A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid products, including a first container adapted to contain a basic mixture, having an inside surface and an outside surface and equipped with a stirrer disposed inside the first container; a thermodynamic system comprising a circuit for circulating a heat exchanger fluid and a first heat exchanger associated, in use, with walls of the first container, the first heat exchanger is defined by at least one element which is fixable, in use, to the outside surface of the first container, having an open cavity, extending uninterruptedly and defining, when coupled with the outside surface, a channel for circulating heat exchanger fluid, the element also having at least one inlet and one outlet for the heat exchanger fluid.

A machine for liquid or semi-liquid food products, including: a container for containing a liquid or semi-liquid food product; a thermal treatment system, equipped with at least one heat exchanger associated with the container for absorbing or releasing heat to the liquid or semi-liquid food product inside the container; a stirrer positioned inside the container; a dispensing device, including: a supporting element having a front wall; an outlet channel, formed in the supporting element and in fluid communication with the container; a shutter which is movable inside the channel between a closed position of the outlet channel and an open position of the outlet channel; a lever having a first end operatively connected to the shutter to allow the movement between the above-mentioned closed position of the outlet channel and the open position of the outlet channel and also having a second end configured for being gripped by a user.

Systems and methods have demonstrated the capability of rapidly cooling the contents of pods containing the ingredients for food and drinks.

The process involves feeding a base aerated frozen confection having an overrun of from 20-150% from a freezer to a static mixer, feeding a viscous flavorant or other ingredient having a free oil level of at least 10% to the static mixer to combine with the base frozen confection, and mixing them in the static mixer to obtain a frozen confection including the viscous flavorant or other ingredient which is homogeneous to the eye and taste and which preferably has fewer crystalline fat structures per air bubble, which means greater stability of the air bubbles. The invention is also reflected in reduced standard deviation in product fill weight and an improved distribution of air bubbles. The invention also is directed to the frozen is aerated confection.

The invention relates to a stirring member (9) for using in a system for preparing a food product, the product being prepared by the stirring member (9) moving inside a container (8), the stirring member (9) being configured in such a way that it can adopt different configurations depending on its direction of rotation inside the container (8). Preferably, the stirring member (9) can adopt a spoon configuration or a whisk configuration. The invention further relates to a method for using such a stirring member (9) in a system for preparing a food product, the method varying the direction of rotation of the stirring member (9) so that it adopts a different configuration depending on the type of product prepared in the container (8).

An ice cream manufacturing apparatus, an ice cream manufacturing method, and an ice cream drawing method. An apparatus for manufacturing ice cream includes: a dasher positioned in a cylinder and agitating a liquefied original ice cream liquid and air input into the sealed cylinder; a dasher motor rotating the dasher; a motor RPM control means controlling a frequency of the dasher motor; a dasher motor load measuring means measuring a load of the dasher motor; and a controller determining a rotational speed change time of the dasher motor based on the load measured by the dasher motor load measuring means and controlling the motor RPM control means so as to change the frequency of the dasher motor to a predetermined frequency when the change of the rotational speed of the dasher motor is determined.

A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid products, including: a processing container for processing a basic liquid or semi-liquid product, defining a processing chamber and provided with a stirrer rotating inside the processing chamber; a thermal treatment system associated with the processing container for heating and/or cooling the processing chamber; a dispensing device which is associated with the processing container to receive therefrom the processed, basic liquid or semi-liquid product, and which is equipped with controls for delivering the processed, basic liquid or semi-liquid product to the outside of the processing container; an electronic control unit for controlling at least one actuator of the machine, a plurality of syrup containers, at least one heating and/or cooling device connectable to one or more of the syrup containers and/or connecting pipes and/or pumps in order to thermally treat the syrups.

An individual frozen drink dispenser includes a housing having a base configured to support a blender cup, a dispensing chamber disposed above the blender cup and configured to support a frozen beverage container containing frozen ingredients suitable for preparing a frozen drink, at least one dispensing mechanism configured to move from a pre-dispense position to a dispense position in which the dispensing mechanism drives the frozen ingredients from the frozen beverage container into the blender cup, and a drive mechanism coupled to the housing and configured to drive the movement of the dispensing mechanism from the pre-dispense position to the dispense position. A method of preparing a frozen drink is further disclosed.

A sealed capsule for blending and dispensing an initially solid food product holds a blending component with embedded food product. Actuating the blending component through an electronic control system causes the food product to be blended within the capsule. One or more feedback control mechanisms are used to guarantee a desired consistency of the blended food product. Provided are structural features of the capsule, and methods of using its contents to blend and dispense soft-serve products.

An expansion evaporator includes a heat exchanger and a replaceable freezer cylinder detachably received within a receiving channel of the heat exchanger, wherein the replaceable freezer cylinder has a feeding channel for raw material feeding therethrough to thermally communicate with the heat exchanger so as to form a frozen product within the feeding channel. The replaceable freezer cylinder is detached from the heat exchanger for cleaning purpose as the raw material is not contacted with the heat exchanger.