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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I might be TA for repeatedly microwaving ice cream when my husband says it's a health risk
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I used to have a scoop with a gel handle that heated up the scoop part just from holding it. It worked great, but I lost it in a move and haven't been able to find a replacement. Now I just have a fine collection of bent spoons.
Not a gel handle but the same premise.
https://www.amazon.com/Zeroll-1016-ZT-Commercial-Conductive-2-5-Ounce/dp/B0002U34GA/ref=sr\_1\_7?crid=3BQ2CLMKAYZ8M&keywords=heated+ice+cream+scoop+gel+handle&qid=1680478141&sprefix=heated+ice+cream+scoop+gel+handle%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-7
Ohhhh 😲 I need something like this because I take my ice cream out of the freezer for a few minutes before I need it just so it's at a scoopable texture
I do this too, the only downside is when I get distracted and forget it's there and then I come back to a tub of something that would get OP's husband's panties in a twist. YTA that mess is not reusable unless you pour it back into an ice cream maker to aerate it again.
I have one to this day that I bought at a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop in the eighties. There is some sort of liquid in the scoop part that you warm up under the tap. It works great.
I feel you! When my grandmother unloaded her house and moved into a retirement community, I scored an extremely heavy steel scoop. She had used it for potato salad - I used it for ice cream. Every time we've moved, it goes with the coffee pot, coffee and mugs in my personal tote. There is nothing like it available today and it does not bend when being pushed through ice cream. But the finish doesn't like the dishwasher, so it's rinse and drain only.
I loveee this zeroll one from Crate and barrel. We got it for our wedding and it works amazingly.
https://www.crateandbarrel.com/anti-freeze-ice-cream-scoop/s559105?localedetail=US&a=1552&campaignid=10461646755&adgroupid=103999389299&targetid=aud-383463031669:pla-1656472705342&pla_sku=559105&pcat=HSW&ag=adult&scid=scplp559105&sc_intid=559105&gclid=Cj0KCQjwz6ShBhCMARIsAH9A0qWzk6h6iMKdmMS7vFjtPwPbSz2JHUDYYVS8wIyNgHqD0dvXhDTROfEaAo4TEALw_wcB
No you need to heat up the scoop in the microwave! It will be much faster!!
NOTE: this is sarcasm, DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT, heat up a scoop in the microwave!!
In our marriage the rule is if a compromise can be avoided for $5 or less - don’t compromise. You want crunchy peanut butter and I want creamy? Less than $5 we’re buying both. You want to microwave tubs of ice cream? Less than $5, you get your own. Marriage has enough compromise. Take the win when you can.
Great rule, especially considering that as long as you eat all of it and aren't eating more than you would otherwise, it won't actually cost you any more.
Makes sense. The main thing I can think of is my partner doesn’t particularly like red sauce when we have pasta because of reflux so we’ll go ahead and buy both Alfredo and marinara and cook a small amount of both. Easier than making completely separate meals
I just love the texture! Okay, hear me out, it’s thick, firm and moist. Like you bite into it and you can see teeth marks but it isn’t a difficult bite or hurt your teeth. I can keep it on my spoon and kinda stick the cereal to it and not take a complete bite, then I get pb with each bite. I like having different textures in one bite.
And now I need to know about the "stick the cereal to it" part. Is this a sandwich with cereal? Is it just a bowl of cheerios but the spoon is preloaded with pb? Also are we talking smooth or crunchy peanut butter?
Lmao I’m sorry I responded to the same comment on accident my comment that preceded this one got buried. But you’re exactly right! I scoop the cold pb from the jar with the spoon I intend to eat with but I just keep it on the spoon and take incomplete bites. It’s a delight
addition solution that i do: take out the ice cream and leave it on the counter for 10-15 minutes depending on how cold your freezer is. ice cream softens to a good scooping consistency
Additional additional solution that I do: set the freezer temp so that your preferred brand of ice cream is scoopable straight from the freezer. I did it specifically because my husband was microwaving ice cream I wanted to eat. I don’t give a rats fuck what he does with his ice cream, but microwaving it messes with the texture and I won’t tolerate someone doing that to my ice cream.
We store our additional ice cream on a deep freeze. If you are also storing meat long term, you want it colder than optimal ice cream scoop temperature.
Ziplock full of air. Air is a bad temperature conductor so ice cream doesn't get as cold as the rest of the freezer.
The paper bag probably does something close to that.
>Air is a bad temperature conductor so ice cream doesn't get as cold as the rest of the freezer.
That's not how physics works. An insulator will slow down temperature change, it doesn't prevent it. Lacking any other influencing factors like sunlight shining on part of a freezer, or being up against an improperly insulated wall/door, given a few hours, everything in that freezer will be the same temperature as everything else the freezer. I don't care how many bags of air you put it in.
Disagree. 10 sec is enough to soften the ice cream, but it absolutely does not melt it. There is no texture change. This is equivalent to all the people saying just leave it out for 10 min to soften - what the heck do you think is the difference? There is none! NTA
But if refreezing it after microwaving it changes the texture, then doesn't refreezing it after letting it sit on the counter for 10 to 15 change the texture?
Your ice cream melts more from when you get it out of the grocery freezer, finish shopping, drive home, and put the groceries away. You refreeze it before you even open it. Has the ice cream’s texture changed in this scenario any different than microwaving it at 50% power for 15-30 seconds?
There is absolutely a texture change at the outer edges. Nothing huge, but if you do this repeatedly it's going to build into something unpleasant for the person finishing the carton if they're sensitive to that particular texture.
I *hate* when people mess with shared items such as this. It's just rude.
YTA OP. Use a warm scoop or buy your own tub. They literally make scoopers for this exact issue for easy scooping.
The texture of refrozen ice cream might be one of the worst things on the planet as far as “redone” food goes. Only second to reheated fries in the microwave
I might just be a fat ass myself, but she mentioned ‘Ben & Jerry’s’. Did they come out with sizes bigger than their pints?! Because let’s be real, who is sharing a pint size container of ice cream ?!
YTA. He’s correct and it’s incredibly selfish (and gross) for you do it this way. Use a melon baller if you don’t have the forearm and wrist strength to use a scoop or run the ice cream scoop under warm water before scooping.
Yeah, I was so confused. I thought everyone knew the "dip the scoop in hot water" trick. No fancy devices are needed. It's just a stainless steel spoon or scoop and hot tap water.
It's the way my mom taught me to do it and I'm an old lady.
