Making Cool 4th of July Memories
The middle of the summer brings the 4th of July and lots of family fun! It's the time we celebrate our nation with fantastic fireworks, family picnics, and backyard barbecues! Make cool new memories with this easy recipe for old-fashioned homemade ice cream.
The Inside Scoop on Making Ice Cream
- Make sure the bags are tightly closed before the tossing begins or you will have a mess! It takes a lot of shaking and tossing before the mixture turns to ice cream! Another surprise is how cold the ice cream gets! You may even want to dig up those winter gloves for this summer fun as your hands can get COLD!
- Be careful when removing the small bag of ice cream from the larger bag. Rinse it off to prevent your ice cream from getting "salty".
- Try a variety of fruits in your ice cream! Ripe bananas, strawberries, blueberries and diced peaches are great choices. Canned, diced, drained fruit can work as well. Remember to wash any fresh fruit before mixing in with ice cream mixture.
- What is the science behind how ice cream is made? Salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes. The ice-salt combination gets colder than just normal ice and can freeze ingredients to turn them into ice cream. Who knew science could be so delicious!
Ice Cream in a Bag
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 – 2 Tablespoons soft fruit
- ½ cup low-fat milk
- ⅓ cup rock salt (outside bag)
- Ice cubes
Directions:
- Wash hands with soap and water. Put sugar in quart size freezer bag that has zip closure. Add vanilla and soft fruit. Seal the bag tightly. Mix well by squeezing with fingers until everything is combined.
- Open bag and add milk. Reseal bag again and mix until everything is combined.
- Open a gallon size freezer bag with zip closure and put in ⅓ cup rock salt. DO NOT PUT SALT IN SMALL BAG! Fill the gallon size bag halfway full of ice cubes.
- Put the quart bag into the gallon bag and seal shut. Shake the bag for 5 minutes or until the liquid has changed to ice cream. You can toss the bag gently with a partner, too, to share the fun and the cold.
- Take quart bag out of gallon bag. Eat with spoon and ENJOY!
Nutrition Information:
Source:
Milk, Sugar, Science: Engineering Ice Cream, National Agriculture in the Classroom
This newsletter was originally written by Amy Peterson and has been peer reviewed. It was updated in 2025.
