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I feel really dense asking this, but I don't have the faintest idea how the procedures you've mentioned prevent consumption of liquid nitrogen. When chilling a

by jere 12y ago

I feel really dense asking this, but I don't have the faintest idea how the procedures you've mentioned prevent consumption of liquid nitrogen. When chilling a glass, you dump out the LN. OK. That makes some sense. But then when making ice cream, you put LN directly into the bowl while mixing. Huh? edit: I can see why you don't want to provide too many details. I will just say this story, while very interesting, terrified me.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
cmsmith 12y ago
If the LN2 is still liquid, then it is boiling. If you had a pocket of LN2 trapped inside the ice cream, it would boil and you would notice your ice cream venting. If the LN2 was still liquid and dispersed throughout the ice cream, then the ice cream would be -196C and you would not be able to eat it. As long as your food or drink are not spewing off large amounts of gaseous nitrogen, there should be no liquid nitrogen in them.
mattmaroon 12y ago
I have seen stands at local fairs that make LN ice cream to order. It's pretty neat. I haven't done it, but they have 16 year olds doing it presumably without incident.
- cafard 12y ago
  There is a stand at the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market in Washington, DC, that does LN ice cream. I've never tried it--partly because I don't eat much ice cream, partly because I don't see the point.
  - mattmaroon 12y ago
    It's a better method of freezing than traditional ice cream makers. Faster freeze = smaller ice crystals = creamier mouthfeel. It's also easier in many ways for them. You don't even have to have freezers, since you're spot freezing everything. It saves you from buying a batch freezer for making it, which is $30,000 used. I'm told that if you're buying LN regularly, the distributor will hook you up with the tank at a low monthly fee. So it's probably much cheaper to start a stand that way. The downside is it's a little less time-efficient. It's REALLY easy to make a 5 gallon batch of ice cream in a Carpigiani.

by jere 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

cmsmith 12y ago

If the LN2 is still liquid, then it is boiling. If you had a pocket of LN2 trapped inside the ice cream, it would boil and you would notice your ice cream venting. If the LN2 was still liquid and dispersed throughout the ice cream, then the ice cream would be -196C and you would not be able to eat it. As long as your food or drink are not spewing off large amounts of gaseous nitrogen, there should be no liquid nitrogen in them.

mattmaroon 12y ago

I have seen stands at local fairs that make LN ice cream to order. It's pretty neat. I haven't done it, but they have 16 year olds doing it presumably without incident.

cafard 12y ago
There is a stand at the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market in Washington, DC, that does LN ice cream. I've never tried it--partly because I don't eat much ice cream, partly because I don't see the point.
- mattmaroon 12y ago
  It's a better method of freezing than traditional ice cream makers. Faster freeze = smaller ice crystals = creamier mouthfeel. It's also easier in many ways for them. You don't even have to have freezers, since you're spot freezing everything. It saves you from buying a batch freezer for making it, which is $30,000 used. I'm told that if you're buying LN regularly, the distributor will hook you up with the tank at a low monthly fee. So it's probably much cheaper to start a stand that way. The downside is it's a little less time-efficient. It's REALLY easy to make a 5 gallon batch of ice cream in a Carpigiani.