Tips and Tricks: plastic wrap

Tired of watery sour cream? Ice crystals on your ice cream? Well the answer to these and many other kitchen problems is a plastic wrap strategy session. Prepare to be amazed.

Mr. Chaos can happily sit down and polish off a pint of ice cream. I, on the other hand, like to enjoy the cold stuff a little less frequently. But when I do, its for real. I need it and I need it now. So when I pop the top off of my pint of banana split Haagen Dazs after weeks of hibernation and it’s covered in ice crystals, I am more than a little disappointed. Likewise, with homemade ice cream a little goes a long way. I hate putting in all that work just to have it ruined after a few weeks. The solution? Smooth out the ice cream and press a sheet of plastic wrap against the surface and up the sides of the container. Then put the lid on and viola! Ice crystal free ice cream for weeks, even months.

The “trick” is you are pressing out all of the air and making the food as air-tight as possible. It actually works in several situations, like keeping guacamole green (at least for a couple days) and keeping other frozen foods ice crystal free as well. It also prevents custards and puddings from developing the “skin” on top during the cooling/setting stage.

My most common use for plastic wrap: I can’t stand that goopy water that develops on top of sour cream and yogurt, and when I try to pour it off I inevitably can’t get it all or pour half my sour cream down the drain as well. To prevent the separation all together, do the same as for ice cream: smooth the top and press your plastic wrap against the surface and up the sides before putting the lid back on. When you’re ready to use it just lift the plastic wrap back and you’ll have thick, creamy sour cream and yogurt with no liquid separation.