Which Melts Faster, Hard Ice Cream or Soft Ice Cream?

A messy melt down happens faster in some types of ice cream. Cold, creamy ice cream on a hot summer day beats the heat, but the heat can also give your dessert a beating. Hard-scooped ice cream and soft-serve are two different dairy products, but they will both melt with excessive heat. One of these will melt faster than the other. Knowing which is more prone to turning to soup on a hot day can help you make a choice at the ice cream shop for a longer-lasting treat.

Soft-serve ice cream is swirled out of a dispenser instead of scooped out of a carton. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

Soft-serve ice cream gets its name from its softer consistency. Commercial ice cream sellers have specialty freezers that churn and dispense the ice cream through a tube. Soft-serve's texture is achieved by serving the dessert at 15 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 0 degrees Fahrenheit, where hard-packed ice cream is served. The warmer temperatures enable the tongue to perceive more flavors in the ice cream. Soft-serve ice cream in many commercial ice cream stores is the name given to lower fat ice milk served at soft-serve temperatures, according to "Everybody Loves Ice Cream: The Whole Scoop on America's Favorite Treat."

If you are served tight scoops of ice cream, you have hard packed ice cream. Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images

True ice cream is made with cream and must contain at least 10 percent butterfat to be labeled as ice cream per United States Food and Drug Administration requirements. This ice cream has been frozen solid at 0 degrees Fahrenheit after churning in a process called ripening. This develops and improves the flavor of the ice cream, which becomes muted at colder temperatures. Hard ice cream is the type sold in grocery stores requiring a scoop to serve.

Melting rates of ice cream depend on the composition and the serving texture. The firmer the ice cream is served, the slower it will melt, according to "Handbook of Frozen Foods." Hard ice cream will melt slower than soft-serve, according to the book. The composition of the ice cream will also play a role in the speed of melting. Commercial soft serve ice creams with a lower fat content will melt faster than higher fat ice creams, according to "Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Cookbook."

"Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook: More Than 1,000 Recipes, 1,800 Photographs, 500 Techniques"; Susan Westmoreland; 2008"Everybody Loves Ice Cream: The Whole Scoop on America's Favorite Treat"; Shannon Jackson Arnold; 2004"Handbook of Frozen Foods"; Yiu H. Hui; 2004"What Einstein Told his Cook 2: The Sequel : Further Adventures in Kitchen Science; Robert Wolke, et al.; 2005Photo Credit Christopher Robbins/Digital Vision/Getty Images; Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images; Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images; Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images; Read Next:

eHow Food, Rachael Ray and her Buddies want to show you how to get more out of every day, every meal and every moment.

You Can’t Beat Bad Meat The key to hosting successful barbecues, the kind that make you woozy with approval, is really no secret. You buy better meat than your guests…

View the original article here

My Refrigerator Does Not Keep Ice Cream Frozen

Ice cream can indicate whether a freezer is operating properly. A large refrigerator can bring up to 11 cubic feet of frozen-food storage space to your kitchen. Maytag says ice cream offers one of the best indicators of whether your freezer cavity is operating at the correct temperature. If your ice cream is frozen but scoopable, your appliance is on the right track. If your refrigerator does not keep ice cream frozen, one or more factors may be to blame.

Storing your refrigerator in a garage could cause performance problems for the appliance. Maytag says you should not place a refrigerator in a spot where the temperature will climb above 110 degrees Fahrenheit or fall below 55 degrees. GE sets its low-temperature limit at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Review your appliance’s manual for the acceptable range for your refrigerator. Also note the amount of air clearance the unit should have, and ensure your appliance meets this requirement.

If your freezer is not keeping items as cold as you’d like, adjust the temperature control to a lower setting. Up to 24 hours may be required for the freezer to reach the new temperature, so wait awhile before you check your ice cream’s firmness again. If you recently added warm or hot food to the freezer, the compartment may need a full 24 hours to stabilize its temperature.

Your freezer may fail to cool properly if the air circulation vents inside the freezer compartment are blocked. If you have difficulty locating the vents in your freezer section, refer to your owner’s manual for information.

If you open the freezer door repeatedly in a short period of time, considerable amounts of cold air can escape from the appliance, and the freezer’s temperature will drop. This can also happen if you fail to shut the door completely or if a food item blocks the door when you try to close it.

Freezers that don’t contain a lot of items may not cool as well as those that are reasonably full. “This is because the items in the freezer absorb the cold and help the freezer maintain a steady temperature, in much the same way that ice cubes keep a drink cold,” advises GE. If you don’t have enough food to keep the freezer relatively full, freeze some bottles or containers of water.

Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images; Read Next:

View the original article here