Coarse and icy
1. Not enough cream was used (too low a milk-fat content).
2. Too much table salt was used, causing the ice cream mixture to freeze too rapidly. (Homemade ice cream should take 20 to 30 minutes to freeze.)
3. The dasher did not turn fast enough during the freezing stage, and not enough air was beaten into the mixture.
4. The ice cream mixture was frozen without agitation.
5. The ice cream thawed and was refrozen.
6. A recipe without eggs was used and the mixture was not aged at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before freezing.
Did not freeze
1. Not enough rock salt was used. (About 2½ cups of rock salt is needed to freeze one gallon of ice cream.)
2. Too much sugar was used.
3. Uncooked pineapple was used.
4. Honey was substituted for sugar (unflavored gelatin must be added as a thickener if honey is used).
Weak and mushy body
1. Not enough cream was used (too low a milk-fat content).
2. Too much sugar was used.
3. The dasher wasn’t turning fast enough during the freezing stage to beat air into the mixture.
4. Eggs were omitted from the recipe.
5. Too low a milk-solid content.
Off-flavor
1. Rancid nuts were used.
2. Cream or milk was spoiled.
3. Inferior flavoring was used.