Serious homemade ice cream lovers will want to look at these USA made ice cream machines-makers-freezers-churns. They are simply the best ice cream freezers on the market today. They are Amish USA made to the old-fashioned USA quality standards once enjoyed by generations before the 1970s.
Whatever you may call them, Ice cream freezer, ice cream maker, ice cream churn or ice cream machine people have been using them to make homemade ice cream clear back to 1660.
Throughout the centuries homemade ice cream has evolved from flavored snow to the most common approach of using a mixture of ice and salt to create cold enough temperatures to freeze a cream mix in a metal freezer can equipped with rotating dasher blades.
The means of powering this rotation is still currently done by either a hand crank or an electric motor.
The variations of ice cream machines and materials used in them are what has made the biggest changes over the centuries. This is what creates the decision dilemma of purchasing a great homemade ice cream machine today.
During the 1800s and early 1900s, a multitude of US companies made ice cream machines generally consisting of a wooden tub, a freezer can, dasher and hand crank gear frame to spin the can on a center pivot located at the bottom of the tub. Ice and salt were added around the can filled with the ice cream mix to create the freezing temperatures.
These ice cream machines once were the highlight of most all summer get-togethers and social events. Somewhere along the way, ice cream was not included in the “As American as Apple Pie” saying since ice cream and apple pie is an all-American treat as well. Today they are still a family get- together favorite having the kids learn old-fashioned heritage and values of hand cranking homemade ice cream.
One company, White Mountain, withstood the time and became considered the American standard of ice cream freezers. It was a White Mountain machine that would be under the Christmas tree and found in and around backyards and parks churning the favorite American summertime treat during the hottest months of summer.
Even though White Mountain may not still be considered the American standard by many, because of using imported parts, they still make quality ice cream machines today especially their Appalachian Series. Even the standard White Mountain Freezers are far more superior when compared to some of the plastic counter top ice cream machines being offered online and in discount retail stores.
During the 70s, 80s, and 90s, many American companies became caught up in the discount chain store frenzy forcing them to find ways to produce things cheaper by using cheaper imported parts so that the mega stores they sold to could undercut the local signal owner merchant store.
The phenomenon of planned obsolescence was also born initially making durable products with a shorter life span so that the consumer would need to replace it instead of selling them something once that would last them a lifetime as products were once made pre-1970s.
Plastic parts seemed to now have replaced metal parts in such critical components such as gears to the point that no company really must work too hard to have a product wear out these days.
Many American companies that complied with the demands of the mega store chains soon found their product quality ratings plummeting and consumer complaints climbing. Before the Internet and social media, a company could still put out a marketing facade and maintain a good market share.
White Mountain was not immune to this criticism and still, today has very mixed reviews even after many product improvements over the last few years, especially in their electric motors.
The buy American trend is also working against those companies relying heavily on imported parts.
One silent group of people that you might not even consider as being resourceful became as frustrated with the cheapening of products. That is the growing Amish and Mennonite populations across the country and around the world.
For generations, Amish families have purchased items that would sustain their self-sufficient lifestyle and pass those items on to the next generations. During the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s products were made to do just that plus many were still being made to operate without electricity.
The Amish also love to make homemade ice cream and their choice was the American Made White Mountain Freezer. As they began seeing a decline in quality they began to slowly make their own replacement parts.
They made their own gears, then the tub and freezer latches and even their own gear frames. Finally, one Amish Company, Country Freezer began making their own ice cream freezer out of all Amish American made parts.
Country Freezer became the new Amish standard ice cream freezer because it was made like the original White Mountain freezers. As people visited Amish communities and stores they began purchasing the Country Freezers and taking them back home where others saw the quality and wanted one as well.
Country Freezer was the only Amish made freezer up until 2012 when another company developed their own freezer called Immergood Freezers. Immergood simply further improved upon Country and raised the bar on the old-fashioned ice cream freezer a few more notches.
For years the Amish owner of Immergood was making many of the White Mountain replacement parts and selling both an Amish improved version of White Mountain and Country Freezers to the Amish. He saw an opportunity to improve and even provide a more budget friendly freezer.
Immergood utilized an insulated fiberglass bucket and designed their own heavy duty stainless tub latch, with stainless-steel gears as standard in all their hand crank freezers. They made the stainless-steel freezer can stronger and thicker and added food grade durable poly scrapers and a poly tub center.
At around the same time another Amish company, Lifetime Freezers, started to manufacture their own poly insulated tub freezer with stainless steel hardware and stainless gears as well. They offer 6 and 8-qt freezers in both hand crank and electric models. Lifetime just hasn’t had the exposure that Immergood has had to be as well known. Lifetime does offer a lifetime warranty on their tubs, hardware and hand crank frame.
Cottage Craft Works.com is a unique online store that goes deep into the Amish communities building upon over 40 years of working with the Amish people and culture to find and help bring to market these very durable and high-quality products. They initially found and introduced Immergood Ice Cream Freezers in 2013 and have also added Lifetime freezers to their old-fashioned general store making them the largest online supplier of Amish USA made ice cream freezers providing access to all three Amish brands and models.
The company by far sells more Amish ice cream freezers over the White Mountain Freezers.
While Immergood Freezers are now sprouting up elsewhere on the Internet Cottage Craft Works.com Ice Cream Freezers is still the only online store that provides the knowledge, accessories, and parts to truly support Immergood Freezers. They also have direct access to factory stock so you won’t likely hear out of stock or back ordered from them as the Immergood Freezers have become a high demand product, especially during the summer months. Just another testament to the quality of the Immergood brand.
More than just about Ice Cream Makers, Cottage Craft Works www.cottagecraftworks.com is also an old-fashioned emporium of all the old time good stuff for the farm, ranch, and home.
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