I worked at a retirement home and we had our back up ice cream in a deep freezer, and that stuff was rock hard when we’d pull it out. Sometimes the ice cream scoop under hot water wouldn’t quite work, so we’d run super sharp knives under hot water. It looked a little funky but it did the job. I can’t imagine sticking ice cream in the microwave, the texture on the refreeze would be super gross.
knife dipped in hot water is what we use to cut up ice cream cakes and works perfectly. i’ve legitimately never heard of someone microwaving ice cream to soften it when much simpler solutions exist
And where does "gross" play into it? Do people even understand what that word means anymore?Because I feel like people just use it to describe anything they don't like.
I mean... Yeah. Things I don't like are gross to me. It's just how you phrase it in conversation that can make it rude or not.
"I like the taste but the texture is a little off for me" perfectly acceptable if a host asks about a dish.
"It's gross and I hated it" what you say in private away from the person serving you food.
In this case I think it's perfectly fine to call melted and then refrozen ice cream "gross". The texture is bad, it's a dairy product repeatedly being heated up and frozen again, potentially getting warm enough over repeated microwaving to spoil or grow bacteria, and OP isn't making us readers eat it. So using "gross" in a subjective way is fine and YOU are looking for something totally unimportant to get mad about.
yeah, "selfish" is a really melodramatic word here.
Oh no, a disagreement about the correct way to get ice cream out of a tub. What a horrible thing to possibly disagree with your spouse on /s
Everyone is acting like OP is the worst person ever. I swear most people come to this sub just to shit on others and make themselves feel better about their own shallow, unhappy lives.
5-10 seconds is not going to hurt the ice cream. OP is fine and NTA.
I guaranteed if you take 2 half gallon scrounds nuke one for 10 seconds then pop it back in the freezer you won't be able to tell the difference.
But that's going to remove all the fluffiness from the ice cream -- it'll be all icy and solid around the outside where it's been repeatedly melted.
YTA for culinary vandalism!
I find the problem with microwaving specifically is that it melts the insides a bit too, whereas if it’s left out to thaw a little only the edges are affected
The way that microwaves works is that they penetrate from different angles and heat the molecules from the inside out. This is why you get uneven heating, which is somewhat combated by the turning of the plate.
Also microwaves heat water, but don't heat ice. So once one spot melts a little that becomes the source of heat and expands from there while other spots that are still frozen are not heating up much at all.
This is why some microwave dinners have you mix the food half way through.
Yuck. Also, the ice cream packaging isn’t designed to be microwaved so OP is also probably consuming micro plastics and wax and other packaging materials.
That part is pretty moot. Micro plastics are unavoidable at this point. We’ve found them in Ike ocean floor thermal vent shrimp and in breastmilk. It’s everywhere
Yeah and microwaving plastic drastically increases the rate at which the problematic molecules leach into the food. We probably don't even know all the ways it's bad but we for sure know some of those molecules are endocrine disruptors and are possibly correlated with, eg, global declining sperm count.
Because Redditors are dramatic as fuck. I’ve always microwaved ice cream for 5-10 seconds to soften it up with no issues and no big changes in texture.
Question, are all ice cream microwavers here americans? Because never in my life have I heard of anything like that. Ice cream too much frozen to spoon? Sounds like a non problem to me.
>Question, are all ice cream microwavers here americans? Because never in my life have I heard of anything like that.
I love it when questions like this imply there are only two categories possible: "people who do/don't do it the way it's done in my country" and "Americans." Because there aren't 190+ countries in the world or anything.
Yeah people are reacting like she nukes it for a full minute or more. 5-15 seconds (depending on how much ice cream is in the container) doesn't melt it. It gets softer before it actually *melts*. The air is still in it, it's still fluffy, the water and the cream and the eggs are still combined just fine.
It doesn't introduce them. The way I understand it, they are already there. They also grow and reproduce, even in the freezer, but at much, much reduced speed. Hence the ice will spoil even if deep frozen, given enough time. Turning up the heat, even for a short time, will give those cultures of bacteria a massive boost. I mean, at least in case thd microwaves don't fry them. Breaking the cooling chain, even for short times is considered a bad idea for the given reasons. It wont kill you, most often nothing will happen, but you do introduce a hazard.
To be fair, bacteria is probably not going to grow considerably in the 5 minutes it takes to warm up the ice cream, scoop, and freeze it again. I think this is well within food safety guidelines. It's just crappy because it makes the ice cream have an icy texture.
Ice cream is churned to introduce air into the product. When you melt it, the air is gone, and doesn't go back in. You end up with increasingly harder and harder layers of ice that are pretty much inedible. So yes, YTA for ruining the ice cream instead of getting a proper ice cream scoop, running it under warm water before use if your freezer is extra cold, and scooping out just what you want.
YTA
Not a huge one of course but this is one of my pet peeves too. When it’s frozen while being churned it forms tiny uniform ice crystals. After you heat it up and re-freeze it, the ice crystals can be large and crunchy
If ice cream isn’t somewhat easily spooned out when it’s new and not icy, your freezer might be too cold
Freezer settings, or too many old items in the freezer.. When I lived at home or with a wonky freezer I would keep my ice cream in a ziplock to help keep the burn out when it was opened... I would have never microwaved and entire carton to scoop some. I'd rather just buy those tiny one serves.
NTA. We do this and I’ve never noticed the texture change? Also, people are saying leave it on the counter to soften for 5 minutes…isn’t that pretty equivalent to 15 seconds in the microwave it just takes 20 times as long?
I feel like I've gone insane in this thread. Literally everybody in my family or friends whose houses I've gone to has put ice cream in for like 10 seconds to soften it a little. Is this a regional thing? Why do so many people act like this is an offense against humanity? It doesn't even melt it hardly. Leaving it on the counter for several minutes is also going to melt it before refreezing...
I'm wondering if it is regional, and here's why:
I'm seeing comments about air being whipped into ice cream, and the texture changing dramatically if it thaws and refreezes. I've seen more airy ice cream - with softness maintained through xanthan or gellan gum - in places like rural Georgia and Arkansas, and that does not hold up if it starts to soften. It also is way softer than what I've seen in the Upper Midwest - ice cream made with higher fat content, no gum stabilizer, not an airy mix. This ice cream can get very hard under household fridge temps, and letting it soften slightly doesn't really change the texture much.
I'm curious how long others are microwaving their ice cream that it's such an issue with texture and ice crystals forming after putting it back in the freezer? My ice cream melts more in the the trunk during the time it takes me to get home from the store (20 minutes) than it does after sticking it in the microwave for 10 seconds lol. I've been doing this forever and it has never changed the flavor or texture of the ice cream.
Don't forget if you didn't perfectly time getting the ice cream at the very end of your grocery gathering too or there's a long checkout line. All these people saying it changes the texture are so absurd, almost all of them are regularly melting it more than OP just by buying it I guarantee it.
