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Why am I not surprised that my What’s Cooking summer camp kids loved making ice cream more than any other recipe?   It was real life science in action, and a perfect way to beat the summer heat.

Why don’t YOU give it a try?  Here’s the recipe and a description of how it works:

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. sugar
1 cup half and half
½ tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup rock salt or ice cream salt (The bigger the salt crystals, the better)
3-4 cups Ice Cubes
1 sandwich or pint sized zip lock bag
1 gallon sized zip lock bag
Optional: sprinkles, chocolate chips, or a crushed cookie

1. Combine the sugar, half & half, and vanilla extract in the smaller bag and seal it tightly.
2. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag.
3. Place the sealed smaller bag inside the bag with the salt and ice.
4. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). You may want to wrap the bag in a dish towel so that your hands don’t get too cold.
5. The ice cream mixture should start to harden when it is ready, so give it a squeeze every few minutes.
6. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one.  If desired, add optional toppings, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag.

Serves 1

How does it work?
Ice keeps things cold because it absorbs heat energy from its surroundings.  Adding salt to the ice lowers the freezing point, so the ice begins to melt.  The melting ice absorbs heat from its surroundings, in this case, the ice cream mixture.  When enough heat has been removed from the ice cream mixture, it freezes.

P.S. If you need help designing cooking curriculum for children, I’d be happy to help.  Please visit my What’s Cooking Consulting page for more information.