Ice Cream – Valerie's Voice

When I told others we were taking a trip to Idaho most people asked why. I explained. “of the fifty states, Idaho is the only state I haven’t been in” (although my brother told me we were on a road trip with our parents and drove through Idaho to get to Washington when we were young. He is four years older so he remembers.)

Now, if people were to ask me, “Why Idaho?” I would say because it is a beautiful state with a lot to offer…including a large portion of the Rocky Mountains and 3,500 miles of rivers. We spent a lot of time by the Snake River.

This ice cream is shaped to look like an Idaho baked potato with sour cream. It was fun to try.

Idaho is known for its potatoes. While doing some research I learned about Westside Drive-In in Boise, that offered potato-shaped ice cream. That was curious. We made the drive-in our first stop out of the airport. It was tasty treat and a great way to start our vacation. Then, we drove two hours to Twin Falls and settled into an AirBnB in southeastern Idaho. We took day trips from there.

We spent a lot of time along the Snake River viewing canyons, gorges, water falls, and watching Base jumpers jump off the Perrine Bridge…counting on their parachutes to open and land safely on the ground 486’ below. It was fascinating to watch.

An experienced jumper attaches another person to his harness for a tandem jump. Unfortunately I couldn’t figure out how to post the video of this endeavor.

This screen shot is of the BASE jumper from one of the videos.

The Perrine Bridge is a stunning arch bridge and stands 486 feet above the Snake River, and has the distinction of being the eighth highest bridge in the United States. The Perrine Bridge attracts BASE jumpers from all over the world because it is one of the few structures they [jumpers] can use without getting special permits.

Trying to capture how deep this gorge is…this is looking down at the river…ripples from a motor boat and a kayak in the picture too.

(BASE jumping is an extreme sport where an individual leaps from a fixed object and uses a single parachute to land. The term “BASE” is an acronym for the four types of locations: Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges), and the Earth (cliffs).) We were fortunate to witness four jumpers, (one tandem) while walking next to the bridge.

At the visitor’s center, on the other side of the bridge, was a temporary 911 memorial display (we were visiting close to that date). The group hung a gigantic American flag on a cable over the gorge. It was impressive.

Shoshone Falls…there is not much water flowing over the falls this time of year. (Twin Falls is considered high dessert.) However, in the spring Shoshone Falls is called the Niagara of the west and the falls are gushing and look very full (in photos).

We picnicked at Shoshone Falls, and saw Perrine Coulee Falls and many other miscellaneous waterfalls.

We also walked to the Devil’s Washbowl, a waterfall within the Malad Gorge in Thousand Springs State Park.

Looking down on Malad Gorge, formed by the Malad River that flows into the Snake River.

We hiked in Adams Gulch and caught the beautiful sight of quaking aspen trees, their leaves turning from green…to lime green… to a brilliant yellow, that contrast beautifully with the green evergreen trees.

The striking contrast of the yellow aspens and evergreen trees.

We hiked on a well-defined hiking, and mountain biking, trail.

We drove to Ketchum, the ski village near Sun Valley Resort, nestled within the Rocky Mountains, specifically in the Wood River Valley at the base of Bald Mountain.

Beautiful Bald Mountain and the Sun Valley Ski Resort.

Sun Valley was America’s first destination ski resort.

The mountains are inviting so we continued to drive north of Ketchum for several miles to see their majesty.

On our way up a mountain…and then down into a valley.

Looking at a valley from Smiley Lodge. We turned around here and drove back up the mountain pass.

We also spent time in Craters of the Moon National Monument. I will write about that another time.

Our final evening, a farewell dinner on the deck at Redhawk Gastropub, overlooking the Snake River.

Our time went fast, as it usually does while on vacation, but I’m glad we were able to see a few of the wonderful sights in beautiful Idaho, and to make some fun memories there.

And I did it! I can say I’ve been in all 50 states.

My husband, Gary, enjoys researching and writing on different topics that interest him. I asked him if I could publish excerpts from his latest on ice cream and he agreed. Any words in italics are mine.

