My mother's first job, at age 14, was as a soda jerk at her local ice cream shop. It was there she picked up a super simple tip for scooping ice cream that produces perfect scoops and saves a little torque on your wrist. Read on for her pro tip!
What is it? Hot water! Every time my mom scoops out ice cream, she either has a cylindrical container full of hot tap water on hand or she keeps the kitchen tap running on hot. In between each scoop she rinses the scooper in the hot water.
A barely warm, damp scooper will melt the ice cream slightly and allow you to really dig in with the scooper. The water acts as a lubricant. So instead of hacking away at your favorite frozen treat and producing thin, anemic chunks, this hot water method allows you to glide through the ice cream, resulting in fat, luscious scoops. She would also make several short passes with the scoop in the same area to really build up the ball of ice cream (as opposed to long, shallow strokes).
It's important to rinse off after each scoop and be sure to give it a shake to get rid of excess water. You don't want too much clinging to the scoop.
Happy scooping! And thanks, Mom!
Related: The 5 Best Ice Cream Scoops
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My mom does that too...
Clean and perfect scoop everytime!!
i picked up that tip from watching the Thrifty ice cream guys do it as a kid. ;]
After screwing up a few too many balls of ice cream at work, I learned to completely sink the bottom of the scoop into the ice cream, twist left, twist right and finally scoop it up and out.
NO!!!!!!!! NO NO NO NO NO NO NEVER! Any establishment that teaches this "trick" to its scoopers is a sub-par establishment that has not done enough quality control. I can tell immediately if an ice cream store does this--because I find the nasty chunks of dirty ice in my ice cream! Even if you shake off the scooper, ice will have the tendency to form. (I can't tell you the number of times I've had someone tell me, "But I shook it! How could there be ice?" I don't know, but I certainly found it!)
If you MUST use some sort of trick, run the scooper under hot water and then dry it completely before scooping. Any water that gets into the ice cream will speed up spoilage and contribute to an icky, low-quality product for your customer (or yourself.)
The only "trick" to scooping ice cream well is to get your muscle into it.