July 04th, 2007 | Category: General
HOW ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM IS MADE
Posted by: Turkey Hill Team
Happy Independence Day! We hope everyone finds a safe and fun way to celebrate this July 4th. We suggest a cookout with friends and family members. As for dessert, you’re on your own (but we can think of a few ideas). Speaking of patriotic things, here’s an entry about “astronaut ice cream” that originally ran back in January.
It’s hard to imagine life without ice cream. That’s probably why the folks at NASA developed freeze-dried astronaut ice cream. Believe it or not, the freeze-dried version starts out as real ice cream. The process is a little technical, so we’ll let the description below from Wikipedia.com cover it:
“The ice cream is placed in a vacuum chamber and frozen until the water crystallizes. The air pressure is lowered, creating a vacuum, forcing air out of the chamber; next heat is applied, vaporizing the ice; finally a freezing coil traps the vaporized water. This process continues for hours, resulting in a perfect freeze-dried ice cream slice.”
Yeah, after a long, hard day of collecting moon rocks or repairing space stations, there’s nothing better than a nice brick of freeze-dried ice cream. Well, nothing better except for maybe the real thing.
Astronaut ice cream (the standard Neapolitan flavor) was first consumed by Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. Freeze-dried ice cream is supposedly still used by astronauts today and also by U.S. troops while in the field.
Here’s a fun link to a short story about the history of food in space. According to this account, real vanilla ice cream was stocked in a freezer in the Skylab spacecraft from the 1970s. If you want a taste the space life for yourself, here’s a link where you can buy some.
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If you’ve got a technical question about the ice cream making process or some other inquiry about the nuances of America’s favorite treat, chances are Ernie has the answer. He might not be able to answer all questions, but he’ll try his best and some may be featured on the Ice Cream Journal.
55 Comments
This stuff is so cool to eat, and I’ve always wanted to try to make it or make some sort of recipe with it… but it’s just a little too expensive to make mass quantities of anything.
But it’s great to take camping! No need to keep it cold!
July 26th, 2007 at 1:08 pmGreg- I want that T-shirt!!!
Astronaut ice cream sounds good!! One time when I went to Harrisburg, PA to see the capitol, etc, they had ice cream sandwiches (astronaut ice cream sandwiches!).
Mint Chocolate Chip lunatics unite!!
July 16th, 2007 at 12:03 pmI love ice cream!
July 14th, 2007 at 8:47 amMy husband and I love the wonderful flavors of all the Turkey Hill Ice Cream.My favorite is Butter Pecan and his is cookies and cream- The best.
July 14th, 2007 at 8:38 amWe love all Turkey Hill ice cream, but the coffee is sheer bliss and the peach is so-o-o peachy!
July 13th, 2007 at 9:16 pmWe like Milkeshakes. Turkey Hill vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. We have been making them for years. when my girls come home from college no matter Summer , Winter , Fall or Spring, they always want me to make them a milksahke with whip cream on top.
July 13th, 2007 at 1:07 pmThank God for the freedom to eat any ice cream that we choose, for me it’s Turkey Hill Dairy ice cream.
July 7th, 2007 at 9:56 amYears ago my wife sent product UPC’s in to a company and receive many free samples of this type of ice cream. It was ok. I would rather eat Turkey Hill!
July 7th, 2007 at 1:45 amive tryed many kinds of ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM, and find it tast almost the same. but its just not i long for that cold creamy feeling in my mouth. im glad that they can also enjot turkey hill ice cream as well!!! of by the way i think if you make a rootbeer duetto ice cream it would be so yummy, have a great day and keep this in mind!!!
July 6th, 2007 at 9:23 pmmy husband and children eat Turkey Hill ice cream every night.
July 5th, 2007 at 6:59 pmSpeaking of hot dogs, check out this “race”. I’ve run it the past couple years and it’s always quite a site to see. The guy being weighed-in, that’s me!
