Production and Quality

A basic French- or custard-style ice cream mix is simply a crème anglaise or custard sauce mixed with 1 or 2 parts heavy cream for every 4 parts milk used in the sauce. This base is flavored, as desired, with vanilla, melted chocolate, instant coffee, sweetened crushed strawberries, and so on, chilled thoroughly, and then frozen according to the instructions for the particular equipment in use.

When the mix has frozen, it is transferred to containers and placed in a deep freeze at below 0°F(−18°C) to harden. (Soft-frozen or soft-serve ice creams and gelati are served directly as they come from the churn freezer, without being hardened.)