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EST. 1998
The Coolest Things You Can Buy

Ice Cream Ball

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Ice Cream Ball

Dribble then drool!

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Ice Cream Ball
Everyone loves ice cream. Here at Firebox the whole office lets out a collective 'Woo-hoo' the second the ice cream van pulls up outside playing Greensleeves. But wouldn't it be great if you could make delicious homemade ice cream quickly, easily and without an electricity socket in sight? And wouldn't it be even better if you could play ball whilst doing it? Well guess what, strange as it sounds, now you can!

The ingenious Ice Cream Ball is the fun and easy way to make yummy homemade ice cream. Why? Because the ice cream is formed by rolling the ball around. Simply bung your ice cream ingredients in one end, cram ice and rock salt in the other and then play with the ball.

Ice Cream Ball

Ice Cream Ball - Pink

After about 20 minutes you'll have a pint of delicious homemade ice cream. No van required! (Having said that, you're welcome to hum Popeye the Sailor Man as you shake, pass and roll the durable polycarbonate Ice Cream Ball around). Your ice cream's consistency will vary based on the ingredients, ice/salt mix, outside temperature and shaking frequency. If it's not quite right, simply put the lid back on and roll the ball around for a few more minutes.

How to make perfect ice cream!:

Ice Cream Ball
Ice Cream Ball
Ice Cream Ball
Open the outer chamber and fill with as much ice as you can.
Add 8 tablespoons of rock salt and close the lid securely.
Open the inner chamber and pour in the mixed ingredients. Close the lid securely.

Ice Cream Ball
Ice Cream Ball
Ice Cream Ball
Shake, rattle and roll! As the salt melts the ice, the ingredients will freeze.
After 10 minutes, scrape the sides of the cylinder to mix up the ice cream. Shake for a further 5-10 minutes.
Enjoy your delicious homemade ice cream!

If you're thinking "Yuck, rock salt in my ice cream?!", then don't worry - the salt itself never actually comes into contact with your ice cream - but it's vital to the thermodynamic reaction that super-cools the ingredients (see "How does it Work?" below).

We'd love to say you can boot the Ice Cream Ball around Beckham-style, but you can't. Besides, who needs a busted metatarsal covered in ice cream? What you can do is roll it, pass it, shake it or even set up a slalom course using a few (ice cream?) cones. Then you can mix as you dribble. How cool is that!

Ice Cream Ball Your ice cream mix can be as simple as good old vanilla, but you can experiment with any flavour you fancy. Just add your fave flavouring before loading the mix into the Ice Cream Ball's metal mixing chamber. Brilliant at picnics, parties and camping trips, the Ice Cream Ball allows you to slurp on lip-smackingly good ice cream without electricity, batteries or long waits by the ice cream van. So get ordering - you'll have a ball! Altogether now, 'O sole mio...'
Please Note:
  • Never kick or drop the ball.
  • Use a wooden or plastic spoon as metal can scratch the container.
Contents:
  • 1 x Ice Cream Ball
  • 1 x Opening Tool
  • 1 x Instructions Sheet
  • 1 x Recipe Sheet
Dimensions:
  • Approximately 20cm (D)
Ingredients:
  • Cream:
    The recipes included with the Ice Cream Ball suggest 473ml (1 US pint) "half and half" cream mix. Any kind of cream or milk mix will work, but thinner mixtures take longer to freeze. Using all double cream will result in a richer and creamier ice cream yield, just how we like it at Firebox HQ! If you're making a low fat ice cream, adjust the recipe accordingly.
  • Sugar:
    Included recipes recommend "1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar", which in English means about 7 and a half tablespoons. An equivalent amount of sugar-substitute is also acceptable.
  • Flavours:
    Whatever you like! For the classic vanilla just add 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla to the mixture. We like to add all sorts of extra stuff to our ice cream often using vanilla as a base. The current firebox favourite is highly contested but some of our many experiments include mint, peanut butter, chopped/melted chocolate bars, chopped fruit and berries, crumbled biscuits, honey, syrup, baileys, milkshake powder, pepperoni pizza and more! (Okay maybe not the pizza).
How does it work?
Time for a quick lesson in the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that the differences between systems in contact with each other tend to even out: ie. the (cold) ice surrounding the (warmer) cream mixture will begin to melt. For ice to melt, heat has to be drawn from somewhere and in this case the melting ice absorbs heat from your ingredients and gradually lowers the temperature of the mix until it starts to freeze.

Now, without any salt added to the ice the cooling effect would be slower and the ice/ingredients would gradually reach an equilibrium slightly above the freezing point of water. This isn't cold enough to turn your ingredients into ice cream, for which you need temperatures below -3 degrees Celsius.

By adding rock salt to the ice it makes a substance with a freezing point lower than water. This means that the ice and salt mixture must take even MORE heat from its surroundings in order to melt: the whole process accelerates and the temperature quickly drops to around -10 degrees which rapidly cools and turns your ingredients into a tasty serving of ice cream!

Customer Reviews

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This really is the most pointless thing in the whole world, takes forever and is really boring to make. Just put the mix in the freezer and be done with it!
Rasoul, Suffolk - 30th January 2011
I got my Ice cream ball loved the idea of home made ice cream when I tried to make some, it didnt work :(.
Chris, Ire;and - 19th January 2011
I've made icecream in a similar way with bags inside each other, but this looks easier. Am thinking of buying one (or more!) as presents. Realistically, if you were going on a picnic, could you put the ice in the ball at home? Would it stay insulated? And then at the picnic site, add salt and icecream ingredients? I can see how it works really well at home/in the garden!
Teasel, At Home - 7th January 2011
Firebox says: It would be tough on a summer's day Teasel, unfortunately the Ice Cream Ball isn't sufficiently insulated to go on long trips. But if you had ice on hand, all systems go!
For Christmas I got a recipe book on how to make lots of different flavours of ice cream. Would I be able to use some of these recipes with the ice cream ball?
Maddie, Reading - 29th December 2010
Firebox says: Absolutely!
Can you use normal salt or do you actually have to use rock salt.
Ellie, Birmingham,West Midlands - 29th December 2010
Firebox says: The rock salt works better due to it's density, and helps to lower the freezing point of the ice and absorb heat to freeze the ice cream.
Great idea, in theory. It consumes a lot of ice - the ice you buy from the supermarket won't go into the ball without smashing up also. It consumes a lot of time - about half an hour to get the ice-cream frozen - plus a lot of mess. It created a lot of frustration - scraping ice cream from the canister with a wooden; spoon is close to impossible and if the spoon is too short causes bleeding knuckles/fingers. It consumes a lot of energy - should be listed under exercise machines. You could bulk up and lose weight with it - as long as you get someone else to eat the ice cream.
Phil Minshall, Oldham - 29th December 2010
Firebox says: We certainly don't want anyone hurting themselves Phil.