The race is about 5 miles long, but you stop at four bars, and in each bar you have to eat a hot dog, drink a beer, and then immediately be back out on the road running. Oh! And you have to be a Clydesdale, which is a male runner over 190 pounds. Believe it or not, there’s actually a division for 300+
And yes, of course I go for ice-cream after the finish line!
http://www.baevents.net/bigmanrun/information.html
July 5th, 2007 at 5:50 pmTurkey Hill. . . the perfect chill.
July 5th, 2007 at 1:44 pmWe (31 of us) celebrated Independence Day and my dad’s 90th birthday by finishing off four half-gallons of Turkey Hill ice cream. It went great with the cake!
July 5th, 2007 at 11:42 amTalk about being happy in space!!
July 5th, 2007 at 10:12 amI haven’t had freeze-dried ice cream in a long time. We used to take it along with us when we hiked the Appalachian Trail! It was a great treat. But, of course, the real thing is much better!!
July 5th, 2007 at 9:48 amI had an awesome July 4th- I found Party Cake in Martinsville, VA-only 48 miles from home!
July 5th, 2007 at 9:39 amI remember Freeze-dried ice cream.
July 5th, 2007 at 9:28 amit was something that everyone wanted to try when it was first available,
then decided that it was not worth the trouble.
there is nothing like the real thing.
more ice cream please.
My family loves the turkey hill brand ice cream. Everytime I take my husband to the store we with he goes straight to the lemonade and iced tea aisle.
July 5th, 2007 at 9:01 amI am very grateful for TH ice cream. I don;t want to have to eat freeze-dried ice cream.
July 5th, 2007 at 8:30 amI remember my dad treating me to this when we took the road trip to the Air & space museum in Wash DC over 25 yrs ago!! - it was another way for me to enjoy “the perfect food” in another form!!
July 5th, 2007 at 8:07 amIt is so wonderful that the men and women who are trying to make our world a better place get to indulge in some ice cream. Who knew that they could enjoy Turkey Hill on another planet?
July 5th, 2007 at 4:12 amMmmmmmmm…. vanilla/strawberry/blueberry is very
July 5th, 2007 at 1:47 ampatriotic … and delicious.
I knew it! No one can live without ice cream!
Happy 4th of July!!!!!
July 4th, 2007 at 11:03 pmTurkey Hill ice cream is the best! I especially like Peanut Butter Cup and Tin Roof Sundae - together.
July 4th, 2007 at 10:21 pmTried the ear to the monitor and sure enough the sound was there…
Speaking of the hot dog eating contest, I heard a story on NPR about it this evening. The winner trained by fasting and stretching his stomach with water and milk. Seems to me ice cream would have worked equally well.
July 4th, 2007 at 10:16 pmHAPPY JULY 4TH from New York City.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:28 pmIf you put your ear real close to your
monitor you can hear the sound of Macy’s fireworks outside of my window.
When I was young and lived in upstate NY, my family would go out in blizzards to get ice cream. So I guess the astronauts are entitled to ice cream in space.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:25 pmMakes me glad that I never tried out to be an astronaut. Don’t know if I could get adjusted to ice cream that you had to wait hours for. When I want my ice cream, I can’t wait especially if it’s Turkey Hill ice cream.
July 4th, 2007 at 6:46 pmI watched the Hot Dog eating contest live. It turned me off hot dogs at least for a while! Now it they have a Turkey Hill Ice Cream eating contest, that’s one I’d sign up for!
July 4th, 2007 at 6:23 pmHow lucky that astronauts can have ice cream in space!
July 4th, 2007 at 6:19 pmHappy Indpendence Day everyone!!
Ice cream in any shape or form is what life is all about
July 4th, 2007 at 5:42 pmI just bought some at the Air Force museum near Dayton, OH. It makes a great gift for the grandchildren!
