DIY ice lollies

[Tim Mitchell]

Ok, this is probably a bit off topic but it is DIY.

If you make ice lollies by freezing fruit juice in lolly moulds, you end
up with a hard lump of ice on a stick. If you buy an ice lolly, the ice
is much softer and you can bite off little chunks easily. Does anyone
know what they do to commercial ice lollies to make them like this?

 

[Peter Ashby]

Ok, this is probably a bit off topic but it is DIY.

If you make ice lollies by freezing fruit juice in lolly moulds, you end
up with a hard lump of ice on a stick. If you buy an ice lolly, the ice
is much softer and you can bite off little chunks easily. Does anyone
know what they do to commercial ice lollies to make them like this?

Try adding a little bit more sugar syrup or get some glycerol (decent
cake supply shops will have some or see your local chemist). You need
something to lower the freezing point of the solution so it will be less
solidly frozen at the temp of your freezer. The trick of course is to
use something that will do the job without introducing unwanted
flavours. Thinking about it you could use some of the lighter flavoured
non creamed honeys too, though I don't know how the waxes in it will
react to the low temps.

Or make alcoholic ice lollies ;-)

Peter

 

[Austin]

Ok, this is probably a bit off topic but it is DIY.

If you make ice lollies by freezing fruit juice in lolly moulds, you end
up with a hard lump of ice on a stick. If you buy an ice lolly, the ice
is much softer and you can bite off little chunks easily. Does anyone
know what they do to commercial ice lollies to make them like this?

Add shockingly large amount of sugar?

 

[Andy Dingley]

Does anyone
know what they do to commercial ice lollies to make them like this?

AFAIR, you need something very cold to freeze them more quickly, and
you shouldn't store them for long once frozen. We make them in the
freezer, not the fridge, and place the mould directly against the
metal wall of the evaporator.

Commercial ones probably have some noxious goop in there that makes it
easy.

 

[Huge]

Ok, this is probably a bit off topic but it is DIY.

If you make ice lollies by freezing fruit juice in lolly moulds, you end
up with a hard lump of ice on a stick. If you buy an ice lolly, the ice
is much softer and you can bite off little chunks easily. Does anyone
know what they do to commercial ice lollies to make them like this?

At a guess they freeze them *much* faster than you can (likely in liquid
nitrogen) so the ice crystals are much smaller.

 

[John Laird]

Add shockingly large amount of sugar?

Ah, that probably explains why frozen strong made-up squash comes out just
fine. (Not the low-cal varieties, obviously. Spit.)

 

[Steve Firth]

At a guess they freeze them *much* faster than you can (likely in liquid
nitrogen) so the ice crystals are much smaller.

Spot on, they are "blast frozen" on a conveyor belt system then they
need to be stored in a commercial freezer for some time to warm up
enough to be saleable.

To make homemade ice lollies you need to remember that the sense of
taste is diminished by cold so an ice lolly mixture needs to be *really*
heavy on flavouring. Try melting a commercial lolly and tasting it. Yes,
it has to be that sweet, that sticky and that strong. For orange
lollies, freezing "hi-juice" orange drink stright from the bottle (no
dilution) is the way to go. Costs a bit mind.

 

[Steve]

Ok, this is probably a bit off topic but it is DIY.

If you make ice lollies by freezing fruit juice in lolly moulds, you end
up with a hard lump of ice on a stick. If you buy an ice lolly, the ice
is much softer and you can bite off little chunks easily. Does anyone
know what they do to commercial ice lollies to make them like this?

Liquid nitrogen van be used to make great icecream, can't see why you
couldn't try using it for lollies too. LN is cheaper than beer !

Steve

 

[Martin Angove]

In message <[email protected]>,

Thanks for all the replies. I reckon slowness of freezing is my main
problem. I will try freezing some in the bottom of the freezer with bags
of frozen peas packed round them. Unfortunately I don't have a handy
supply of liquid nitrogen.

Some freezers have a "fast freeze" switch which lowers the temperature
of a part of the cabinet specifically so you can freeze things better.
If not, adjusting the dial so that the compressor is on continuously for
a while has a similar effect. Don't forget to put it back to the normal
position once everything's frozen though!

Mind you, if you've a combined unit like ours, there's only one dial and
that does both fridge and freezer - separate compartments but the same
compressor and radiator. Turning the dial up to lower the temperature in
the freezer does the same to the fridge...

Hwyl!

M.

 

[Peter Ashby]

[23 lines snipped]

Some freezers have a "fast freeze" switch which lowers the temperature
of a part of the cabinet specifically so you can freeze things better.
If not, adjusting the dial so that the compressor is on continuously for
a while has a similar effect. Don't forget to put it back to the normal
position once everything's frozen though!

The "Fast Freeze" switch on freezers just shorts out the thermostat and makes
the compressor run continuously.

Exactly, which means the temperature ramps down faster after opening the
door and placing something warm inside. Mechanism isn't important, only
the endpoint. Which is why I have been known to throw dry ice into a
-70C freezer that was failing to maintain the temperature while a better
solution arrived.

