Ice cream is one of the most popular desserts in the world, and thawing it makes it much faster and easier to get into your mouth. But more importantly, thawing ice cream before eating actually makes it taste sweeter. So what is the best way to do it?
We all hate taking a tub out of the freezer and having it hard as a rock. Also, we also don’t want to take it out too long before eating it because it will get too mushy. However, softening the ice cream makes it much easier to use as an ingredient in other frozen desserts. For example, it would be interesting to soften it to be able to make ice cream sandwiches more easily, spread it on cakes or eat it directly.
Using the wrong thawing method will result in ice cream melting around the edges of the tub while it’s still hard on the inside, leading to a disaster at dessert time.
The high butterfat content and lack of air in most good quality ice cream makes it very hard at zero degrees. We may have to uncomfortably twist our hands in the depth of the tub, but with the difficulty of eating it. There are multiple ways to thaw or soften ice cream. If we just put it on the kitchen counter, depending on its fat and air content, the ice cream can take between 10 and 30 minutes to soften , considering the size of the tub, the hardness of the ice cream, and the temperature of the air.
in the fridge
Perhaps the best way to thaw ice cream is to let it soften in the refrigerator. Although it may take a little longer than if you left it on the table, thawing it in the fridge makes the temperature uniform throughout the cardboard and the texture uniform.
- We will put it in the refrigerator and let it rest for 30 minutes . We may want to place it on a tray to trap moisture.
- We’ll take out the ice cream and put it on the table. At this point, the ice cream should be about 8 degrees.
- If we can gently press in the middle with our finger to create a mark, it’s ready to pop out.
In the microwave
Softening ice cream in the microwave is another quick way to thaw our favorite dessert. However, the big drawback is that it will melt unevenly. Possibly the edges will remain liquid, while the interior remains hard. Also, microwaved cardboard doesn’t seem like a great idea. However, if we are in a hurry, this is the fastest option to defrost an ice cream.
- We will transfer the ice cream from the freezer to the microwave.
- We will put the microwave at 30% power for about 30 seconds .
Use a wet spoon
If the ice cream is cold, there is a neat technique we can do to make sure it doesn’t stick to the spoon. The solution is to dip the spoon in water before each spoonful because it won’t come loose from a dry spoon, it will stick. We will take a container or a cup of cold water (not hot!) and we will make fences to serve the spoonfuls. This process ensures that the ice cream comes off the scoop smoothly and reduces mess on the scoop. It’s the trick that ice cream parlors use.
- We will take a bowl or a cup of cold water (not hot!).
- We will submerge the spoon slightly in the water and shake it slightly afterwards.
- We will use the shovel and take our favorite ice cream out of the tub.
