Frozen Treats: Frozen Custard vs. Ice Cream - The Real Difference
Imagine yourself enjoying the sun on a hot day in Los Angeles. You’re taking care of your garden, playing with your dogs out on the lawn, maybe you’re at a party. Without a doubt, it is hot outside and only a frozen treat can cool you off at this point. There are so many frozen desserts to choose from!
Possibly the most popular frozen treat out there is ice cream. The sweet creamy goodness is always a craving during hot weather, and it’s fun to share moments with family and friends alongside multiple scoops of ice cream! However, have you ever tried frozen custard? Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?
It is a dessert that originates from Coney Island, New York that is super similar to ice cream. They’re both delicious, contain similar ingredients, but there are a few things that make them different!
We love frozen treats as much as you do! We are Beach Town Pops, an ice cream company based in the Los Angeles area. With our own original recipes, we create organic, cold pressed frozen treats that we’ll happily cater to your next event or party!
What’s the Difference Between Frozen Custard and Ice Cream?
Ingredients
While ice cream has been around for ages, frozen custard was only invented in the early 1900s by brothers Archie and Elton Kohr. These brothers were ice cream vendors and realized that adding more egg yolks into their ice cream batch would create a smoother texture and allow it to stay frozen for a longer period of time. Both frozen treats are made from the same ingredients: milk, cream, sugar and egg yolks (and yummy fruits and flavorings of course). However, egg yolks are occasionally added to ice cream while egg yolks are a staple in the custard recipe.
[ Additional read —> The Facedown Between Two Refreshing Treats: Ice Cream vs. Gelato ]
Frozen custard vs our delicious ice cream. Both look yummy!
Churning Process
Another detail that makes ice cream and frozen custard different from each other is the way each is made. Ice cream is churned at a fast speed, allowing air to enter the ice cream batch. The air is what gives ice cream a light and soft texture, almost foamy.
Frozen custard has a different churning process. A professional custard machine is created to add as little air as possible into the custard mixture. Without the extra air, custard is more dense, rich and thick. Ice cream typically has 50% air while frozen custard has 20-30%.
Once ice cream is ready, it is then stored away in the freezer to harden. On the other hand, frozen custard is usually served right after it’s made. When you buy ice cream from the grocery store, it can be days, weeks, even several months old. Frozen custard is always fresh and served at a soft-serve temperature. This is why it’s rare to find frozen custard at a grocery store! It is served immediately to prevent the freezer from ruining its texture.
Fun Facts About Frozen Custard
Even though frozen custard was created in Coney Island, New York, the place that has the most frozen custard shop per capita in the whole world is Milwaukee, Wisconsin! To be honest, is that even a surprise? Wisconsin is called “America’s Dairyland” because dairy is a major industry within the state!
Another fact that you probably didn’t know is that flan, the delicious Mexican dessert, is a baked custard! It is usually coated with caramelized sugar that melts into a sauce once baked. If you’ve never tried flan before, you are truly missing out!
[ Additional read —> The Best Ice Cream Scoopers That We Love to Use ]
Why You Need to Invite Us, the Coolest Dessert Caterers in Los Angeles, to Your Next Event
As mentioned before, we are Beach Town Pops, the coolest dessert caterers in Los Angeles with the tastiest flavor options.
We started our company to satisfy a craving and have turned it into an incredible passion!
What started off as a small business has led us to work with celebrity clients! (We’re not kidding!)
From weddings, corporate events, and all sorts of parties, we would love to spread our love for frozen treats to you and your friends and family. Whether you want us to drop off the frozen treats or stick around and provide our best service to you and your guests, we got your back! We will come equipped with our ice cream cart, menu board, umbrella, dry ice to keep ice cream frozen, and the frozen treat of course. This will allow you to enjoy your event instead of worrying about serving frozen dessert.
As for flavors, we have so many to choose from and are constantly coming up with new flavors! Of course, we have family-friendly flavors, but we also have boozy treats for those adults who want to have a little bit more fun. If you would like to request a custom flavor for your event, we can do that too!
There is another small yet important detail to our catering services: we can customize our ice cream cart with your colors of choice as well as with a company logo or image. This helps us promote your event with even more memorabilia. How cool would it be to have the bride and groom’s initials or last name on our ice cream cart?
Regardless of the frozen treat, it will undoubtedly be the perfect addition to a hot day, and even better if you get to share it with family and friends!