*An electric ice cream maker, my gift to my husband.*

My Scoop on Ice Cream

Some say chocolate is the food of the gods, but I say it is ice cream. I have always loved ice cream. When I was a kid, I remember we had ice cream in the freezer most of the time. Perhaps this was a luxury associated with my growing up on a dairy farm. My parents bought our ice cream from the same dairy in town where we sold our milk. So the ice cream we ate was (possibly) made from our own milk. The dairy packaged ice cream in both ½ gallon and 2 ½ gallon sizes, and best of all they had delivery routes. The ice cream truck would come to our farm on a set schedule every few weeks. It was like a Schwann’s truck, but only had dairy products.

In the summer we would occasionally make our own home-made ice cream. Our ice cream maker was a wooden stave container in which a metal canister would be placed. After my mom prepared the mix she poured the liquid ice cream mixture into the canister and inserted the scraper (called a dasher). Then ice and salt was packed between the canister and the wooden vessel. The device was powered by an electric motor. The metal canister would rotate and the dasher inside was stationery – so it continuously scraped the surface as the ice cream mix froze. It worked really well and only took about 30 minutes and we could hardly wait until it was ready. I have a lot of good memories of this ice cream making process, and eating it of course.

Now 6o years later, I still love ice cream. There are many types of ice cream available these days so I started doing a little research to learn more about the industry.

What is ice cream?

In non-technical terms ice cream is a frozen blend of dairy ingredients and sweeteners, plus a small amount of emulsifiers and stabilizers. Various ingredients and inclusions are added to create specific flavors.

For some intensive hands-on learning about the science and technology of making ice cream one could attend a well-known 7-day short course at my alma mater, Penn State. They offer the course once a year and limit the class size to 120. The course entitled “Cow to Cone” sells out very quickly despite it costing $2,300. First started in 1892, it is believed to be the first continuing education course offered in the country.

*Ice cream cones in the cupboard…I like the cone, Gary likes a dish.*

In the USA, to be legally called “ice cream” the USDA regulations state it must contain a minimum of 10% dairy milk-fat and weigh no less than 4.5 pounds per gallon, plus it must not exceed 100% overrun.

What is “overrun”? Overrun is the amount of air whipped into the ice cream base during freezing. It is expressed as a percentage increase in volume of finished ice cream greater than the amount of mix used to produce that ice cream.

For example 100% overrun means 1 gallon of base mix will become 2.0 gallons of finished ice cream. Similarly, 60% overrun means 1 gallon of base will become 1.6 gallons of finished ice cream.

In essence we are buying a lot of air! However some air is needed to give the proper texture and taste. Without any air introduced the ice cream would be like a frozen ice cube.

More expensive brands have much less air than cheaper brands. This can be seen by looking at the density (weight per volume). Expensive brands may be 90 or 100g / ½ cup whereas low cost brands may be 50-60g / ½ cup. This can easily be seen on the ingredient label and it is best to compare a simple flavor like vanilla, which does not have added ingredients impacting the density.

In 2017 the number one brand ranking of all ice cream sales in the US was Breyers and number two was Ben & Jerry’s.¹

Consumption

According to one source⁵, the per capita consumption of ice cream in the USA is 20.8 liter (5.5 gallon). Let’s see how I am doing.

If I average 2 bowls a week at say 3 scoops per bowl and my scoop is ½ cup size; then 2 bowls x 3 scoops x 1/2cup/scoop = 3cups per week.

If I practice this ritual for 44 out of 52 weeks a year (this is an 85% rate- I’m trying to improve upon this) that makes 3cups x 44weeks / 16 cups/gallon = 8.25 gallons.

So I guess I am doing my part.

Sources: 1. Top ice cream brands of the United States in 2017, based on sales (in million U.S. dollars) Statista.com Accessed 11/8/2018 and 5. Chart: Ice cream consumption per capita around the world. Businessinsider.com Accessed 11/9/2018

I hope you’ve enjoyed the (partial) scoop from my husband, on ice cream.

Tag: Ice Cream

Idaho

Ice Cream Scoop