<img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-194" src="https://cooklab.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/liquidnitrogen2-300x152.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="152" />Sound like something that only belongs on MasterChef or in a high-end restaurant? Not anymore, with a plethora of ice cream boutiques popping over all over the globe using this technique to create everyone's favourite summer treat. It certainly looks impressive but is it all good looks are no substance?

Absolutely not! The use of liquid nitrogen for making ice cream makes perfect scientific sense for one very good reason, it freezes the cream mixture very very quickly. Why is that so important you ask? Because of something known as crystallization, a process that all frozen foods undergo when they are put under sub-zero temperatures. As the food or liquid freezes, its cells expand, creating crystals. When a food or liquid is frozen slowly, these crystals have time to join together, rupturing their cell walls and impacting the texture of the product. Have you ever made home-made ice cream with a 'grainy' texture? Now you know why!

Controlling crystallization is where liquid nitrogen comes into play. With the ability to freeze in a matter of seconds, the crystals formed are very small making an incredibly smooth ice cream.

One last things, did you ever wonder what all of that 'smoke' pouring off is from? It is actually steam as the liquid nitrogen is boiling at room temperature! Almost all liquids have a unique boiling temperature, we are most familiar with water however liquids can boil at a vast range of temperatures depending on their chemical properties. Pretty cool ;)