I decided to purchase store bought ice cream after years of just buying from places like Cold Stone. It seems to me most ice cream manufacturers have very soft ice cream now despite storing it in a freezer for a week straight. I could easily drop a spoon in the tub and watch it cut straight through to the bottom. The consistency is now kind of disgusting because it feels like I’m eating whipped cream instead of something that should be semi solid. So far I’ve tried Tillamook, Dryer’s, and Target’s in house brand and they all have that same mushy texture.
Before anyone suggests it’s my freezer, I’ve kept it relatively uncluttered and everything else stays frozen just fine. I also make sure not to purchase those tubs of “Frozen Dairy Dessert”. What happened? Is this some cost cutting measure or are customer’s preferences really going to extremely soft textures?
I don’t have a thermocouple to slide into the freezer but I can confidently say water and even broth (which should have a freezing point depression due to the added salt) stays frozen no matter what temperature setting I pick and the time of day. It’s very likely then that it stays below 0 degrees C.
Freezers average -15 to -20C. Saying that your freezer temp is below 0 is like saying your fridge is above 0 - there’s a wide range there, and doesn’t give us much info to work with.