Zip-bag icecream questions

[piccola]

I want to try making icecream in a ziploc bag - for the fun of it as much as the icecream. But there are a few things I'm not clear on...

All the recipes say to mix rock salt or kosher salt with the ice. Can I use table salt?

Also, could I make it with yogurt or soy milk? I'm not opposed to using regular milk, I just want to know if I can experiment (which is kind of the point of the whole thing).

Any other tips/ideas/recipes?

[mamamia]

Coffee can ice cream is the best.

:)

[devil]

Try double bagging the small bag as to minimize the risk of leakage. I think any salt will do.

[Katie Nell]

Yes, and DO NOT buy el cheapo baggies either!

[Kagey]

I remember making ice cream in two coffee cans when I was a kid. You put the ingredients into a smaller can, which will fit loosely into the larger can. Put the filled smaller can into the larger one, and surround with ice and rock salt. Close the larger can, then get a friend to roll the whole thing back and forth with you for a while. As I recall, it worked well. At least I was really impressed with the results when I was about 12.

[mochi mochi]

I made ice milk with a bunch of 3rd graders last month. We used 1 cup of whole milk in a quart freezer bag-3Tbls sugar and 1/4 tsp. vanilla. In a slider freezer gallon bag, we added ice to fill about 1/3 of the bag and added a good amount of table salt. Put the quart bag in the gallon and "smushed it" around for about 5 minutes. Soft serve ice cream. Kids loved it. If the milk didn't freeze, I added more salt and sure enough it froze. I would try the soy and the yogurt, just reduce the amounts. Have fun!

[rainey]

Personally, I wouldn't trust a ziplock bag for the cream. Couldn't you do it with a jar with a secure screw top?

My ice cream maker uses ice cubes and table salt so I don't know why you couldn't do that with table salt in a bag. But that bag is going to get awfully cold in the 20or so minutes it's going to take for the cream to freeze. Start with a small amount of cream that will freezer faster. And wear mittens! ;>

Ånd you're not going to have a dasher to work air into the cream as it freezes. I'm trying to think of something you could put in the jar to add air as it aggitates but I can't.

[LoDega]

I would think a small wire wisk might do the trick, or one of those tiny plastic spatulas?

[Katie Nell]

Actually, the ziploc bags work really well for this project. I did it with all "my" kids when I was a camp counselor.

I'm not sure on the yogurt or soy milk question, but I'm *fairly* sure that we just used table salt, but I could be wrong.