This weekend, Chow Bella dropped in at one of the coolest ice cream shops around town, Churn. Between its fun and funky décor, old-school candies, and one-of-a-kind flavors, this artisan ice cream parlor has got all the makings of a great summer dessert destination.
Check out the photos as Churn's resident "pastry goddess," Nicole Gebhart, shows us how she makes grape bubblegum ice cream.
The ice cream-making process begins with a base, made 24 hours before the ice cream gets churned. This base is flavored with pieces of grape bubblegum.
To begin churning the ice cream, the base must be completely cooled before Gebhart can pour it into the ice cream maker.
All of the ice cream at Churn is made from this ice cream machine, located in a small prep room off the back patio.
Churning involves whipping ice into the base, which gives the ice cream its rich, smooth texture.
To make grape bubblegum, the ice cream must be churned at 150 rotations per minute. Other flavors, such as butter pecan, must be whipped at a slower rate to avoid over-churning.
After about 10 minutes of churning, the ice cream is ready to be taken out of the machine.
At this point the ice cream is frozen but still soft -- about the same consistency as frozen yogurt.
One gallon of base flavoring makes between three and four containers of Grape Bubblegum ice cream.
Before the ice cream can be served, it has to spend another 24 hours in a zero-degree freezer to solidify.
Nearby, dozens of trays sit with dough to be made into cookies for Churn's ice cream sandwiches.
Gebhart opens up the ice cream making machine to scoop out every bite of the ice cream.
Finally, Gebhart rinses out the machine with water to make sure not to mix the flavors and colors.
Churn's signature pretzel cone topped with two scoops of peanut butter and chocolate ice cream.
This batch of grape bubblegum ice cream won't be on the floor until the following day, but Gebhart has a double scoop of peanut butter and chocolate ice creams on pretzel cone to offer instead.
