Play and Freeze Mega Ice Cream Maker Ball Red Review

A few weeks ago as I was trolling through the waters of the frozen dessert department at Dominick's, I saw something which made me literally stagger and have to hang on to my cart for support -- the cost of premium ice cream and frozen yogurts had soared to $4.79 a pint!  I just can't believe that even good ice cream is really worth that and I am not about to pay that.  I feel that even a billionaire shouldn't pay that much for a pint of ice cream (at least not very often, anyway).  Years ago I owned a small ice cream maker and produced some pretty good batches with it so when I got home from the store, I opened up the Kitchen Krafts website, just to browse.  It wasn't long before I came across something interesting -- for a little more than $40, I could buy a Mega Ball Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker which purportedly would make it possible for me to produce quarts of ice cream at home and enjoy fun-filled hours of excitement at the same time.  By the time I added four ounces of fancy Madagasgar vanilla to my order, I had plowed more than $50 into the total cost of this gadget, which is a ball-shaped plastic sphere with a port (opening) at each end and an inner metal cylinder to contain the ice cream ingredients surrounded by space for the ice and salt which generates the freezing temperature.   Tonight I tried it out.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Carefully I had planned ahead and read the instructions manual (a real departure in the right direction for me!)  I had found an eight-pound bag of Rival Ice Cream Salt ($2.97) at Ace Hardware and had assembled my other ingredients.  Instead of cream, I decided to use equal parts of half-and-half and whole milk.  (In my previous ice cream making ventures, I had found that I preferred "ice milk" because of its refreshing taste and greater clarity of flavor.)  The recipe booklet packed with the Mega Ball was a treasure house of ideas but I picked something relatively simple.

Cinnamon Stick Ice Cream

Blend one quart light cream (or one pint half-and-half and one pint whole milk), 3/4 cup plus two tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and two teaspoons ground cinnamon.  It took a while to really blend the cinnamon in but the result was a mixture which tasted delicious and was a lovely beige shade which is perfect for autumn desserts.  I stored this mixture in a Tupperware pitcher in the fridge and later in the day brought home a bag of ice. 

Following the directions, I loaded in ice pieces small enough to fit in the ice port.  This thing takes a lot of ice and your fingers are going to be good and cold before you're done.  Then I added the suggested amount of ice cream salt on top of that.  It was at this point, I encountered a major problem -- no matter how I tried or how snug I tried to get the lid on this port, the thing leaked a little.  (The ice cream port on the other side of the ball was fine.)  I wadded a towel over the lid of the ice port and started shaking the ball to churn the ice cream.  Because of the leakage problem, I shook the ball up and down in a sideways position with the ports sticking out to the sides instead of one up or one down.)  Because I was new at this game, I waited too long to open the ice cream lid up and scrape the frozen part away from the side of the cylinder.  By then, it was very hard and I had to use a metal knife to achieve this which caused some scratches in the surface of the interior cylinder.  (The instructions had warned me to use a plastic utensil but nothing plastic I had would budge this frozen shell that had formed.)  Another problem was that sometimes the port covers are difficult to open. 

THE BOTTOM LINE:

More than a half hour after loading the Mega Ball Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker up, a whole lot of shaking going on, and more than a little frustration, I ended up with what I must admit is a really lovely frozen dessert.  Now I have in my freezer a quart of the most beautiful Cinnamon Stick Ice Cream which only cost me about $60 to make (if you factor in the starting costs in addition to the ingredients).  I'm not going to give up on this though as I feel that as I gain experience doing this, it will all seem quicker and easier and in time I will save enough money (and yes, have enough fun) to make up for whatever start-up complications there were.  I am, however, unhappy about that ice port cover leaking slightly no matter what I do and I'm taking off a star for that.   The really good news about this gadget is that it requires no electricity -- you or your friends provide the churning action and that is actually the easy part.  Aside from all that, the gol-darned thing is PRETTY, especially in the festive red color, and would make a lovely holiday gift for someone else who loves ice cream.

TASTE TIP:

No kidding, the Cinnamon Stick Ice Cream is delightful.  I think a scoop of this would be beautiful on a piece of apple pie -- or how about an Apple Sundae?  Create a nest of old-fashioned home-made apple sauce in the bottom of a sundae dish, top with a scoop of Cinnamon Stick Ice Cream and drizzle with some slightly heated Smucker's Fat Free Caramel Topping.  The possibilities of home-made ice cream are endless.  As is the case with making your own soup, your own ice cream can be whatever you want it to be.  I'm going to experiment with some other flavors and churn out some Just Plain Vanilla tomorrow evening.  Wish me luck!

NOTE:

When you are shaking the Mega Ball Play & Freeze Ice Cream Maker up, make sure you cover your lap with a large plastic garbage bag to protect your clothing against the ice port leakage.  As a final precaution, I should add that while it is true that this ice cream maker is "easy to clean" it is also almost impossible to get all the used salt out of the ice and salt chamber.  Don't worry about this, just give it a good rinse and eventually the leftover salt will be rinsed away after further batches are made.  There is no way this old salt could come in contact with the ice cream you make and that is the important thing.