice cream machine, which when I looked at the process of making ice cream, it's pretty much what goes on in this little thing. Like you freeze the canister, which I found out the hard way. That's how you do it.

Right. Because I was like, man, it's not getting solid. Oh, no way. You did it without freezing the canister first? Yeah, I had no idea. Like you just used it at room temperature? At room temperature. How long did you try that for?

Oh, it spun for quite a while before I realized what was going on. We luckily figured that out from the get-go. Made some pretty killer lemon gelato once. Yeah, so you freeze the thing and then it's, the canister actually spins and they have like a blade in there that disrupts it, introduces the air bubbles, which is key to making ice cream nice and rich and creamy. And it also acts as a scraper to keep ice from forming,

which is exactly what happens in big factories. It's pretty much the same process. Right, or if you're using the hand crank thing, that's what you just said. The Johnson crank? Right? Yeah. What you just said listed off all of the necessary components to making ice cream. You've got something that's cooling it, whether that

little drum that you put in the freezer, or you have ammonia filled tubes that are freezing a tube that your mix is in. So you've got that, right? And the ammonia tubes, we should point out, there's no ammonia. It's just making the tube cold. Right. The ammonia is not being introduced to the ice cream. Not at all. It's just, yeah, the tube is up against the tube cold. Right, the ammonia is not being introduced to the ice cream. Not at all. Yeah, the tube is up against the tube that the ice cream is in. That's right.

Or, if you are making it at home using a Johnson crank, you're going to use rock salt, right? That's right. So I didn't understand what the point of using rock salt was. So I looked into it. We covered a little bit within the salt episode, but not like super in-depth. Okay, so basically the reason that you would add rock salt to ice is because if you just used ice, the freezing point of ice is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah. It takes more than that, more degrees than that. Let me put it a different way.

More temperature. Milk freezes at a lower degrees than that. Let me put it a different way. More temperature. Milk freezes at a lower temperature than ice. Yes. Right? So when you add salt, you actually lower the freezing point of that ice. Oh, okay. Because when you're using ice, it's a fresh water mixture.

Salt water ice has a lower freezing temperature. So you're melting it and it's melting and re-freezing. And as the ice melts, the way that it's melting and refreezing and as the ice melts, the way that it's melting is by drawing heat from something else. In this case, your ice cream mixture, right? So when you add salt, it has to draw more heat to melt because it has a lower freezing point, freezing temperature. So that's why you add salt. It actually lowers the freezing point, which allows you to cool your ice cream faster. Ah. Makes sense. So it lowers the freezing point, because milk has a lower freezing point, and it draws the heat out more quickly, so those ice crystals don't form on the side.

Just that simple little thing is the magic that makes it happen. Yeah. That simple little thing is the magic that makes it happen. Yeah? Yeah, we had an electric ice cream maker growing up that was the same as the Johnson Crank version but you just plug it in, not like the new one that I have today, which is much different. Right, which you definitely plug in. Yeah, definitely plug in. And you got to freeze that thing apparently. That's so funny.

But my church, one of my favorite memories growing up is my church would have ice cream socials where everybody would bring their own homemade ice creams. And there would just be a table with like 30 of those steel containers, you know, the people just take it right out of the old, you know, rock salt bin and just set it on the table. And you would just go berserk, you know, as a child. We had a Johnson crank. Yeah. Yeah, growing up. And you probably had to do it, right? Because the parents are always like, that's the fun part. I don't, I'm sure I did.

I don't really remember. I just remember the wooden bucket thing with the crank on top. Yeah. That's what I remember. And like a bag of rock salt. That's right, man. That we also use for the driveway, too. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah, of course we did in Atlanta, but I remember when I saw that rock salt come out, it was a special evening at the Bryant House. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

So I mentioned the little paddle. It's called a dasher, which is the blade inside the tube, and this is if you're in an ice cream factory. And like we said, it whips it up, introducing those those air bubbles and that's what gives it the structure and Like I said also prevents the ice crystals larger ice crystals from forming because you don't want that No, you want it cold, but you don't want ice and we should say by this time you you've got your ice cream mixture But you've already added whatever flavor you're gonna add right, but if you're adding chunks of stuff, which you should you're not doing that quite yet No, so you're freezing it what you, you're not doing that quite yet.

