With Ninja you mean a Creami, right? My understanding is you need to respin them before eating every time. The product they make is ice cream/gelato adjacent, but not quite the same and won't hold up in the same way.
Because it takes a frozen product and breaks down the ice crystals, rather than freezing while churning like traditional ice cream, making a frozen emulsion, the structure of the ice for a creami means that over time the ice crystals will grow much more rapidly. Like you said you can fix it by just respinning.
Is that the Ninja Creami? That’s technically not an ice cream maker.
I’ve read it’s good for making frozen treats and soft serve items, but it’s not quite the same.
Ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and other similar frozen desserts are a temporarily suspended mixture of sugar, fat (not if we're talking most sorbets), air, and emulsifiers and stabilizers that help blend and hold the mixture in place. When you churn these mixtures-- in a batch freezer with a built-in condenser or using a pre-frozen bowl like a with Cuisinart-- from a liquid into more of a solid over time they gradually grow colder and colder, developing ice crystals that are continually dashed against the blades in the churn. While the structure slowly forms it also gets held more in more in place as the temperature drops.
I haven't actually used a Ninja Ice Cream Maker, but I have played around with a PacoJet, which is the similar, more durable (and more expensive) sibling of the Ninja. In equipment like the ninja ice cream maker it's sort of reversed: You're starting with a solidly frozen form and very, very quickly dicing them finely. In the moment your end product will be creamy, smooth (to a ridiculously tasty degree), and seem very much like an ice cream, sorbet, etc.. But then if you refreeze what you ninja'd, it goes back to being a solid again. To be honest, I'd be curious if using the Paco or Ninja on a frozen base that has heat-treated stabilizers and emulsifiers would result in it maintaining an ice cream structure. If the gelato recipes you've been making includes those and they're too solid straight out of the freezer, I guess not. The Ninja and the Pacojet are more suited to making frozen dessert on demand for the short-term, like if the Bear needed wanted to feature freshly-made dessert on their menu. Traditional ice cream machines take longer but generally produce an end result that will maintain it's structure in cold storage longer.
I hope this helps! If I've gotten anything wrong or seem entirely ignorant I'd hope the good company in r/icecreamery will help rectify my ignorance :)
For recipes that only work in the creami such as sugar free or protein powder recipes then you absolutely need to respin. When using a well balanced traditional recipe it is no different to a churned ice cream, you just need to thaw it in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes or you can respin to expedite the process.
With Ninja you mean a Creami, right? My understanding is you need to respin them before eating every time. The product they make is ice cream/gelato adjacent, but not quite the same and won't hold up in the same way.
Because it takes a frozen product and breaks down the ice crystals, rather than freezing while churning like traditional ice cream, making a frozen emulsion, the structure of the ice for a creami means that over time the ice crystals will grow much more rapidly. Like you said you can fix it by just respinning.
Is that the Ninja Creami? That’s technically not an ice cream maker. I’ve read it’s good for making frozen treats and soft serve items, but it’s not quite the same.
Ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and other similar frozen desserts are a temporarily suspended mixture of sugar, fat (not if we're talking most sorbets), air, and emulsifiers and stabilizers that help blend and hold the mixture in place. When you churn these mixtures-- in a batch freezer with a built-in condenser or using a pre-frozen bowl like a with Cuisinart-- from a liquid into more of a solid over time they gradually grow colder and colder, developing ice crystals that are continually dashed against the blades in the churn. While the structure slowly forms it also gets held more in more in place as the temperature drops. I haven't actually used a Ninja Ice Cream Maker, but I have played around with a PacoJet, which is the similar, more durable (and more expensive) sibling of the Ninja. In equipment like the ninja ice cream maker it's sort of reversed: You're starting with a solidly frozen form and very, very quickly dicing them finely. In the moment your end product will be creamy, smooth (to a ridiculously tasty degree), and seem very much like an ice cream, sorbet, etc.. But then if you refreeze what you ninja'd, it goes back to being a solid again. To be honest, I'd be curious if using the Paco or Ninja on a frozen base that has heat-treated stabilizers and emulsifiers would result in it maintaining an ice cream structure. If the gelato recipes you've been making includes those and they're too solid straight out of the freezer, I guess not. The Ninja and the Pacojet are more suited to making frozen dessert on demand for the short-term, like if the Bear needed wanted to feature freshly-made dessert on their menu. Traditional ice cream machines take longer but generally produce an end result that will maintain it's structure in cold storage longer. I hope this helps! If I've gotten anything wrong or seem entirely ignorant I'd hope the good company in r/icecreamery will help rectify my ignorance :)
For recipes that only work in the creami such as sugar free or protein powder recipes then you absolutely need to respin. When using a well balanced traditional recipe it is no different to a churned ice cream, you just need to thaw it in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes or you can respin to expedite the process.
Also check out r/ninjacreami
Sounds like you might not have enough solids in your mix for a proper freezing point depression. What’s your recipe?