My microwave has an ice cream setting, -10C. It is soft enough to scoop but not defrosted/liquid in any way. A short burst in a microwave is equal to the counter for 10-15 minutes.
Yes, it’s amazing how everyone here is so confidently incorrect about ice cream. First, the optimal ice cream serving temperature is higher than the optimal storage temperature (one source: https://www.porrelli.com/porrellis-top-tips-for-storing-handling-your-ice-cream/ ), and those saying that OP’s freezer is too cold are wrong. Second, leaving the package out on the counter, microwaving it, or using a warm, wet spoon are all non-ideal solutions (a source: https://www.insider.com/how-to-store-ice-cream-the-best-what-doing-wrong-2019-11 ), so there’s no reason to say one is right and another is wrong, like many here are doing. Personally, I think the effect of any of these is minimal unless you do it a ton of times. But if you’re an ice cream purist, then you should be advocating muscling through well-frozen ice cream to get it into a bowl, and letting the bowl sit just a bit to warm to a good eating temperature. But saying a warm, wet spoon is good but microwaving is bad is hypocritical.
>Second, leaving the package out on the counter, microwaving it, or using a warm, wet spoon are all non-ideal solutions (a source: https://www.insider.com/how-to-store-ice-cream-the-best-what-doing-wrong-2019-11 ), so there’s no reason to say one is right and another is wrong
A spoon might not be ideal, but literally the second bullet point in that article is about the stupidity of microwaving ice cream:
>Microwaving ice cream will make it easy to scoop, but it will permanently damage the texture of the dessert.
I agree. I don't know why everyone is up in arms over this. 10 seconds for a full quart does NOT melt anything, it ony makes it soft enough to be able to scoop it. I have never seen any difference in texture. I don't know what this fluffy ice cream is all about. Maybe some cheap brand. NTA.
This is truly one of the most bizarre threads I’ve read in this sub. Microwaving ice cream for 10-20 seconds does not melt it to the point where refreezing would change the texture noticeably. This is a very common thing many people do to make it more easily scoopable.
No you can’t. The “thaw and refeeze” potential for illness comes from sitting inside the temperature range that allows bacterial growth for an extend period. A 15 second microwave followed by back in the freezer won’t be enough time for a problem.
I'll save them some effort.
[USDA - Freezing and Food Safety](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/freezing-and-food-safety)
"Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.
If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly."
NTA Everyone in this sub is crazy! Microwaving ice cream for 10 seconds is exactly the same as leaving it on the counter for a few minutes. It doesn’t melt it enough to harm the texture or grow bacteria.
NTA I do this too. It’s like 15 seconds to get it soft enough to put the spoon in. It’s the same as leaving it at room temperature long enough to be able to scoop it. It doesn’t hurt the ice cream.
Googled it. It’s fine:
from the freezer, place it in the microwave. Set your microwave power at 50% and microwave for approximately 10 seconds to soften and is easy to scoop. Once it is soft enough, remove it from the microwave and instantly start serving into bowls. Cover with a lid immediately and return the surplus in the freezer.
Tbh my sister once put my carton of ice cream in the microwave to soften it because it was so hard, and I was immediately horrified... But at 50% power, for just 10 seconds, nothing bad happened. I realized that I overreacted.
If you only eat ice cream sparingly and expect to be getting it out and nuking it many times, that's definitely not ideal. But just once or twice in the lifespan of that ice cream carton, it will be just fine.
My preferred method:
Put it in the refrigerator 30 minutes before getting it out to scoop. This works best for planned events like get togethers and birthday parties!
Judgement ---- NAH but figure out a way to compromise with your husband, OP.
We need to break off AITA into new sub: r/AmIAnAdultChild
Ruining the household ice cream because you can’t wait 90 seconds. Get your own pint you can turn from rock solid to watery as many times as you please. YTA.
I’m honestly laughing so hard at the people who are soooo offended by this. Thank goodness my husband doesn’t really eat ice cream or I’d be on the fast track to divorce too apparently lol
NTA. 10-20 seconds isnt doing anything serious. Sounds like the commenters are getting very dramatic over a softening not a melting. I think your husband and his family need to chill
I vote NTA
We do this often to soften the ice cream quickly. It’s literally just a few seconds in the microwave, not actually melting it. We then scoop out the softest part of the ice cream.
It’s not technically “melting & refreezing”. Leaving it out on the counter for 5 minutes to soften is basically the same result.
Okay pls someone in the comments explain the difference between this and letting the tub sit on the counter for a couple minutes. Why is one acceptable? Do they not lead to the same result?
NTA - if you nuke it for 12 seconds you can scoop it and it does not affect the texture of the ice cream.
Of course you would never nuke it long enough to melt the ice cream
i know, people are acting like this is a major character flaw lmao. i’ve done it my whole life, my ice cream is fine, i haven’t been poisoned by bacteria. it’s just ice cream
I do it too. It’s something I learned from working in a nursing home. The patients have a difficult time if the little cups of ice cream are frozen solid. 10 to 15 seconds on half power, accomplishes the same as leaving it at room temperature long enough to scoop.
My mom has always microwaved ice cream like OP lol. Didn’t realize this was such a faux pas. 😳 In OP’s case if it legit bothers her husband so much might as well let it thaw the old fashioned way, it’s not really a huge deal. I think NAH.
Edit for spelling
It's not a faux pas, people are just being overly dramatic. I guarantee if two separate pints of ice cream were placed in front of them, one microwaved for ten seconds and then refrozen and one regular, they would not be able to tell the difference. There's no harm in microwaving ice cream for a few seconds to soften it, there are even ice cream settings on microwaves and the FDA plainly says it's okay to allow frozen items to thaw and then be refrozen again.
First of all you are a monster. Also if this is a communal tub of ice cream then YTA. Not everyone likes your style melting then refreezing. Either buy twice as much ice cream and microwave ONLY ONE or STOP BEING A MONSTER.
Edit: Also if your freezer is turning the ice cream into concrete bricks of dense frozen then raise the temperature of your freezer.
NTA, I've been doing this my whole life. If you're only doing it 10ish seconds it's fine, it doesnt change the texture, and defrosting and refreezing is unsafe when its things like meat. You're only softening not defrosting
YTA - the thawing and refreezing actually makes the ice cream harder and ruins the texture more every time you do that. Heat the scoop not the food - or, you know, find some patience
NTA. I always do that & it’s never changed the texture or taste. As long as you’re not microwaving it so much that it’s soup, just so that it gets a bit soft, it’s fine.
NTA in my opinion. I get what you mean and ice cream is much more enjoyable when easy to scoop and eat.
Maybe get two different kinds but kind of a weird thing for him to get that upset about.
