Why is salt used in ice cream?

Question

Whenever people make homemade ice cream, they use salt in it...why?

~~Ali. :)

Answer 1

No ice cream recipe I've ever heard of contains any salt.

Salt is primarily used to mix in with the ice along the outer compartments while churning the ice cream as it cools. Adding salt to the ice lowers the temperature, allowing the ice cream to cool faster. So salt is used to make ice cream, but it isn't used as a culinary ingredient.

Answer 2

Very little salt in most ice cream recipes.  Sometimes salt is used to bring forward a sweet taste. Some people even salt fruit to make it seem sweeter.  The salt portion of your tongue is close to the sweet.

Most people use salt when making home made ice cream to help cool it.  It's used outside the metal container mixed with the ice.  It actually makes things cool down faster.

Answer 3

Small amounts of salt in sweet foods helps bring out the flavors.

Answer 4

i think they use it to melt the ice in the icecream..for more information go to http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese...

Answer 5

soemthing about freezing it... i just know its rock salt not regular salt.

Answer 6

They dont use salt in the ice cream, they use it in a surrounding container to help the ice cream mix freeze.

Rock salt forces the ice surrounding the can of ice cream mix to melt. The "brine solution" or liquid that forms in the wooden bucket absorbs heat from the mix and gradually lowers the temperature of the mix until it begins to freeze. If there were no salt added to the ice, it would melt at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and eventually the ice water and mix would come to equilibrium at 32 degrees. The ice cream mix, however, does not begin to freeze until its temperature falls below 27 degrees. Therefore, in order to freeze the mix, there needs to be a salt concentration. At this concentration, the brine temperature should remain constant at 8 to 12 degrees F. This will give the rapid cooling and freezing that is essential to making smooth creamy ice cream.