Shop mixes ice cream with chemistry
Integrating chemistry and savory ingredients to put a new spin on a classic treat, is just one way iCream, a quaint shop located on the Dallas Parkway, makes their inventive ice cream.
”What makes us different is that we use liquid nitrogen to make and freeze our ice cream,” Frisco Franchise Owner Heidi Ackerman said. “Everything starts out fresh and everything is completely customizable.”
When walking in, the first thing you see is an almost futuristic room filled with an inordinately large tank of nitrogen smoke, and an abundance of ice creams and toppings.
“I went to iCream for the first time a few months ago, and I thought it was really cool to see ice cream made in such a unique way,” junior Sarah Shannon said. “I never thought I would see liquid nitrogen in person, especially since we never got to use it in chemistry class.”
Liquid nitrogen is the most captivating factor for the shop, but there is much more going on behind the scenes that gives iCream it’s distinctive qualities.
“Our ice cream starts as a simple milk, cream, and sugar mix, which no other shop does,” Ackerman said. “We turn everything into a liquid, even our sugar, then we mix it and quickly freeze it with liquid nitrogen.”
In chemistry classes taken sophomore year, students have the opportunity to make their own ice cream, but the process differs singularly from iCream.
“We just use cream, salt, and ice and shake it together to replicate the churning and freezing that the liquid nitrogen does to trap the air,” chemistry teacher Angela Montgomery said. “We cannot make our ice cream with liquid nitrogen because liquid nitrogen freezes too fast for us to observe.”
Of course, iCream serves to please it’s consumer’s dessert related needs, but also functions to teach it’s consumers that chemistry is prevalent even in things as simple as making ice cream.
“Chemistry wasn’t my favorite subject, but it’s important and relevant to humans,” Shannon said. “It will probably help us to invent other methods of making things in the future, just like the ice cream at iCream.”
Olivia Kirklin is a senior who joined Wingspan last year. She aspires to be a neuroscientist and sometimes cries at how much money it will cost her. She...
