Nov 16

Nov 16 The inside scoop: Making frozen treats from scratch at Cold Stone Creamery in Rochester

Partnered content | 2020

Think of the best bite of ice cream you’ve ever had; what qualities made it that way? Was it the creaminess, the texture, or the flavor that made it so — or was it something else entirely?

Chances are, the quality that you picked up on can be boiled down to the ways ice cream is typically served. Most ice cream establishments serve their ice cream in one of two ways: hard-packed, similar to pints or gallons of ice cream at the grocery store, or soft serve, a smoother version of traditional ice cream that comes from specific soft serve machines.

But what if we said there was a third option, with the smooth texture of soft serve but packing all the flavor — if not more — of traditional ice cream?

That’s what Cold Stone Creamery can offer, thanks to fresh, high-quality ingredients combined with an in-house mixing process that other ice cream chains simply can’t match. It’s a simple process, but one that takes care and experience to do right, according to Yoel Topel, owner of Rochester’s Cold Stone franchises.

“It’s the freshest ice cream around,” says Topel. “You can’t beat ice cream that’s made on-site on a regular basis like this.”

We were interested in learning more about exactly how Cold Stone makes its ice cream — so Topel gave us a firsthand look.

What sets Cold Stone Apart

Each scoop of Cold Stone ice cream starts with their specially made sweet cream mix, one of the many poorly kept ‘secrets’ behind what sets Cold Stone’s product above the rest. It’s made with at least 14 percent milk fat, well above the industry average of 10 percent and good enough to classify Cold Stone’s ice cream as ‘super-premium.’

Cold Stone also minimizes ‘overrun’ — an industry term for the amount of air pumped into a product during the manufacturing process. Less air inside ice cream means less ice crystals upon freezing — and a creamier consistency for the final product.

Once the cream is pulled from the fridge, it’s combined with the flavor mix of choice in Cold Stone’s in-house mixing machine. That mixer runs for exactly ten minutes — no more, no less. Topel says timing is the key to making Cold Stone’s ice cream consistently great: if the ice cream is over or under-mixed, even by a few minutes, the consistency will be off.

“It really is a balancing act,” says Topel. “It’s the most important part of our job.”

Once the mixing process is finished, the batch of new ice cream is quickly poured into pans and set in the freezer for at least four hours. After that wait ends, the ice cream is finished, ready to be part of a cake, shake, or mixed with Cold Stone’s extensive list of toppings and enjoyed on its own.

One batch is enough to fill two pans with Cold Stone’s signature ice cream… and on a good day, the ice cream goes out the door about as fast as the employees can make it. Topel says the south Cold Stone location goes through about 28 pans of ice cream on an average summer day — but those totals can go much higher.

“Our record is [going through] 42 pans in one day,” says Topel. “It was very hot, there were a lot of people… it was a whirlwind. I’ve never seen people work so hard.”

It is easy to learn the steps of making ice cream — combine cream and flavor, mix, freeze, repeat — but true quality comes from experience and care. Topel and his team have learned both over the years, raising their standards while building a group of customers that stop in regularly for the “best ice cream in town.”

The secret, Topel says, is making sure the top priority is the ice cream at all times.

“If there’s a long line of customers at the register as a batch of ice cream gets finished in the mixer, I tell my workers to tell them ‘I’m sorry, but i just need a few minutes,’” says Topel. “And they understand. Our customers come here for great ice cream, and we will make sure that every customer gets what they come for — even if it means waiting an extra few minutes.”