So you're freezing it. What you've just created is a frozen ice cream mixture. It's not technically USDA standard ice cream yet. If you stopped right here, and even if you added the Snickers or the Brownies or whatever, what you would have is soft serve ice cream. The ice cream still has another step to go through to become regular old ice cream, and that's the hardening process. Yeah, the hard freeze. And that's basically all it is, is you take that soft serve and you have to get it down super low, at least to zero degrees Fahrenheit. But when you're in an ice cream factory, you're going to pump it down even lower because you're going to be shipping it and packaging it and that you want it to stay nice and hard throughout that whole process.

Yeah. And yeah, and that's how you do it. That's pretty much it. That's pretty much making ice cream. It's a great, great thing that everyone should try. Making ice cream? Sure. Sure, yeah.

Well, actually, it's funny that you say that because whether you have a hand crank or one of those awesome electric ones that you That you have to freeze the drum ahead of time you you can also just make it at home with like basically nothing Yeah, just using a couple of bags baggies. Yeah, like a bigger baggie a smaller baggie and make a little rock salt mixture and Like a bigger baggie, a smaller baggie, make a little rock salt mixture. And, well, I won't go through the whole recipe, but if you go to How Stuff Works and look up how ice cream works, there is a recipe for five-minute ice cream that makes just a little bit using nothing but plastic bags and the ice cream ingredients. Yeah, and I don't think we mentioned that it's pasteurized along the way, too, which is an important step. Yeah.

Pasteurization keeps you from getting salmonella. And if you're making your own mix at home, you can even do that yourself with a double boiler. So we'll talk a little bit about just how much everybody loves ice cream right after this. ["Selfish Love Song"] Have you ever wished for a change but weren't sure how to make it? Maybe you felt stuck in a job or a place or a relationship? Join me, Emily Tish-Sussman, over on She Pivots, where I explore the inspiring pivots of women,

dig deeper into the personal reasons behind them and leave you with the inspiration you need to make your next pivot. In honor of Mother's Day, we have some very special guests. I'm Elaine Welteroth. And I'm Caitlin Murray. Both women pivoted out of their careers after having their kids, proving that motherhood is just another chapter in our journey, not the end. It's kind of like, will you have more babies?

Yes. Will I always be me? Yeah. And will I continue growing? Yes. Because I was really in the trenches, and I knew my worth and my value as a mom. Come on over to hear their full stories. You can listen to She Pivots on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1978, Roger Caron's first book was published, and he was unlike any first-time author Canada had ever seen. Roger Caron was 16 when first convicted. He spent 24 of those years in jail. 12 years in solitary. He went from an ex-con to a literary darling almost overnight.

He was instantly a celebrity. He was an adrenaline junkie, and he was the star of the show. Go-Boy is the gritty true story of how one man fought his way out of some of the darkest places imaginable. I had a knife go in my stomach, puncture my skin, break my ribs, I had my feps all in my hands. Only to find himself back where he started. Rodger's saying this, I've never hurt anybody but myself.

And I said, oh, you're so wrong. You're so wrong on that one, Rodger. From Campside Media and iHeart Podcasts, listen to Go Boy on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family.

They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit adoptuskids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids,

the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. ad council. Alright buddy, we will finish this out with some stats and the like, but first we should talk about overrun because that's an important part of ice cream because when you're making ice cream, there's going to be an increase in volume as you go because you're whipping all that air into it.

And that increase is called overrun. And it's indicated by a percentage. Yeah, so if the volume goes from one gallon of ice cream mixture to a completed one and a half gallons of ice cream, it's a 50% overrun. Which is good, but what the pros pros shoot for like our friends at Bluebell With the great great commercials. Yeah, they do make Fantastic ice cream. Yeah, it is really good So if you are a professional ice cream ear, you might have as much as a hundred percent overrun

But the premium ice creams are more dense so they have less overrun right which is why they're heavier Yes, but you can also get into a Situation where your ice cream is dense because you're not using much Stabilizer emulsifier so that's not good. No because it makes your ice cream chewy Oh, no, so just really dense ice cream is not necessarily the best thing. Right. You want a mixture between the two of somewhat dense but not totally dense but not super light ice cream.

There's a balance that you want to achieve. Yeah, because the air, like we said, is what gives it the structure that you appreciate and it's familiar. Right. If you get some chewy ice cream, it's no good. No. No. And Chuck, we were remiss in some chewy ice cream, it's no good. No. No. And Chuck, we were remiss in not mentioning ice cream cones.