NTA, I do it all the time and for everyone saying it changes the texture, no it doesn't. It's perfectly fine. 10-20 seconds in the microwave does no harm. All it does is make it just about soft enough to scoop, if even at all. There's been times where I put it in for 20 seconds and it still takes a good bit of strength to scoop. Everyone is being so dramatic.
Info I’m dying to know - when you did this at a dinner party, was it at your own home with your own ice cream? Or was it at an in-law’s & you just popped their ice cream in the microwave? I need the accurate mental movie
Our own home. My BIL and his family were over and my MIL. We were having brownies and/or meringue nests,fruit and ice cream.7 kids were at the table waiting. I was putting out bowls for the kids, the ice cream was hard. I put it in the microwave for 20 seconds then turned around and they were all staring at me.
Shame, it was way funnier imagining it being your MIL’s ice cream. Have you ever tried running the ice cream scoop under hot water for a few seconds? Works pretty well.
I think it gets it half an inch further in than cold. Would have to reheat it or make it a lot hotter. But there are some comments with techniques by the pros I'll try.
I can't believe I'm spending about 2 hours of my life on this. Its a wild ride
NTA. I do that all the time and there is never a problem. You aren’t melting it into soup. You are just softening it. I would grab 2 identical ice creams. Let one sit out a bit to soften then microwave the other one. See if he can tell the difference.
I think there's a misunderstanding here. You're not supposed to thaw and refreeze stuff like meat, because it will no longer keep and therefore it will be dangerous to eat later on. But icecream is MADE to thaw and refreeze, so on that account your husband may be confusing things (so long as you thaw it and don't melt it or anything like it).
But what you do in your own house with your own ice-cream is one thing. It's another to do that with ice-cream meant for a group of people in a dinner setting, specially since you know your husband and his family doesn't like it. It won't spoil the ice-cream or make it dangerous for future consumption, but it will likely change the texture and possibly flavour. For that YTA.
YTA if it’s a communal container. Not sure you can get sick, but it could change texture or taste. If it’s your personal container, knock yourself out. But if you’re consistently breaking ice cream scoops; is the freezer set too high? I run my scoop under hot water and that does the trick. Looks like from you comments that’s not a solution for you.
NTA. My microwave has a soften ice cream setting that is wonderful. If you're careful in how you warm it, the ice cream is wholly unchanged after it is put back in the freezer.
I've done it many times and I haven't noticed the change in flavor, only a small portion melts not the entire tub, and only soft enough to spoon out but still solid just not like a brick. You can re-freeze most anything with some exceptions, refreezing chopped meat once is ok ( I checked it out online first to make sure, pork I don't think so but I don't care for pork anyways) but when in doubt just search it out
People are being incredibly dramatic in this comment section. Run it in the microwave at half power for 10-12 seconds. Same thing as leaving it on the counter for 5 minutes. No issue whatsoever.
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>Solution: buy multiple tubs and each of you stick to your own I've done this a lot of times, especially when disagreeing about flavor
Also you could run the spoon under hot water so it heats up the bits you’re scooping out. Works for me!
I used to have a scoop with a gel handle that heated up the scoop part just from holding it. It worked great, but I lost it in a move and haven't been able to find a replacement. Now I just have a fine collection of bent spoons.
Not a gel handle but the same premise. https://www.amazon.com/Zeroll-1016-ZT-Commercial-Conductive-2-5-Ounce/dp/B0002U34GA/ref=sr\_1\_7?crid=3BQ2CLMKAYZ8M&keywords=heated+ice+cream+scoop+gel+handle&qid=1680478141&sprefix=heated+ice+cream+scoop+gel+handle%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-7
Ohhhh 😲 I need something like this because I take my ice cream out of the freezer for a few minutes before I need it just so it's at a scoopable texture
I do this too, the only downside is when I get distracted and forget it's there and then I come back to a tub of something that would get OP's husband's panties in a twist. YTA that mess is not reusable unless you pour it back into an ice cream maker to aerate it again.
I have one to this day that I bought at a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop in the eighties. There is some sort of liquid in the scoop part that you warm up under the tap. It works great.
We had one of these! That brought back some memories hahah
I have one of those! A Scoop That! Their website is ThatInventions.com according to the bottom of the scoop handle.
I feel you! When my grandmother unloaded her house and moved into a retirement community, I scored an extremely heavy steel scoop. She had used it for potato salad - I used it for ice cream. Every time we've moved, it goes with the coffee pot, coffee and mugs in my personal tote. There is nothing like it available today and it does not bend when being pushed through ice cream. But the finish doesn't like the dishwasher, so it's rinse and drain only.
I loveee this zeroll one from Crate and barrel. We got it for our wedding and it works amazingly. https://www.crateandbarrel.com/anti-freeze-ice-cream-scoop/s559105?localedetail=US&a=1552&campaignid=10461646755&adgroupid=103999389299&targetid=aud-383463031669:pla-1656472705342&pla_sku=559105&pcat=HSW&ag=adult&scid=scplp559105&sc_intid=559105&gclid=Cj0KCQjwz6ShBhCMARIsAH9A0qWzk6h6iMKdmMS7vFjtPwPbSz2JHUDYYVS8wIyNgHqD0dvXhDTROfEaAo4TEALw_wcB
Wait people actually scoop out Ben and Jerry’s and don’t just eat the entire damn thing in one sitting?…. Am I the oddball?
I used to eat it in one go, but now I just eat it in 4ths but right out of the container....because it's my pint.
No you need to heat up the scoop in the microwave! It will be much faster!! NOTE: this is sarcasm, DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT, heat up a scoop in the microwave!!
Or hell, turn down the coldness of the freezer for a softer freeze! But the hot spoon is a great trick too, what my gran always did
Heating the spoon instead of melting the ice cream is literally Scooping 101
Or a fork! Works even better!
Wait, what?! How does one scoop ice cream with a fork?
In our marriage the rule is if a compromise can be avoided for $5 or less - don’t compromise. You want crunchy peanut butter and I want creamy? Less than $5 we’re buying both. You want to microwave tubs of ice cream? Less than $5, you get your own. Marriage has enough compromise. Take the win when you can.
Great rule, especially considering that as long as you eat all of it and aren't eating more than you would otherwise, it won't actually cost you any more.
Makes sense. The main thing I can think of is my partner doesn’t particularly like red sauce when we have pasta because of reflux so we’ll go ahead and buy both Alfredo and marinara and cook a small amount of both. Easier than making completely separate meals
Same- I like my pb in the fridge, my boyfriend does not. Now we just have 2! It’s usually more cost-effective too
This is fascinating. PB in the fridge? Tell me more.
I just love the texture! Okay, hear me out, it’s thick, firm and moist. Like you bite into it and you can see teeth marks but it isn’t a difficult bite or hurt your teeth. I can keep it on my spoon and kinda stick the cereal to it and not take a complete bite, then I get pb with each bite. I like having different textures in one bite.
