What Causes Ice Cream To Get That Gritty, Sandy Texture?

Ice cream should only be crunchy in certain ways — crispy cookies, chocolate, and nuts mixed in are yum; grainy, sandy bits in the custard itself are the opposite. If your frozen desserts always turn from creamy to gritty as they sit in the freezer, you don't have to lie down and accept it. That textural change is actually caused by ice crystals, and you can take measures to banish them (besides buying new ice cream).

Smooth, fresh ice cream contains plenty of ice crystals, which start out super small and unnoticeable. But every time the dessert melts a little and then refreezes, those icy bits grow into slightly bigger sizes, until you can feel them crunch between your teeth. This usually gets worse the longer the ice cream sits in the freezer. All commercial freezers turn on and off in set intervals to maintain their temperature. During the "off" stages, the edges of a block of ice cream tend to warm up, kickstarting large ice crystal formation.

Most ice cream companies use stabilizing ingredients to help products maintain their consistency, but if the treats are stored improperly (or just get old), that dreaded graininess eventually strikes. And since ice cream made in your own kitchen doesn't contain such additives, you better believe that poor storage practices are one of the biggest mistakes to make with homemade ice cream. Luckily for sweets lovers everywhere, there are ways to avoid or greatly minimize this textural change.

You might be wondering if large ice crystal formation in your ice cream is the same thing as freezer burn. The two phenomena are similar: Freezer burn occurs when moisture evaporates out of food in the dry environment of the freezer, then refreezes into icy chunks on the surface and/or in pockets throughout. It's a bit different from ice cream simply melting and refreezing, and often creates stale flavors and strange aromas in food.

Avoid both freezer burn and accidental melting by storing your desserts in a consistently cold environment and minimizing air exposure. The best ways to store ice cream in your freezer are to use a seal like parchment paper, and keep it in the back where it's coldest — not the door or anywhere close to it, where the temperature is warmer and inconsistent. You can also cut your ice cream container down to prevent freezer burn or use a Ziploc bag to keep it scoopable.

Stop bad ice cream habits like leaving your pint out on the counter for longer than a minute, or microwaving the container to make scooping easier (the fridge is a better way to evenly soften ice cream, or use a knife trick to soften it much faster). Also, try scooping out and softening only as much ice cream as you're going to eat to avoid warming and refreezing the whole tub. That's a one-way ticket to grainy, crunchy bits.