Yeah, I'm not a cone guy. Are you? Yes. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. So when you go to like, you go out, you get it in the cone every time? No. Just sometimes?

Yes. Do you get the waffle cone? If I get a cone, I like it all except the, I don't know what they call the non-sugar cone one. The cheap styrofoam. Yeah. That's definitely the lowest on my list, but that one's fine. But yes, I guess it does go waffle, sugar, cheap cone as far as order of preference goes.

But no, waffle cone obviously, like just adds to the whole thing smelling like fresh-made waffle cones Yeah, made while you're ordering ice cream really. I always get the cup Yeah, I almost always do just for like just to be healthier Yeah, well, I'm eating ice cream. Well, no, but I mean that's a decision. Yeah for sure, you know But it is preferable in a waffle cone. I think they're delicious I might start getting a cone every now and then um So there's a there's an origin story to the waffle cone and a lot of people place it at the 1904 World's Fair in st. Louis. That's right. And That is probably not where

Ice-cream cones were invented but that is where they were popularized. Yeah, I mean, if you're at a World's Fair, there's going to be some waffling going on, some waffle-making. There definitely was some waffles being made, but there was also some ice cream being served. That's documented. That's right. And the story goes that the ice cream makers ran out of plates or bowls or whatever they usually use, and they turned to the waffle makers who said,

hey, we can help you out for a fee. Let's turn these things into some sort of cone and bam, that's what happened. But it turns out that the person who actually invented the ice cream cone was an Italian immigrant to America named Italo Marchiani. You mean Italo Marchiani? Right. Yeah. And he Marchionni? Right. Yeah, and he also invented the ice cream, a you scream, a we all scream, but ice cream. Nice.

I think he was the first one to coin that term. He was into ice cream big time. Yeah, but he actually filed a patent for the cone making machine. A full year ahead of the fair. Yeah, so he generally gets credited with the invention of the ice cream cone. Although, just because you patent the machine doesn't necessarily mean that you were the first person who thought of the cone. No, supposedly there's French cookbooks that date back to the 1840s that have

recipes for ice cream cones. Oh really? Well, and we also didn't mention Jacob Fusel. We'd probably need to mention that guy, because he was the first, he opened the first wholesale manufacturing operation in the United States in Baltimore, and he, like some of the greatest success stories in business, sort of got into it by accident because he was just a dairy guy who had too much cream, and was like, well, I guess I can try this ice cream thing out. And before you know it, he was selling more ice cream than he was anything else. Yes. Good for him. You're good for us good for that's true good for all of us

So if you want to become like a Jacob Fusel type You can actually go depending on where you are in the country to your local major University and they may or may not depending on the size of their dairy program Yeah offer like a real ice cream course. Yeah, Penn State is known for one, correct? Yeah, Wisconsin has one. Oh, of course. Actually, Penn State graduated Ben and Jerry back in 1977.

Really? Yep. In ice creamery? Yes. Ah, I thought you were going to say like, no, they were architects. No, one of them tried to get into med school. He graduated and couldn't afford med school. Yeah, the other one just dropped out of college But both of them went together to Penn State's ice cream course and graduated

well I saw I went to their website to look at some of their facts and they I think they said they started their initial business with like $4,000 I saw 12. Oh 12000. Oh, $12,000? Yeah. Well, either way that's cheap. I know. You know? It is. I do have some other stats though.

Lay them on us, Chuck. Yeah, it's been a while since we've had a stat run. The majority of US ice cream and frozen dessert manufacturers have been in business for more than 50 years and many are still family owned. This is why you see like the blue bells and stuff like that. You know, there's not a lot of upstarts. Like, you know, like extreme ice cream. Right, made with Mountain Dew code red. Oh God. U.S. dairy approximates, and this is a few years ago, 20 quarts per capita. What the US eats every year? No, produced. Oh wow.

Yeah, they produce 20 quarts per capita. What's interesting though is the United States isn't the leader in ice cream consumption. Did you know that? Who is? New Zealand. No way. Yeah, New Zealand. Per capita, I guess? Obviously. Yeah, well, yes. Yeah, so the average New Zealander eats seven and a half gallons of ice cream a year. Wow. Americans eat five and a half gallons.