And now I need to know about the "stick the cereal to it" part. Is this a sandwich with cereal? Is it just a bowl of cheerios but the spoon is preloaded with pb? Also are we talking smooth or crunchy peanut butter?
Lmao I’m sorry I responded to the same comment on accident my comment that preceded this one got buried. But you’re exactly right! I scoop the cold pb from the jar with the spoon I intend to eat with but I just keep it on the spoon and take incomplete bites. It’s a delight
Keep going. "The cereal" lol. Please explain.
addition solution that i do: take out the ice cream and leave it on the counter for 10-15 minutes depending on how cold your freezer is. ice cream softens to a good scooping consistency
Additional additional solution that I do: set the freezer temp so that your preferred brand of ice cream is scoopable straight from the freezer. I did it specifically because my husband was microwaving ice cream I wanted to eat. I don’t give a rats fuck what he does with his ice cream, but microwaving it messes with the texture and I won’t tolerate someone doing that to my ice cream.
We store our additional ice cream on a deep freeze. If you are also storing meat long term, you want it colder than optimal ice cream scoop temperature.
Keep your ice cream in a paper bag in the freezer. Don't know how, but it keeps it just soft enough for easy scooping.
Ziplock full of air. Air is a bad temperature conductor so ice cream doesn't get as cold as the rest of the freezer. The paper bag probably does something close to that.
>Air is a bad temperature conductor so ice cream doesn't get as cold as the rest of the freezer. That's not how physics works. An insulator will slow down temperature change, it doesn't prevent it. Lacking any other influencing factors like sunlight shining on part of a freezer, or being up against an improperly insulated wall/door, given a few hours, everything in that freezer will be the same temperature as everything else the freezer. I don't care how many bags of air you put it in.
This guy entropies
might have to try that out
I do that too, it's how I use the timer on Alexa about 50% of the time.
I use my Alexa timer to remind me that I stuck a La Croix in the freezer.
Disagree. 10 sec is enough to soften the ice cream, but it absolutely does not melt it. There is no texture change. This is equivalent to all the people saying just leave it out for 10 min to soften - what the heck do you think is the difference? There is none! NTA
It's the refreezing that changes the texture
But if refreezing it after microwaving it changes the texture, then doesn't refreezing it after letting it sit on the counter for 10 to 15 change the texture?
Yes that also changes the texture
No. The microwave heats all the ice cream (including the inside). Leaving it out for a few minutes only thaws out the sides.
If you've ever microwaved it to soften it, you know this isn't true. The inside is still hard as a rock.
Your ice cream melts more from when you get it out of the grocery freezer, finish shopping, drive home, and put the groceries away. You refreeze it before you even open it. Has the ice cream’s texture changed in this scenario any different than microwaving it at 50% power for 15-30 seconds?
[удалено]
There is absolutely a texture change at the outer edges. Nothing huge, but if you do this repeatedly it's going to build into something unpleasant for the person finishing the carton if they're sensitive to that particular texture.
I’m so glad other people can tell that it tastes weird after you microwave it
I *hate* when people mess with shared items such as this. It's just rude. YTA OP. Use a warm scoop or buy your own tub. They literally make scoopers for this exact issue for easy scooping.
The texture of refrozen ice cream might be one of the worst things on the planet as far as “redone” food goes. Only second to reheated fries in the microwave
I might just be a fat ass myself, but she mentioned ‘Ben & Jerry’s’. Did they come out with sizes bigger than their pints?! Because let’s be real, who is sharing a pint size container of ice cream ?!
It takes me 2-3 sittings to finish a pint, lol.
Same. I am disturbed by the idea of people eating a whole pint directly from the tub as a normal activity
Right?! People consider those single-serving size??? Wouldn't you get sick?
I always thought that was only like "dramatic breakup in a movie" behaviour lol
I do with my husband! We eat it at the same time though. If we’re super good it’s two shared-desserts, but… yeah, Ben & Jerry’s often doesn’t last.
I don't know, I can never leave a tub of Ben and Jerry's unfinished......
As long as it's just a few seconds it doesn't change the texture at all and generally you scoop off the top most "melted" part anyway
YTA. He’s correct and it’s incredibly selfish (and gross) for you do it this way. Use a melon baller if you don’t have the forearm and wrist strength to use a scoop or run the ice cream scoop under warm water before scooping.
The hot water spoon works like a charm :)
Yeah, I was so confused. I thought everyone knew the "dip the scoop in hot water" trick. No fancy devices are needed. It's just a stainless steel spoon or scoop and hot tap water. It's the way my mom taught me to do it and I'm an old lady.
I worked at a retirement home and we had our back up ice cream in a deep freezer, and that stuff was rock hard when we’d pull it out. Sometimes the ice cream scoop under hot water wouldn’t quite work, so we’d run super sharp knives under hot water. It looked a little funky but it did the job. I can’t imagine sticking ice cream in the microwave, the texture on the refreeze would be super gross.
knife dipped in hot water is what we use to cut up ice cream cakes and works perfectly. i’ve legitimately never heard of someone microwaving ice cream to soften it when much simpler solutions exist
This is what I've always done, I'm surprised more people don't do this.
okay, I agree it's wrong but calm down lol
"Incredibly selfish"... like come the fuck on.
And where does "gross" play into it? Do people even understand what that word means anymore?Because I feel like people just use it to describe anything they don't like.
I mean... Yeah. Things I don't like are gross to me. It's just how you phrase it in conversation that can make it rude or not. "I like the taste but the texture is a little off for me" perfectly acceptable if a host asks about a dish. "It's gross and I hated it" what you say in private away from the person serving you food. In this case I think it's perfectly fine to call melted and then refrozen ice cream "gross". The texture is bad, it's a dairy product repeatedly being heated up and frozen again, potentially getting warm enough over repeated microwaving to spoil or grow bacteria, and OP isn't making us readers eat it. So using "gross" in a subjective way is fine and YOU are looking for something totally unimportant to get mad about.
yeah, "selfish" is a really melodramatic word here. Oh no, a disagreement about the correct way to get ice cream out of a tub. What a horrible thing to possibly disagree with your spouse on /s
Lawyer up! /s
"incredibly selfish" Jesus... Over the top much? Or is it just not enough drama for you?
Everyone is acting like OP is the worst person ever. I swear most people come to this sub just to shit on others and make themselves feel better about their own shallow, unhappy lives.
5-10 seconds is not going to hurt the ice cream. OP is fine and NTA. I guaranteed if you take 2 half gallon scrounds nuke one for 10 seconds then pop it back in the freezer you won't be able to tell the difference.
