There's just something about home made ice cream that makes it taste better. Whether it's the fresher ingredients, the smaller size (not mass produced) or that it was simply made with your own hands it's hard to think of anything more satisfying to eat on a hot summer day, than ice cream.

 

Depending on your budget, and the amount of elbow grease you're willing to invest in your frozen treats, the following is the scoop on the 4 basic types of ice cream makers available.

 

 

This is the original style of ice cream machine with the hand crank. After a few gallons of ice cream, you'll be able to complete in an arm-wrestling tournament. In addition to the great workout, these hand churns make some teriffic ice cream. The 'hands on' operation allows you to control every phase of the ice cream making process. This machine can also be used for sorbet and frozen yogurt. One of the few (if not only) manual churn manufacturer left around is White Mountain.

 

 

If you don't want the hassle of having to pack your churn full of ice and salt, then buy an ice cream maker with a metal bucket that can be pre-chilled in your freezer. Once chilled overnight the bucket slips into an insulated chamber in the base. After the ingredients are added, the bucket is fitted with a dasher (a fancy word for the mixing blade) and let the cranking begin. In this case, however, it is only necessary to churn the mixture every few minutes. Although not as much of a workout  it still makes great tasting ice cream. The major drawback is that it is not well suited for spur of the moment home made ice cream cravings since the bucket needs to chill overnight. This is easily overcome by making sure the bucket is always in the freezer, so it's ready to go whenever you are. Another option is to purchase a spare bucket, so one will always be in the freezer allowing for continuous ice cream making.

 

 

The most common variety of electric ice cream maker also uses the pre-frozen bucket, but the dasher is turned by an electric motor. This arrangement allows you to churn out great tasting ice cream in about 30 minutes. Once again, the quick turnaround requires some planning since the bucket still needs to be chilled overnight. Advanced preparation aside (remember to either always keep it in the freezer, or buy a spare and keep at least one always frozen)  these units turn out silky smooth ice cream and only take up as much space as a food processor.

 

These electric ice cream makers come in two variations,  depending on where the motor is located. The motor can either be contained in the base unit (Cuisinart), or sit on top of the chilled bucket (Krups). In either case, all you need to do is press a button and the result is great tasting ice cream.