An apparatus for making a frozen dessert. The apparatus including a reservoir located within a chassis for receiving a liquid dessert mixture and a rotatable paddle located within the reservoir. The paddle can have a body coupled to at least one respective scraper element by a living hinge, such that the scraper element has a scraping edge that is radially-outward biased by the living hinge for abuttingly engaging a wall of the reservoir. The reservoir and the axis of rotation can be substantially horizontally directed, with a substantially vertically-orientated lid closing an opening of the reservoir, the lid defining an aperture for receiving the mixture or enabling egress of the frozen dessert.

A machine for making liquid or semi-liquid food products includes a plurality of first containers containing a liquid or semi-liquid basic mixture and having a deformable wall, such that the space occupied by each first container depends on a quantity of basic mixture in the first container. A rigid second container forming a processing chamber for the basic mixture includes a mixer and mechanism for thermal treatment to convert the basic mixture into a liquid or semi-liquid product. A sensor providing a signal representing the quantity of basic mixture at least in one of the first containers is operatively connected to the second container. A command and control unit is connected to the sensor to receive the signal and configured to infer, based on the signal, a condition of absence of mixture in one of the first containers connected to the second container.

An easily assembled blender with an internal frame holding a cupholder elevator assembly, a mix motor assembly, a food preparation chamber, a water heater assembly and a steamer assembly. The water heater and steamer assemblies are preferably on modular trays that slide into the internal frame. The water heater preferably also serves as a hot water reservoir and, to avoid overheating, has its heating coil located near its bottom. To resist scale deposits, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tubing is preferably used to transport steam from the steamer to the food preparation chamber. To expedite manufacture, a spring-biased idler assembly with a drive belt for the cupholder elevator assembly preferably snaps into a lower receiving port on the internal frame. Crisscrossing infrared light beams are preferably placed at the entrance of the food preparation chamber to detect whether the cup entering the chamber is the correct size and detect whether any foreign object is below the food preparation chamber.

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).

A stirrer arrangement for an ice-cream or yogurt machine includes a motor shaft hub adapted for coupling at a shaft of a motor within a chilling container, and a stirring blade unit which includes a plurality of blade members radially and outwardly extended from the motor shaft hub. Each of the blade members has an inclined pushing surface, such that when the motor shaft hub is rotated at a stirring direction, the blade members are spun for creating a radial stirring vortex within the chilling container to outwardly, radially, and upwardly push liquid material from a bottom of the chilling container to a top thereof and to inwardly, radially, and downwardly suck the liquid material from the top of the chilling container to the bottom thereof.

A carbonated beverage apparatus includes a freezing cylinder for receiving a mixture, and a stirring pusher disposed inside the freezing cylinder for pushing and mixing the mixture from an inlet of the freezing cylinder to an outlet thereof in a spiral manner, wherein the mixture is removed from the inner wall of the freezing cylinder radially back into a center portion of the freezing cylinder by the stirring pusher.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods are disclosed for eliminating or greatly reducing the cleaning process of frozen confection apparatus or machines by having the comestible mixture contained in a flexible container or bag. The comestible mixture is chilled and/or frozen and dispensed from the bag without contacting other parts of the machine, thereby helping to prevent the comestible mixture from being contaminated with bacterial, viral, chemical, or physical contaminants.

An ice cream making assembly includes a mixing bowl having an outer housing and an inner liner defining a wall cavity therebetween. The mixing bowl further includes a radiator fin unit received within a portion of the wall cavity and a phase-change medium filling a further portion of the wall cavity surrounding at least a portion of the radiator fin unit. The radiator fin unit defines an outer chamfer extending generally along an outer cross-sectional profile of the wall cavity and a tapered inner profile extending along inner cross-sectional profile of the wall cavity and in at least partial contact with the inner liner. The assembly further includes a dasher including first and second mixing arms extending outwardly from an anchor end of the axle and upwardly and outwardly to generally follow an angled inner profile of the a food-product receiving cavity defined by the liner.

The present invention relates to an ingredient blending system and method for use in frozen beverage equipment and soft-serve ice cream equipment. In an exemplary embodiment, a manifold body has at least one blending chamber, more than one ingredient inlet port, more than one pressure reservoir, more than one ingredient egress port that intersects the pressure reservoir, and more than one ingredient ingress port that intersects the blending chamber. More than one inlet conduit is fastened to each of the ingredient inlet ports, more than one pressure sensor is secured within each of the pressure reservoirs, and more than one electronic valve is secured to the manifold body. In accordance with a recipe pulse sequence, the ingredients are blended in the blending chamber forming a food product, and injected into the mixing cylinder where the food product is chilled and dispensed to a customer for consumption.

An arrangement is disclosed for mixing of particulate filling material into a consumer ice mass. The arrangement includes a rotor cylinder having: a first rotor blade, a second rotor blade and a third rotor blade for the mixing-in of the consumer ice mass and the particulate filling material by rotation, wherein: the first rotor blade has a first notch configured to accommodate the second blade and the third blade, and a second notch configured to accommodate the front bearing, the second rotor blade has a first notch configured to accommodate the first rotor blade, a second notch configured to accommodate the third blade, and a third notch configured to accommodate the front bearing, and the third rotor blade has a first notch configured to accommodate the first rotor blade and the second rotor blade, and a second notch configured to accommodate the front bearing.