The recent heat wave inspired the Seacole team to make some old-fashioned ice cream. Do you know the chemistry behind ice cream?
We cooked a cream mixture from a secret recipe, poured it into a special aluminum canister, then placed that in a wooden bucket with ice and salt in between the two.
Adding salt to the ice lowers its melting point, just as it does when crews add salt to the roads in winter. However, for the ice to melt, it has to absorb heat from its surroundings. That’s where the warm cream mixture comes in. The ice pulls the heat away from the cream, which allows the cream to freeze into ice cream. Stirring the mixture consistently moves the ingredients around so it can freeze evenly.
Did you know ice cream is a compound? Once all the ingredients are mixed together, they are bound together. The ingredients are chemically combined and cannot be separated without another chemical reaction.
It was delicious!
