Why New England-Style Ice Cream Is So Thick And Luxurious

Historically speaking, New England has not exactly been synonymous with decadent, luxurious indulgence. This is, after all, the place where the Puritans landed in 1620, and while you certainly wouldn't mistake modern Boston for a pleasure-fearing theocracy, there is still a lingering stereotype of New Englanders being somewhat fuddy-duddy. But you wouldn't know it from trying their ice cream: made through a careful process that involves slow churning, New England-style ice cream is dense, thick, and sinfully delicious.

Mind you, this is not to be confused with Philadelphia-style ice cream, which is sometimes called New England-style ice cream — and in any case, has as much to do with New England as it does with Philadelphia, which is to say, not much. But while Philadelphia-style ice cream is light and fluffy due to a lack of eggs, New England-style ice cream is so dense it's almost chewy. It has been described as having a taffy-like consistency, and its sturdiness makes it ideal for mixing in a whole bunch of extra stuff. Ben & Jerry's ice cream, hailing from Vermont in all its post-hippie, socially aware glory, is the most famous example, but if you've ever been to Jason Kelce's favorite ice cream chain, Cold Stone Creamery, the marble-slab, heavy-on-the-mix-ins cup of ice cream you ate is descended from another master of New England-style ice cream, Steve Herrell.

So how do you get that thick texture when you're making ice cream? It has to do with how quickly you churn it — or rather, how slowly you churn it. You see, when you churn ice cream, air is incorporated into the mixture; the quicker you churn, the more air that gets incorporated. If your ice cream is particularly airy, it might develop a lovely, fluffy texture that dissolves pleasantly on your tongue. If it gets too airy, though, it can become totally insubstantial, tasting more like oxygen than whatever it is you actually want to taste. (Penny-pinching ice cream makers who want to stretch their ingredients as far as they can will often churn in a lot of air, as is the case with Friendly's, our least-favorite strawberry ice cream.)

If you churn your ice cream slowly, however, you'll be able to keep things dense and creamy and New England-y. (You'll still incorporate some air, but not that much.) The best way to do that is with a hand-cranked ice cream machine, but if you don't have that, there are still some ways you can approximate the texture. If you'd rather not go to all that trouble, you can always hit up Ben & Jerry's or Cold Stone and get a taste of something thick, creamy, and satisfying.