Why does ice cream get crunchy in milk?

Question

My wife likes to get scoops of ice cream and put them in chocolate milk. After a few minutes the ice cream will get crunchy. Why is that? Is it something about the milk or is it just a liquid that makes the ice cream crunchy?

Answer 1

The other answer is correct.  But the reason ice cream is not crunchy is that it's continually stirred during freezing, so the ice doesn't have undisturbed time to form large crystals.  You could prevent the crunchy by continuously stirring the milk.

Answer 2

It's not the ice cream that's getting crunchy, it's the milk.  The milk comes in contact with the ice cream which freezes the milk, making it crunchy.