There are a few reasons why your ice cream might have gotten gritty. These include over-churning, sugar, and trans fat. Luckily, there are some easy fixes. In this article, we’ll take a look at a few of them.
Refreezing
If you’ve ever tried refreezing Sonic ice cream, you know that it can have a grainy texture. This is because the lactose sugar in the ice cream crystallizes. The process occurs when small ice crystals melt and then refreeze. When this happens, large ice crystals form. Moisture and evaporation can also cause these crystals to form.
After refreezing your ice cream, you need to make sure you put it back into the freezer as soon as possible. If you leave it out for too long, you may risk exposing it to insects and bacteria. Also, eating melted and refreezed ice cream could lead to food poisoning. Once bacteria begin to grow, you can get a stomach ache, so be sure to scrape off the melted part before eating it.
Over-churning
Over-churning is a common problem with ice cream. When it is over-churned, it turns the base liquid into a solid before it has frozen. To fix this problem, increase the speed of churning the base.
Over-churning can also affect the texture of the ice cream. Too much churning will create large ice crystals, which will make the ice cream grittier. Also, over-churning can occur when the ice cream maker is not of a high quality.
Another way to check if your ice cream is over-churned is to monitor the melting time of your ice cream. A properly-churned ice cream should take about 15 to 20 minutes to melt completely. If it melts more quickly, it was over-churned and needs to be remade.
Sugar
The gritty texture of Sonic ice cream can be a sign that the product has been stored too long. This can occur for several reasons. Specifically, when the ice cream is kept too long, it will form ice crystals on the surface and lose its creamy texture. It can also occur because the ice cream has been stored in a container with no air tight seal.
The texture of a Sonic milkshake can also be a cause of the gritty texture. The real vanilla ice cream in these drinks is blended with other ingredients to make it look more like a shake.
Trans fat
Despite its popularity, Sonic ice cream is not exactly healthy. There’s a lot of trans fat in the brand’s milkshakes, which makes the ice cream gritty and sandy. According to Yahoo!, the company’s products are among the most unhealthy fast food chains in the US. Also, Sonic’s chili is left sitting for long periods before making it to customers’ cars.
To create trans fat, manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil. Some major chain restaurants have begun to remove partially hydrogenated oils from their products, but many other chains are still using them. Smaller restaurants are a bit slower to follow the trend.
Poor quality ice cream maker
A poor quality ice cream maker will often churn the ice cream more than is necessary. This can affect the texture of the ice cream. You want to make sure that your ice cream has small, hard curds. This will prevent the ice cream from becoming grainy. Also, a poor ice cream maker will pump air into the mixture, making it less creamy.
When you’re making ice cream in an ice cream maker, it’s important to read the instructions carefully. Don’t put the ice cream maker in the freezer upside down. If this happens, the coolant liquid will drain out of the compressor and cause your ice cream to fail to freeze.