Huh. Yeah. Apparently, Asia, the Caribbean, and Mexico, and Latin America all import ice cream as well to a large degree. And the most popular flavor is still vanilla, which I had to explain to Emily was a real flavor. She thinks it's an absence of all flavors, like white light. Like white, yeah. I was like, no, vanilla's a thing.

Yeah. And some people love it. Vanilla's still good. She thinks it's a waste of calories to eat anything that's just plain vanilla. There are really good vanillas out there that you're just like, this is all that's needed. Oh yeah, I agree. Like super creamy, like vanilla bean. Yummy. And then chocolate chip mint and cookies and cream followed as the next most popular. I'm surprised plain chocolate is not on the list.

I saw a Grubhub survey. They did most popular ice cream flavors by flavor ordered and vanilla was number one surprise green tea was number two hmm, and I was thinking about it and it's probably because Like at a Japanese restaurant. Yeah, you don't really have any other options besides. Oh sure, you know green tea. Yeah I've never had the green tea ice cream. Is it good? Oh my god. Really? Yeah. Dude.

I don't eat dessert in restaurants. It's so good. Yeah, I'm going to have to start eating dessert in restaurants. If you go to a good Japanese restaurant, they bring it out whether you ask for it or not. It's like part of the meal. I know it'll be like green tea or red bean is another one too. That's a pretty good ice cream, but green tea definitely has it destroyed. That sounds delicious.

Yes, it is. I'm hungry. Yeah, so if you want to know more about ice cream and to get this awesome, really easy, five minute ice cream recipe, go to howstuffworks.com and type ice cream in the search bar. And since I said search bar, it's time for listener mail. I'm going to call this first of two scientific method emails.

So you're going to hear one here and then one in the next one. Awesome. Because these are great. I was super proud of that one. And we got a lot of kudos from scientists, which is always nice. Hey, guys. My name is Danny. I'm 23 and recently I graduated with a degree in astronomy and physics.

Now work at an aerospace company in LA on a space mission concept called the Starshade. Where you go Danny? I know, the Starshade is a really awesome piece of tech that allows, will allow us to image planets around other stars and ultimately search for life outside our solar system. I'm writing because I was just listening to the podcast on the scientific method and as someone whose job regularly involves the scientific method, I want to express my appreciation for you guys recording such a great discussion on the subject. It's extremely important to give the public the opportunity to learn about science.

I think that your podcast is a great vehicle by which this is achieved, so thanks. I remember once in the show you guys let it slip that you get a few hundred emails a week So statistically speaking I'm twice as likely to become a millionaire than to get my email read on the show I saw that and I felt like he was baiting us. Oh he totally was and it worked But in the case that some miracle happens, and you do read it I'd love if you could plug the astrophysics blog my friends, and I have it's called astrophysics unleashed and can be found online at astrophysics-unleashed.tumblr.com. And it's a place where we seek to expose the beauty hidden within astronomy and modern science.

It's a great place for the inquiring mind to find food for thought or to ask questions. So that is from Danny and he said, I want to shout out to Jerry, J-E-R-I, but I was afraid I'd spell her name wrong. Hopefully that is right. Tell her that I have no idea what she's like at all, but I'd be willing to bet that she's really cool. Oh, that is nice. Man, usually people have, like, a better chance

of getting struck by lightning than spelling Jerry's name correctly, but he nailed it. Well, and here's a spoiler. The other scientist, other scientist said the exact same thing about spelling her name wrong, and he spelled it right. Wow! So how about that? Man, scientists are smart. If you want to get in touch with us, you can send us an email to stuffpodcast.howstuffworks.com, and you can join us at our home on the web, stuffyoushouldknow.com.

Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hi, it's Emily Tish-Sussman, host of the podcast, She Pivots. In honor of Mother's Day, we have some very special guests. I'm Elaine Welteroth. And I'm Keelan Murray. Both women pivoted out of their careers after having their kids, proving that motherhood

is just another chapter in our journey, not the end. Come on over to hear their full stories. You can listen to She Pivots on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures, and your guide on Good Company, the podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next.

In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of 2B. We dive into the competitive world of streaming. What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. There's so many stories out there. And if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Sam Mullins, and I've got a new podcast coming out called Go Boy, the gritty true story of how one man fought his way out of some of the darkest places imaginable. Roger Caron was 16 when first convicted. He spent 24 of those years in jail. But when Roger Caron picked up a pen and paper, he went from an ex-con to a literary darling. From Campside Media and iHeart Podcasts, listen to Go Boy on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.