White Mountain Hand-Crank Ice Cream Freezer

Founded in 1853, the White Mountain Freezer Company has produced generations of hand-crank ice cream makers for 170 years. Made from pine tongue and groove planks from New England, tightly secured with sturdy metal bands. The machine contains a uniquely designed, twin-blade "dasher" in which the outer canister turns clockwise and the blades turn both clockwise and counterclockwise that continuously folds the ingredient mixture from the outer walls back onto itself creating the smoothest and creamiest ice cream. In 1953, the company came out with a 12,000 RPM motor to assist in mixing.

To make ice cream with this machine, and before electricity, first you would need to harvest ice from frozen lakes and ponds in the winter and store them in ice houses (which were dug into the ground or built with thick walls and were insulated with straw). The ice would be broken into chunks and placed in a wooden container with salt mixed, which the salt's purpose was to lower the freezing point of the ice, allowing it to reach temperatures below 0°C. This colder temperature was necessary to freeze the ice cream mixture. The ice cream mixture, usually made from cream, sugar, and some sort of flavoring, would be place in the middle of the ice and left to be hand cranked, which is often 45 minutes of cranking. After that you would have some freshly made ice cream.