I gotta say, even with the order of magnitude error in the temperature, this sounds like a really cool idea (ha!), and I want to try it out.

http://www.baitcon.org/

If this type of ice cream were that great, Dippin Dots wouldn't be going under.

It's interesting to try once, but it's not so good that I cared to have it again.

I know...debbie_downer.jpg

I think the trick here is to generate a lot of buzz over the gee-wiz factor then sell the place. Even in a college town once the novelty wears off the cost flash freezing is going to make the ice cream impractical.

/real men use liquid He

Shenanigans!: If this type of ice cream were that great, Dippin Dots wouldn't be going under.

It's interesting to try once, but it's not so good that I cared to have it again.

I know...debbie_downer.jpg

this seems kinda different. Actually it seems completely different. I dont really see the connection to dippin dots.

I went once to a place in Chicago that does this. I'm all for spending money on cool things. I'll even blow money on dumb things if it's fun. This, however qaulified as neither. It was alright to see once, but there was nothing unique enough about the ice cream to make it worth the ectra time it took to get to that place and money it cost cause it was that place.

Cheron: /real men use liquid He

Not sure if serious.

Cheron: I think the trick here is to generate a lot of buzz over the gee-wiz factor then sell the place. Even in a college town once the novelty wears off the cost flash freezing is going to make the ice cream impractical.

/real men use liquid He

Use liquid H. That way you can freeze it and flambe` it at the same time.

RogueVortex: Cheron: /real men use liquid He

Not sure if serious.

1) Smaller ice crystals means a smoother ice cream. The key is to increase surface area and chill as quickly as possible.
2) it is a pun

vinnydoz007: this seems kinda different. Actually it seems completely different. I dont really see the connection to dippin dots.

Is this stuff not flash frozen ice cream? My bad.

Shenanigans!: vinnydoz007: this seems kinda different. Actually it seems completely different. I dont really see the connection to dippin dots.

Is this stuff not flash frozen ice cream? My bad.

Kinda, not really. Dipping dots is made by flash freezing the little drops of ice cream custard.
This method is just like the traditional churn method except the method is chilling is much, much colder and faster.

Its cool and fun to be sure. And liquid Nitrogen isn't really THAT expensive. Any one can get it from a a place that sells bulk gas, like CO2, O2 and the like. We use liquid N2 to preevacuate the bottles before filling them here in the beer mines. It purges the bottles of air to eliminate oxidation in the bottles.
I use the stuff at home in the garden around harvest time. Beans and berries and whatnot. Drop the harvest in a pail, dump liquid nitrogen on the harvest, put in ziplock bags, throw in freezer.

Cheron: 1) Smaller ice crystals means a smoother ice cream. The key is to increase surface area and chill as quickly as possible.
2) it is a pun

You apparently have never used liquid He.

/Your pun is stale.
//And not a pun.

They kept on talking about "frozen ice cream."

Not being an Indiana person, what other types of ice cream are popular up there?

Cloud 9 in Wenatchee, WA (middle of BFE) does this. It was perfectly fine ice cream, but an experience that my daughter still talks about many years later. Totally worth it.

Ha finally something I can get a kick out of on Fark. Though I'm not making liquid nitrogen ice cream now, I have in the past. Near enough.

Also, you can dip your finger in it, just very quickly. Kind of like when you move your hand through a candle flame. The heat from your finger boils the nitrogen creating an insulating layer of gas preventing your finger being frozen.

/have a degree in Physics.
//also have all my fingers (for now).

For the first time, I'm excited to live in South Bend. Thanks Subby!

So will it levitate over a magnet?

HoboCop: TFA title is "The rocket science behind frozen ice cream". I'd like to know the rocket science behind unfrozen ice cream, personally.

Like this idea, but I am really just suspecting that a lot of molecular gastronomy is a higher-priced (and far better tasting) version of the highly processed n"fun" food that came out after World War II - the kind of food we all look down upon and are secretly fond of.

Finally! Something besides the Amish to go to Nappanee for LOL. It's cool not just for the way they make it (which is cool enough) but the idea you can make any type of flavor you want. Your not just limited to what they have in stock. Been looking for a Buttered Popcorn flavor for over a year, will have to see if they can make it:)

the_innkeeper: Cheron: I think the trick here is to generate a lot of buzz over the gee-wiz factor then sell the place. Even in a college town once the novelty wears off the cost flash freezing is going to make the ice cream impractical.

/real men use liquid He

Use liquid H. That way you can freeze it and flambe` it at the same time.

How about Liquid L? Freeze, flambe, and taste the rainbow.

chimp_ninja: TFA: "Then they are flash frozen with liquid nitrogen which is set at 32 degrees below zero."

Nitrogen boils at -196C (-320F). I suspect the journalist dropped a zero.

If nitrogen was a liquid at 32 degrees below zero, winters in North Dakota would suck.

Just because liquid nitrogen is -320F doesn't mean it makes the ice cream that cold. The components of ice cream have a much higher heat capacity than nitrogen, and all of the nitrogen has boiled away by the time you are done. -32F (or C) is also reasonable freezer temperature. If you made the ice cream any colder it would start to do fun things like crack your teeth and pop fillings out.

I have made ice cream with liquid nitrogen at picnics in the park, before. It turns out nice and smooth.

It helps to have physics postdoc friends with access to flasks of the liquid nitrogen, for the party!

There was one of these in our mall. For about 2 weeks.

Totally impractical. Especially if they don't have anything else to back it up.

Has anybody mentioned yet that this isn't really all that new, or even hotness for that matter? If not, let me be the first.

Subby apparently hasn't been to a county or state fair within the last 10 years.

/goes to a county fair once every summer
//has seen, but never tried the nitrogen ice cream

Shenanigans!: If this type of ice cream were that great, Dippin Dots wouldn't be going under.

It's interesting to try once, but it's not so good that I cared to have it again.

I know...debbie_downer.jpg

Ah, Dippin Dots - the ice cream of the future of 1992.