July 4th, 2007 at 4:43 pmWe love to combine Chocolate Peanut Butter cup and Mint Chocolate Chip - a great combination!!!!!!
July 4th, 2007 at 4:31 pmFun. We just finished watching “From Earth To the Moon” an HBO 12 part mini-series and it was great. They didn’t mention the ice cream, i don’t think, but now i know. I’m learning a lot about the nasa program lately
July 4th, 2007 at 3:36 pmGREG - That shirt is great! Thanks for pointing that out. We might have to get a couple of those to give away as prizes here on the blog.
Did anyone happen to catch that hot dog eating contest on TV? Hope those guys saved some room for ice cream (though we doubt they did).
July 4th, 2007 at 3:32 pmThis reminds me of the many field trips that I went on as a kid where you could purchase a little silver packet of “astronaut ice cream” for only $5. So I’m sure out of every batch they make, half goes to the astronauts and half goes to kids attending science museums.
July 4th, 2007 at 2:44 pmI wonder if the Giant Cows will ever make their way to the international space station??
July 4th, 2007 at 2:17 pmMy kids eat Ice Cream almost everynight and think that Turkey Hill is the best…by far.
July 4th, 2007 at 2:16 pmI won’t eat nay other ice cream, but Turkey Hill.It’s been like thae for years with me.
July 4th, 2007 at 1:51 pmAnd the iced tea. Wow.
Turkey Hill is the best ice cream of all the brands sold on the East Coast.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:44 pmI think I’ll stay on-the-ground and enjoy Turkey Hill ice cream in its original form.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:42 pmTurkey Hill ice cream is the best ice cream of all the brands sold on the East Coast.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:40 pmI bought a pouch of Moolicoolz ice cream beads one time at a football game. They were frozen with some kind of new technic. They were good but pricey for such a small serving. I’ll stick with Turkey Hill. Even if another premium ice creams is on sale…I’ll buy my T.H.:)
July 4th, 2007 at 12:17 pmI prefer the unadulterated form-but freeze-dried is better than none, I suppose!
July 4th, 2007 at 12:08 pmThat is proof that ice cream is an essential food group!
I saw a t-shirt yesterday that said “Protect planet earth, it’s the only known source of ice cream!” Ha!
I’m sure ice cream will travel with us to Mars and wherever we might go!
Here’s the link to that shirt http://www.cafepress.com/momentpoint.79182880
(Don’t worry… I’m not selling it…)
July 4th, 2007 at 11:47 amWho’s the scientist that came up with the correct sequence of vacuum, freeze, vaporize, then freeze again?
July 4th, 2007 at 11:40 amI’ve heard of people using that for long camping trips! But there’s nothing like the real thing.
July 4th, 2007 at 11:25 amAHHHHHHH……….ice cream…….It’s not just for breakfast any more! Happy Independence Day.
July 4th, 2007 at 11:11 amI’m glad I don’t have to rely on freeze-dried ice cream to get my ice cream fix. Anything with peanut butter is a personal favorite in my house.
July 4th, 2007 at 11:02 amI can’t resist ice cream, I’m glad they have it in space.
July 4th, 2007 at 10:49 amI just tryed your new duetts and it is great.
No, thank you. I’ll take the Real Turkey Hill ice cream. It is ALWAYS the best!!!!
July 4th, 2007 at 10:49 amIt tells you that no matter where ya go, there’s always my favorite dessert!! ICE CREAM !!!! and that’s a good thing!
July 4th, 2007 at 10:25 amhey, astronauts have to eat too!
July 4th, 2007 at 10:21 amI hope they have more flavors to choose from now, like death by chocolate, my favorite!!
Oh my! What we take forgranted. Just another reason I am not an astronaut.
I have tried some version of this freeze-dried ice cream. Part of the pleasure of ice cream is the texture- velvety, creamy, cool…
What sacrifices are made in the name of progress!
July 4th, 2007 at 9:59 amLove Turkey Hill ice cream !
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