Fresh ingredients
BY SUZANNE KEENE
MANHEIM If the words cookies
’n cream, chocolate almond,
bubblegum and peach make you
yearn for heaping scoops of ice
cream, Kreider’s Dairy Store in
Manheim may be the place to
satisfy your desire.
Every Tuesday and Thursday
Deb and Connie Kreider load their
10-gallon ice cream freezer with
fresh milk, cream and sugar and
produce gallons and gallons of
fresh creamy ice cream to serve at
Kreider’s highly-acclaimed
restaurant and to sell at their dairy
stores.
During the winter months the
Kreider’s make about 800 gallons a
week, but during the busy summer
season they have to increase their
production to about 1,200 gallons.
The key to making delicious ice
cream is to use only fresh
ingredients, Deb said.
“You have to have a good fresh
mix to start with,” she said.
The Kreiders use dairy products
from their 750 Holstems to produce
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Connie tops each container
whole Oreo.
Deb Kreider sprinkles almonds on a chocolate pie she special!
father.
the basic mix that is the base for
all the different flavors. They milk
24 hours a day on their two farms
located near the restaurant and
dairy stores, Deb said.
Kreiders use 12.5 percent but
terfat in their basic ice cream mix
to produce a high-quality product.
Cheaper brands of ice cream
contain lower percentages of
butterfat, Deb explained.
To maintain the high-quality of
their product, the Kreiders use
only fresh fruit in their ice cream
recipe.
“A lot has to do with the quality
you put in,” Deb said. “During
peach season we peel our own
peaches.”
Another important factor in
producing a quality product is to
make sure the ice cream is
whipped for the proper amount of
time, Deb said. If it is whipped too
much, it will have a light, airy
texture, and if it isn’t whipped
enough, it will be too heavy.
“It’s going to affect the flavor,”
Deb explained.
of cookies ‘n cream with a
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produce delicious
t:
Connie Kreider stacks the ice cream in the freezer, which
perature for storage.
To determine if the cream has
been whipped enough, Deb weighs
it on a small scale. At a weight she
would not disclose, the ice cream is
of just the right consistency and
should be removed from the
freezer as quickly as possible.
The time it takes to package the
ice cream is crucial. If the ice
cream is out too long before it
reaches the freezer, it gets icy and
is of lower quality, Deb explained.
■‘You want it frozen as fast as
you possibly can,” Deb said.
But Deb and Connie are experts
at quickly scooping the ice cream
from the freezer, snapping on the
lids and rushing it to the nearby
freezer set to the proper tem
perature for storage
Deb has been making ice cream
for five years and Connie has been
helping her for two.
The average batch takes about
six to eight minutes to complete,
but some flavors, like chocolate,
take longer. Sherbet takes about 15
minutes because it is really frozen
sugar water, Deb explained.
The Kreiders have developed
their own flavorings for their 55
kinds of ice cream and sherbet. To
do that, Deb said, they contact
companies that sell the ingredients
and then experiment with them.
She said she is working on
developing pink lemonade, coffee
brickie, chocolate cashew and
raspberry ripple flavors for the
busy summer months.
Right now the best-selling flavor
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Ily prepared for her
A
Deb Kreider scoops out the last bit of ice cream from the
10-gallong freezer. She confessed that this is the easiest time
to cheat and take a taste.
Between flavors Deb Kreider rinses out the freezer so that
no aftertaste affects the next batch.
ice cream
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is set at the proper tem-
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