Have you ever made ice cream in a bag before? It is a really great chemistry experiment to do with little kids as you are learning about catalysts, states of matter, as well as learning the process of making ice cream using just a few items! Read on to learn how to make this delicious and tasty non dairy alternative frozen desert.
Does Ice Cream In A Bag Work?
YES!! We have made dairy ice cream using regular milk before but since we are practically dairy free now (with a few cheats here and there…we love pizza!), I found that using non dairy, gluten free oat milk still can be made into ice cream using a bag. It is a combination of milk fat, salt, ice, agitation and time, that makes this yummy experiment work.
What Is Rock Salt?
Simply explained, rock salt is also known as Halite. It is a rock that is formed from sodium chloride and is mined.
Can I Use Table Salt?
Yes! It will still lower the freezing point of ice, you just may need more of it compared to the amount of Rock Salt.
What Is A Catalyst?
So this is what I understand a catalyst to be (I am not a scientist nor do I pretend to be one, but I enjoy learning about science alongside with my boys and so that means I have to research a lot and conduct my own side experiments to understand a concept).
So, what is a catalyst? It is a substance that allows a chemical reaction to speed up without changing itself. This is evident by the ice actually melting when you add rock salt to it.
I had two cups- both filled with ice, we will call them cup A and cup B. I took the temperature of them both and recorded it. Then, I added Rock Salt to cup B. The temperature went from 27.8 F to 21.1 F. It also began to turn into water and I could still see the rock salts. The temperature did increase up to 26F again, so it was interesting, and it probably depends on the thermometer you use (I used a meat thermometer) and keeping it in one place (I moved it around). Cup A had very minimal changes- it only started to melt a little bit because of being in a room temperature setting. I highly recommend doing this experiment as well to understand how a catalyst actually works!
Why Do You Have To Shake The Bag When Making Ice Cream?
The shaking (or agitation) helps to move around the warmer parts of the milk (in the inside) to the outside so that way it can mix evenly and make a creamy ice cream.
Ingredients
- Rock Salt
- Oat Milk
- Brown Sugar
- Ice
- 3 sandwich bags
- Plastic Bag
- 2 Separate tablespoons
- Measuring Cup
Directions
1- Measure 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and add it to one of the sandwich bags.
2- Add about 1/2 a cup to 1 cup of oat milk to the sandwich bag with brown sugar. We use the Califia Gluten Free Oat milk brand, but you can try out other brands of dairy and non dairy milk.
3-Zip up the sandwich bag, allowing air to escape before completely sealing. Put inside of another sandwich bag to protect it during the agitation process. Set aside.
4- In another sandwich bag, fill it halfway with ice cubes.
5- Using another tablespoon, add in about 2-3 tablespoons of Rock Salt to the ice.
6- Take your sealed sandwich bag of oat milk and brown sugar, and put it in the bag with ice and rock salt. Seal the bag.
7- Open up a store plastic bag and put in the ice cream concoction. This helps to lessen the coldness from your hands while you are shaking the ice cream bag. **Be careful handling ice as it does get cold and can cause freezer burn**
8-Hold on the ice cream bag with one hand and the plastic bag with the other while shaking vigorously for about 10 minutes. You can check it every few minutes to see the consistency and record the texture, minutes agitated, ice consistency, and so on. At mid point, it became very watery and so I added in more ice.
9-After about 10 minutes, your ice cream should be formed! If it is still liquid-y, you have to shake a little bit harder. We all took turns shaking because it is exhausting! My kids shake with their whole body, but you need to be shaking with your hands, so as the adult you are doing much of the agitation.
I find that oat milk does melt as soon as you take it out of the bag so eat it really fast! It tastes really good though and I find this to be the best recipe for dairy free, gluten free oat milk ice cream in a bag with not a lot of processing and preservatives. Would you agree?
Watch my video below to see the process of making ice cream in a bag using oat milk and sugar.
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*Adult Supervision Is Required For All Activities*