Peter

 

[Huge]

[23 lines snipped]

Some freezers have a "fast freeze" switch which lowers the temperature
of a part of the cabinet specifically so you can freeze things better.
If not, adjusting the dial so that the compressor is on continuously for
a while has a similar effect. Don't forget to put it back to the normal
position once everything's frozen though!

The "Fast Freeze" switch on freezers just shorts out the thermostat and makes
the compressor run continuously.

Exactly, which means the temperature ramps down faster after opening the
door and placing something warm inside.

How does running the compressor make things get colder faster as opposed
to running the compressor?

 

[Steve]

[23 lines snipped]


Some freezers have a "fast freeze" switch which lowers the temperature
of a part of the cabinet specifically so you can freeze things better.
If not, adjusting the dial so that the compressor is on continuously for
a while has a similar effect. Don't forget to put it back to the normal
position once everything's frozen though!

The "Fast Freeze" switch on freezers just shorts out the thermostat and makes
the compressor run continuously.

Exactly, which means the temperature ramps down faster after opening the
door and placing something warm inside.

How does running the compressor make things get colder faster as opposed
to running the compressor?

because the tstat is usually limited to around -40 C. The compressor and
gas charge will usually evaporate even lower, so you can have more
cooling "left over". If you switch to "super" before loading it, the
thing starts at -50 ish and cools commensurately faster.

Steve

 

[geoff]

AFAIR, you need something very cold to freeze them more quickly, and
you shouldn't store them for long once frozen. We make them in the
freezer, not the fridge, and place the mould directly against the
metal wall of the evaporator.

Commercial ones probably have some noxious goop in there that makes it
easy.

They probably also agitate them during the freeing process

 

[geoff]

Liquid nitrogen van be used to make great icecream, can't see why you
couldn't try using it for lollies too. LN is cheaper than beer !

Not in my local it's not

What's the minimum quantity you can buy?

 

[Michael McNeil]

Children's program on the telly showed one way they are made
commercially: The mix is filled in metal molds. These are suspended
in racks moved over a very cold water-salt mix. So they are freezing
rapidly outside-in, with radial needly ice crystals. The stick is
inserted when the lolly is slushy enough to support it.

Thomas Prufer

Why do they cost nearly a quid apiece? It is a ridiculous price.

There is a difference in the way that ice crystals form in a fridge or
a freezer. With the slow cooling capacity of a fridge the crystals
formed are large. With a faster freeze the crysals are smaller. That
is why the food frozen in a fridge turns to pulp.

It is a good way to produce apple juice and whatever else. Defrost,
filter, chill; perhaps add a drop of glycerine to taste (or wine??)
Then pop it in the freezer to make slabs of fruit ice. Or make your
own wine with it. (Don't freeze that though, as the apple-jack -or
whatever, alcohol will be full of a poison called fusel oil.)

 

[Steve]

Not in my local it's not

What's the minimum quantity you can buy?

We got ours from the local heat treatment company - they quench metals
in it. It was free !

Steve

 

[Huge]

/fusel oil/? Can you elaborate please? Does this apply to any frozen
alcohol drink, or just apple-based ones?

http://www.monashscientific.com.au/FuselOils.htm

Higher molecular weight alcohols. The things that make alcholic drinks tasty and
give you a hangover.

 

[parish]

Or make your
own wine with it. (Don't freeze that though, as the apple-jack -or
whatever, alcohol will be full of a poison called fusel oil.)

/fusel oil/? Can you elaborate please? Does this apply to any frozen
alcohol drink, or just apple-based ones?

 

[Michael McNeil]

/fusel oil/? Can you elaborate please? Does this apply to any frozen
alcohol drink, or just apple-based ones?

I'm no expert by any means. My homebrew comes out of a can. I don't
even have a fridge. But:

I believe it is produced in all fermentations but is especially prone
to be present in root crop ones where there is insufficient yeast
nutriment -unless you add it (ammonium phosphate I think it's called.)
It is the sort of liquor extract that also produces cloudy musts (from
too much pectin) although that will drop using the fridge to pulp your
fruit or veg instead of boiling it.

Brewmasters know when to stop the ferment before distilling or recycle
the first percentage of alcohol produced. That can't happen with
freezing the cider to produce applejack. The oil and the alcohol
separate from the ice formed and the drinkers get a bad head or in bad
cases can go blind. Apples, like root crops don't have enough
nutriment for the yeast either. I believe scrumpy gets to be so strong
because of the presence of certain creatures in the windfalls.

Again this all unsupported rumour.

 

[geoff]

From what I can gather this only aplies to fermented drinks, not distilled
ones

I've been drinking vodka and poteen straight from the freezer for years with
no problems

Aah, but that's already been distilled, so the higher alcohols have been
more or less removed. Freezing it would make little difference - as
opposed to simply freezing wine or beer where the water would freeze out
leaving the whole alcohol mix liquid