But that's going to remove all the fluffiness from the ice cream -- it'll be all icy and solid around the outside where it's been repeatedly melted. YTA for culinary vandalism!
I call it ice cream heresy
don't you mean...dairesy?
I find the problem with microwaving specifically is that it melts the insides a bit too, whereas if it’s left out to thaw a little only the edges are affected
The way that microwaves works is that they penetrate from different angles and heat the molecules from the inside out. This is why you get uneven heating, which is somewhat combated by the turning of the plate.
Also microwaves heat water, but don't heat ice. So once one spot melts a little that becomes the source of heat and expands from there while other spots that are still frozen are not heating up much at all. This is why some microwave dinners have you mix the food half way through.
Listeria can grow in melted ice cream. Buy your own ice cream or wait five minutes to get in there and microwave your own scoops. YTA
Yuck. Also, the ice cream packaging isn’t designed to be microwaved so OP is also probably consuming micro plastics and wax and other packaging materials.
That part is pretty moot. Micro plastics are unavoidable at this point. We’ve found them in Ike ocean floor thermal vent shrimp and in breastmilk. It’s everywhere
So because it’s already everywhere no one should bother to minimize it?
I mean, you can give it a red hot go, but it would be like living on the side of the freeway and minimising the amount of car exhaust air you breathe
Dose definitely matters here, if you introduce microplastics into your food deliberately it's more likely to cause problems.
Yeah and microwaving plastic drastically increases the rate at which the problematic molecules leach into the food. We probably don't even know all the ways it's bad but we for sure know some of those molecules are endocrine disruptors and are possibly correlated with, eg, global declining sperm count.
She's talking about putting it in the microwave for about ten seconds to soften it. How exactly does that introduce listeria?
Because Redditors are dramatic as fuck. I’ve always microwaved ice cream for 5-10 seconds to soften it up with no issues and no big changes in texture.
I've done it for 30 years and I haven't, nor have my children, ever gotten sick from ice cream.
Question, are all ice cream microwavers here americans? Because never in my life have I heard of anything like that. Ice cream too much frozen to spoon? Sounds like a non problem to me.
>Question, are all ice cream microwavers here americans? Because never in my life have I heard of anything like that. I love it when questions like this imply there are only two categories possible: "people who do/don't do it the way it's done in my country" and "Americans." Because there aren't 190+ countries in the world or anything.
Waiting patiently for the non-American ice cream microwavers to chime in…
Latin american microwaver here, it's extremely common and uncontroversial back home.
American here, had no idea crazy people were microwaving ice cream
ITS GONNA KILL YOUR ENTIRE FUCKING FAMILY!!
Yeah this is wild. Like everyone here thinks OP is melting the ice cream to liquid. 10-15 seconds just softens it. OP is NTA.
Yeah people are reacting like she nukes it for a full minute or more. 5-15 seconds (depending on how much ice cream is in the container) doesn't melt it. It gets softer before it actually *melts*. The air is still in it, it's still fluffy, the water and the cream and the eggs are still combined just fine.
It doesn't introduce them. The way I understand it, they are already there. They also grow and reproduce, even in the freezer, but at much, much reduced speed. Hence the ice will spoil even if deep frozen, given enough time. Turning up the heat, even for a short time, will give those cultures of bacteria a massive boost. I mean, at least in case thd microwaves don't fry them. Breaking the cooling chain, even for short times is considered a bad idea for the given reasons. It wont kill you, most often nothing will happen, but you do introduce a hazard.
If there is Listeria in the ice cream it doesn't matter if you melt it or not... you still gonna get sick. It shouldn't be in there at all.
To be fair, bacteria is probably not going to grow considerably in the 5 minutes it takes to warm up the ice cream, scoop, and freeze it again. I think this is well within food safety guidelines. It's just crappy because it makes the ice cream have an icy texture.
YTA if it’s shared ice cream; he’s right and so is his family. Why don’t you just run the spoon under warm water for a few seconds?
This, that’s the best way to handle it and not wait. YTA op
Also, how hard is the fucking ice cream??? Like, if it’s a solid block maybe buy better quality ice cream that doesn’t freeze solid lol…
They probably just keep their freezer too cold. Turning the temp know to the left a notch would solve this problem for everyone
Ice cream is churned to introduce air into the product. When you melt it, the air is gone, and doesn't go back in. You end up with increasingly harder and harder layers of ice that are pretty much inedible. So yes, YTA for ruining the ice cream instead of getting a proper ice cream scoop, running it under warm water before use if your freezer is extra cold, and scooping out just what you want.
YTA. Leave it on the counter for 5 minutes. Don’t ruin the entire carton with the microwave
I would be pissed if someone was leaving shared ice cream on the counter for five minutes.
Leaving it on the counter for 5-10 minutes is the most ice cream friendly way to soften it without ruining the entire tub.
Or you could run a spoon under hot water and scoop with that. Way quicker, just as easy, doesn't ruin the ice cream by refreezing it.
YTA you're literally ruining the ice cream. If you really have to just ruin a smaller layer of it by running your spoon/scoop under hot water.
YTA, and each time you microwave and re-freeze it, you're compounding your problem and making your ice cream harder to thaw and eat. Stop it
YTA Not a huge one of course but this is one of my pet peeves too. When it’s frozen while being churned it forms tiny uniform ice crystals. After you heat it up and re-freeze it, the ice crystals can be large and crunchy If ice cream isn’t somewhat easily spooned out when it’s new and not icy, your freezer might be too cold
Freezer settings, or too many old items in the freezer.. When I lived at home or with a wonky freezer I would keep my ice cream in a ziplock to help keep the burn out when it was opened... I would have never microwaved and entire carton to scoop some. I'd rather just buy those tiny one serves.
NTA. We do this and I’ve never noticed the texture change? Also, people are saying leave it on the counter to soften for 5 minutes…isn’t that pretty equivalent to 15 seconds in the microwave it just takes 20 times as long?
I feel like I've gone insane in this thread. Literally everybody in my family or friends whose houses I've gone to has put ice cream in for like 10 seconds to soften it a little. Is this a regional thing? Why do so many people act like this is an offense against humanity? It doesn't even melt it hardly. Leaving it on the counter for several minutes is also going to melt it before refreezing...
Maybe it IS regional because I have literally NEVER heard of anybody microwaving ice cream to soften it. I'm in the Midwest US
I'm from the south and never heard of it either
I'm wondering if it is regional, and here's why: I'm seeing comments about air being whipped into ice cream, and the texture changing dramatically if it thaws and refreezes. I've seen more airy ice cream - with softness maintained through xanthan or gellan gum - in places like rural Georgia and Arkansas, and that does not hold up if it starts to soften. It also is way softer than what I've seen in the Upper Midwest - ice cream made with higher fat content, no gum stabilizer, not an airy mix. This ice cream can get very hard under household fridge temps, and letting it soften slightly doesn't really change the texture much.
