Review of L.L. Bean Ice Cream Maker
Several posts previous I mentioned that my husband planned to order hiking boots from L.L. Bean. Last week he called the order in and asked for an ice cream maker too – or an ice cream ball. It’s something I had seen in the catalog and pointed out to him—not because I wanted one but because it was so cute.
The makers come in pint or quart size in colors of cranberry, blueberry, green apple, grape or tangerine. No crank is involved, no electricity is involved. It’s simply a metal container for the ice cream ingredients surrounded by an insulating area into which one puts the salt and ice, all encased in a plastic sphere.
From the L.L. Bean ad-
Fill the bottom of this durable, lightweight Lexan® plastic ball with ice and rock salt, add ice cream ingredients to the top and just shake, pass or roll the ball around your campsite.
It’s not as easy as all that. I was looking forward to tossing it between us, but Mark was concerned it would break if one of us (me) dropped it. And he ordered the quart size, which was quite heavy. I didn’t mind it so much because I only shook it for the final five minutes of the 30 required. But Mark thinks he wants to return it because it was such a pain.
After 30 minutes, he unscrewed the top and into a half-gallon container we poured out the middle cream which hadn’t iced up. It took the two of us because the ball is so awkward. Then Mark scraped the ice cream from the sides of the metal container using a wood spatula. It didn’t work well. A metal spatula would have cut through the ice, but it also might scrape the container, so he tried a large plastic spoon. It didn’t work that well either. But with much effort, most of the ice cream was out in the half-gallon container. Mark lidded it the container and popped it in the freezer for 20 minutes, before scooping himself a big bowlful, while I took the ice cream ball and ate directly from it, cleaning up the ice cream that still remained on the inside.
We do not recommend the L.L. Bean ice cream ball—at least not the quart size. We’ll likely keep ours as the cost to return it is $6.
The makers come in pint or quart size in colors of cranberry, blueberry, green apple, grape or tangerine. No crank is involved, no electricity is involved. It’s simply a metal container for the ice cream ingredients surrounded by an insulating area into which one puts the salt and ice, all encased in a plastic sphere.
From the L.L. Bean ad-
Fill the bottom of this durable, lightweight Lexan® plastic ball with ice and rock salt, add ice cream ingredients to the top and just shake, pass or roll the ball around your campsite.
It’s not as easy as all that. I was looking forward to tossing it between us, but Mark was concerned it would break if one of us (me) dropped it. And he ordered the quart size, which was quite heavy. I didn’t mind it so much because I only shook it for the final five minutes of the 30 required. But Mark thinks he wants to return it because it was such a pain.
After 30 minutes, he unscrewed the top and into a half-gallon container we poured out the middle cream which hadn’t iced up. It took the two of us because the ball is so awkward. Then Mark scraped the ice cream from the sides of the metal container using a wood spatula. It didn’t work well. A metal spatula would have cut through the ice, but it also might scrape the container, so he tried a large plastic spoon. It didn’t work that well either. But with much effort, most of the ice cream was out in the half-gallon container. Mark lidded it the container and popped it in the freezer for 20 minutes, before scooping himself a big bowlful, while I took the ice cream ball and ate directly from it, cleaning up the ice cream that still remained on the inside.
We do not recommend the L.L. Bean ice cream ball—at least not the quart size. We’ll likely keep ours as the cost to return it is $6.
posted by Elizabeth Evans Fryer at 11:14 AM
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