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Comment by QuercusMax | Hacker News Reader

I've been thinking about buying a Ninja Creami - James Hoffman did a video using one and it looks super neat.

It's basically the same as the Pacojet, whose patent has now expired - thinking a combination blender and drill press, which will mill down a frozen-solid cylinder of ice cream / sorbet into soft serve, within just 2-3 minutes. The advantage is obvious - you can prepare ahead of time and blend when you're ready to serve, and you can do several flavors in short succession if you have enough ice cream tubs.

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Do it. After buying one, you’ll realize that saturated fat and sugar don’t actually contribute anything to the taste of ice cream, they’re just the cheapest way to ensure it stays the correct consistency when not made fresh. A pint of fat free sugar free ice cream from the store would be gross, but if you make it yourself it’s indistinguishable from regular soft serve or whatever. Just use fat free half and half, half allulose, half erythritol, and vanilla. (Which is basically their recipe for light vanilla icecream, but the texture is better if you combine both sweeteners instead of using just one.)

That seems strange that the fat isn't contributing anything. The creamy mouthfeel is one of the reasons ice cream is so much better than "frozen dairy desert" or lots of frozen yogurts.

Also, does the creami only make things a soft-serve texture? Slightly harder ice cream is where it's at, in my opinion.

> The creamy mouthfeel is one of the reasons ice cream is so much better than "frozen dairy desert" or lots of frozen yogurts.

The reason those have a weird mouthfeel isn't because they don't have fat, but because they're made from powder.

> does the creami only make things a soft-serve texture?

The texture is somewhere between soft serve and traditional ice cream right after you spin it, but if you refreeze the pint and then microwave it for a few seconds it's closer to traditional icecream.

Huh, I'm skeptical, but if a low-fat ice cream substitute really can be just as creamy as real ice cream then I guess I'm OK with people liking it. I'd love to try it one day, but I have such a good ice cream machine already and no need for a creami that I'll have to wait until someone I know gets one.

Also, why would you want to defile the ice cream that already apparently lowers the risk of diabetes, haha.

Is there actually any reason to take dairy fats out of ice cream?

Some people are scared of fat (or the associated calories). From the blogs/ads about the creami, it seems that's the main reason people have.

Highly recommend the creami. It lets you make healthier ice cream you can’t get from a typical ice cream maker. It’s basically a disruptive innovation (in the Christensen sense) for ice cream.

https://allscreamforicecream.com/ninja-creami-an-ice-cream-r...

I’m a big fan and happy to answer any questions.

You do realize that the article that these comments are for is suggesting that maybe ice cream as it is now reduces the risk of diabetes. Maybe we shouldn't be claiming that low-X ice cream is healthier, haha.

How long does this take to freeze a room temperature ice cream batter?

Yes I realize that but was responding to the comment about the creami directly, not the article itself.

(Regarding the article, I’m skeptical of the claim.)

Officially they say to wait 24 hours to freeze but I’ve tasted it to work at around 16-18 hours. 12 may work but isn’t quite as good in a pinch. Note that it depends on the composition of your recipe.

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