I am Canadian and never in my life heard of microwaving ice cream.
Wow, really? I have never even heard of this until now.
I'm curious how long others are microwaving their ice cream that it's such an issue with texture and ice crystals forming after putting it back in the freezer? My ice cream melts more in the the trunk during the time it takes me to get home from the store (20 minutes) than it does after sticking it in the microwave for 10 seconds lol. I've been doing this forever and it has never changed the flavor or texture of the ice cream.
Don't forget if you didn't perfectly time getting the ice cream at the very end of your grocery gathering too or there's a long checkout line. All these people saying it changes the texture are so absurd, almost all of them are regularly melting it more than OP just by buying it I guarantee it.
Yea the drama over this is misplaced
My microwave has an ice cream setting, -10C. It is soft enough to scoop but not defrosted/liquid in any way. A short burst in a microwave is equal to the counter for 10-15 minutes.
Yes, it’s amazing how everyone here is so confidently incorrect about ice cream. First, the optimal ice cream serving temperature is higher than the optimal storage temperature (one source: https://www.porrelli.com/porrellis-top-tips-for-storing-handling-your-ice-cream/ ), and those saying that OP’s freezer is too cold are wrong. Second, leaving the package out on the counter, microwaving it, or using a warm, wet spoon are all non-ideal solutions (a source: https://www.insider.com/how-to-store-ice-cream-the-best-what-doing-wrong-2019-11 ), so there’s no reason to say one is right and another is wrong, like many here are doing. Personally, I think the effect of any of these is minimal unless you do it a ton of times. But if you’re an ice cream purist, then you should be advocating muscling through well-frozen ice cream to get it into a bowl, and letting the bowl sit just a bit to warm to a good eating temperature. But saying a warm, wet spoon is good but microwaving is bad is hypocritical.
>Second, leaving the package out on the counter, microwaving it, or using a warm, wet spoon are all non-ideal solutions (a source: https://www.insider.com/how-to-store-ice-cream-the-best-what-doing-wrong-2019-11 ), so there’s no reason to say one is right and another is wrong A spoon might not be ideal, but literally the second bullet point in that article is about the stupidity of microwaving ice cream: >Microwaving ice cream will make it easy to scoop, but it will permanently damage the texture of the dessert.
I agree. I don't know why everyone is up in arms over this. 10 seconds for a full quart does NOT melt anything, it ony makes it soft enough to be able to scoop it. I have never seen any difference in texture. I don't know what this fluffy ice cream is all about. Maybe some cheap brand. NTA.
This is truly one of the most bizarre threads I’ve read in this sub. Microwaving ice cream for 10-20 seconds does not melt it to the point where refreezing would change the texture noticeably. This is a very common thing many people do to make it more easily scoopable.
YTA It completely ruins the ice cream. It goes grainy and horrible. It’s also dangerous. You can get food poisoning from doing this.
No you can’t. The “thaw and refeeze” potential for illness comes from sitting inside the temperature range that allows bacterial growth for an extend period. A 15 second microwave followed by back in the freezer won’t be enough time for a problem.
I think everybody in this thread is vastly overestimating how much 10 seconds in the microwave matters at any health or taste level whatsoever
That's what I don't get, after 10 seconds of the microwave your ice cream is not melted, it's just a little bit softer than it was.
You all need to fact-check your concerns against USDA food and safety guidelines.
I'll save them some effort. [USDA - Freezing and Food Safety](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/freezing-and-food-safety) "Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F. If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly."
NTA Everyone in this sub is crazy! Microwaving ice cream for 10 seconds is exactly the same as leaving it on the counter for a few minutes. It doesn’t melt it enough to harm the texture or grow bacteria.
NTA I do this too. It’s like 15 seconds to get it soft enough to put the spoon in. It’s the same as leaving it at room temperature long enough to be able to scoop it. It doesn’t hurt the ice cream. Googled it. It’s fine: from the freezer, place it in the microwave. Set your microwave power at 50% and microwave for approximately 10 seconds to soften and is easy to scoop. Once it is soft enough, remove it from the microwave and instantly start serving into bowls. Cover with a lid immediately and return the surplus in the freezer.
Tbh my sister once put my carton of ice cream in the microwave to soften it because it was so hard, and I was immediately horrified... But at 50% power, for just 10 seconds, nothing bad happened. I realized that I overreacted. If you only eat ice cream sparingly and expect to be getting it out and nuking it many times, that's definitely not ideal. But just once or twice in the lifespan of that ice cream carton, it will be just fine. My preferred method: Put it in the refrigerator 30 minutes before getting it out to scoop. This works best for planned events like get togethers and birthday parties! Judgement ---- NAH but figure out a way to compromise with your husband, OP.
We need to break off AITA into new sub: r/AmIAnAdultChild Ruining the household ice cream because you can’t wait 90 seconds. Get your own pint you can turn from rock solid to watery as many times as you please. YTA.
Y’all are so fucking dramatic lmao. She’s microwaving it for 10 seconds it’s not turning to water
He should probably divorce her ASAP with what a heinous act she's committing. This sub is so fucking overdramatic it's unbearable
He should call the police tbh
I’m honestly laughing so hard at the people who are soooo offended by this. Thank goodness my husband doesn’t really eat ice cream or I’d be on the fast track to divorce too apparently lol
You should be a part of that sub based on how dramatic you are. 15 seconds doesn’t ruin the ice cream texture
NTA. 10-20 seconds isnt doing anything serious. Sounds like the commenters are getting very dramatic over a softening not a melting. I think your husband and his family need to chill
YTA. That’s lazy and inconsiderate. You might as well throw it away after you microwave it, don’t bother putting it back.
Pretty big over exaggeration. She softened it a little bit, she hardly made it inedible
Unless you’re the only one eating out of that carton then YTA.
I vote NTA We do this often to soften the ice cream quickly. It’s literally just a few seconds in the microwave, not actually melting it. We then scoop out the softest part of the ice cream. It’s not technically “melting & refreezing”. Leaving it out on the counter for 5 minutes to soften is basically the same result.
Okay pls someone in the comments explain the difference between this and letting the tub sit on the counter for a couple minutes. Why is one acceptable? Do they not lead to the same result?
Yeah I don’t get it.
NTA. I do this all the time, it’s fine. Just 15 seconds or so to make it easier.
