milk.org | Ice Cream

Types of ice cream

Hard Ice Cream
- Hard Ice Cream
- Gelato
- Frozen Dessert
- Soft Serve Ice Cream

Hard Ice Cream

The classic, scoopable ice cream that comes in all kinds of flavours. It’s usually made with cream, milk, sugar and sometimes (but not always) eggs and is whipped - or churned - with a blade inside a chilled tube. Air and ice are key to creating a consistent, creamy texture.

Gelato

We have the Italians to thank for this one. Gelato is a delicious version of ice cream that contains more milk (and usually less cream and no eggs), making it naturally lower in fat (4-9% fat content compared with 10% in hard ice cream). It also has less air churned into it, which makes it a little bit denser than regular hard ice cream.

Frozen Dessert

What’s the difference between frozen dessert and ice cream? Well, to start, to be considered real ice cream in Canada, ice cream must contain at least 10% milk fat. Frozen dessert is technically made with milk, but with fats from different oils, such as vegetable oil or coconut oil.

Soft serve Vanilla ice cream on a cone with caramel sauce drizzle

Soft Serve Ice Cream

Made with the same ingredients as hard ice cream, soft serve is kept at a lower temperature and churned more frequently, giving it a softer texture and lighter consistency. This dessert is usually found at ice cream trucks or boardwalks by the beach and is served on a classic cone.

It often starts with four, simple ingredients

Cream

What’s ice cream without cream? This key ingredient adds a thicker texture to the mixture.

Milk

High-quality milk is the first and most important ingredient in ice cream.

Sweetener + Flavours

It wouldn’t be the sweet treat without it. This is where all the creativity happens!

Eggs

Sometimes eggs are added to improve the stability of the mixture so it stays firm.

How is ice cream made?

One might argue that homemade is the best way, but here’s a common way delicious ice cream can be made in Ontario.

Real Ontario milk

Firstly, pasteurized milk is collected from our dairy farms and brought to the creamery to be made into heavy cream (which is what helps thicken the mixture). The higher the milk fat, the better!

Adding the ingredients

Then, a combination of milk, cream, sugar and eggs is pasteurized and homogenized. From there, more flavours such as Chocolate, Vanilla or even everything for Rocky Road are added.

Frozen to perfection

The mixture is then churned in a chilled container at a consistent speed so that ice crystals don’t form. The churning also allows for aeration (adding air), which softens the mixture and creates the foam-like texture that we know and love.