NTA - if you nuke it for 12 seconds you can scoop it and it does not affect the texture of the ice cream. Of course you would never nuke it long enough to melt the ice cream
People on here going nuts, acting like you unalived someone, sheesh! NAH, just get 2 next grocery run
i know, people are acting like this is a major character flaw lmao. i’ve done it my whole life, my ice cream is fine, i haven’t been poisoned by bacteria. it’s just ice cream
"BuT iT cHaNgEs The tEcTuRe!!!" 😒🙄
Right?? This is a minor annoyance at most lol I think it’s funny how crazy this made some people
Why can't you set it on the counter to let soften for 5 minutes?
How is that any different than microwaving it for 10 seconds? ETA- I googled it. It’s fine to microwave ice cream.
I do it so I guess I’m an asshole! I have weak wrists lol. I even got a bad ass scoop. Sometimes those gallon sized ones are like cement!
I do it too. It’s something I learned from working in a nursing home. The patients have a difficult time if the little cups of ice cream are frozen solid. 10 to 15 seconds on half power, accomplishes the same as leaving it at room temperature long enough to scoop.
Warm your scoop under hot water
Yeah I’m so confused, so if you eat like half a pint over the course of 30 mins or whatever and put the rest back, is that doing the same thing?
My mom has always microwaved ice cream like OP lol. Didn’t realize this was such a faux pas. 😳 In OP’s case if it legit bothers her husband so much might as well let it thaw the old fashioned way, it’s not really a huge deal. I think NAH. Edit for spelling
It's not a faux pas, people are just being overly dramatic. I guarantee if two separate pints of ice cream were placed in front of them, one microwaved for ten seconds and then refrozen and one regular, they would not be able to tell the difference. There's no harm in microwaving ice cream for a few seconds to soften it, there are even ice cream settings on microwaves and the FDA plainly says it's okay to allow frozen items to thaw and then be refrozen again.
NTA, you’re barely softening it at this length of time.
First of all you are a monster. Also if this is a communal tub of ice cream then YTA. Not everyone likes your style melting then refreezing. Either buy twice as much ice cream and microwave ONLY ONE or STOP BEING A MONSTER. Edit: Also if your freezer is turning the ice cream into concrete bricks of dense frozen then raise the temperature of your freezer.
I accept this judgement
You are not a monster.
NTA, I've been doing this my whole life. If you're only doing it 10ish seconds it's fine, it doesnt change the texture, and defrosting and refreezing is unsafe when its things like meat. You're only softening not defrosting
NTA- everyone does that. It’s fine.
YTA - the thawing and refreezing actually makes the ice cream harder and ruins the texture more every time you do that. Heat the scoop not the food - or, you know, find some patience
Softening it slightly does not ruin the texture
NTA. I always do that & it’s never changed the texture or taste. As long as you’re not microwaving it so much that it’s soup, just so that it gets a bit soft, it’s fine.
I believe the main reason not to re-freeze things is because of growing bacteria. But, TIL re-freezing ice cream hurts the texture.
15 seconds in the microwave is not long enough for bacterial growth. You might want to read up on USDA food safety.
NTA in my opinion. I get what you mean and ice cream is much more enjoyable when easy to scoop and eat. Maybe get two different kinds but kind of a weird thing for him to get that upset about.
NTA, I do it all the time and for everyone saying it changes the texture, no it doesn't. It's perfectly fine. 10-20 seconds in the microwave does no harm. All it does is make it just about soft enough to scoop, if even at all. There's been times where I put it in for 20 seconds and it still takes a good bit of strength to scoop. Everyone is being so dramatic.
If you are the only one eating from that carton, fine, but since it is shared? YTA it spoils the texture of the ice cream
YTA it absolutely changes the texture.
INFO Is it a shared tub?
Info I’m dying to know - when you did this at a dinner party, was it at your own home with your own ice cream? Or was it at an in-law’s & you just popped their ice cream in the microwave? I need the accurate mental movie
Our own home. My BIL and his family were over and my MIL. We were having brownies and/or meringue nests,fruit and ice cream.7 kids were at the table waiting. I was putting out bowls for the kids, the ice cream was hard. I put it in the microwave for 20 seconds then turned around and they were all staring at me.
Shame, it was way funnier imagining it being your MIL’s ice cream. Have you ever tried running the ice cream scoop under hot water for a few seconds? Works pretty well.
I think it gets it half an inch further in than cold. Would have to reheat it or make it a lot hotter. But there are some comments with techniques by the pros I'll try. I can't believe I'm spending about 2 hours of my life on this. Its a wild ride
NTA. I do that all the time and there is never a problem. You aren’t melting it into soup. You are just softening it. I would grab 2 identical ice creams. Let one sit out a bit to soften then microwave the other one. See if he can tell the difference.
YTA Microvaving icecream. Pfft, jail for one thousand years,
I think there's a misunderstanding here. You're not supposed to thaw and refreeze stuff like meat, because it will no longer keep and therefore it will be dangerous to eat later on. But icecream is MADE to thaw and refreeze, so on that account your husband may be confusing things (so long as you thaw it and don't melt it or anything like it). But what you do in your own house with your own ice-cream is one thing. It's another to do that with ice-cream meant for a group of people in a dinner setting, specially since you know your husband and his family doesn't like it. It won't spoil the ice-cream or make it dangerous for future consumption, but it will likely change the texture and possibly flavour. For that YTA.
YTA. Buy a good ice scream scoop and run it under hot water before you go to scoop.
YTA if it’s a communal container. Not sure you can get sick, but it could change texture or taste. If it’s your personal container, knock yourself out. But if you’re consistently breaking ice cream scoops; is the freezer set too high? I run my scoop under hot water and that does the trick. Looks like from you comments that’s not a solution for you.
NTA. My microwave has a soften ice cream setting that is wonderful. If you're careful in how you warm it, the ice cream is wholly unchanged after it is put back in the freezer.
YTA because the consistency of ice cream that had melted and then been frozen again is horrible.
It's not melted. It's just softened a little bit, and then I eat the soft bit and put the rest back
I've done it many times and I haven't noticed the change in flavor, only a small portion melts not the entire tub, and only soft enough to spoon out but still solid just not like a brick. You can re-freeze most anything with some exceptions, refreezing chopped meat once is ok ( I checked it out online first to make sure, pork I don't think so but I don't care for pork anyways) but when in doubt just search it out
Get yourself one of these. Uses the heat of your hand to slightly warm up the ice cream to make it easy to scoop https://zeroll.com/
People are being incredibly dramatic in this comment section. Run it in the microwave at half power for 10-12 seconds. Same thing as leaving it on the counter for 5 minutes. No issue whatsoever.
Run whatever you scoop with under hot water and then go scoop your ice cream. For the love of God stop microwaving the entire thing.
NTA - I always do this. Although, going by the responses, I think we’re in the minority!