Can it Creami?
The history and design of the ultimate ice cream machine
Programmer’s log. Epoch time 1711983801. Happy April Fools’ day! I was never much of a prankster growing up because I felt like the “harmless jokes” too often ended up being cringey and embarrassing. I much prefer the tech version, where engineers sneak in easter eggs into existing software to delight and entertain users. And even better is when actual paradigm-shifting technology is announced, so casually and unbelievably to be assumed to be a joke, like when Gmail first debuted twenty years ago…
Happy Monday!
This post definitely comes out of left field. (That is, unless you’ve talked to me in person in the last few weeks in which case I’ve probably pitched you at least once on buying this ice cream machine.) But I wanted to write something genuine but different than my normal content for April Cools’ Club, and a thousand-word product recommendation fits both of those requirements.
Hope you enjoy this deep-dive into ice cream tech 🍦
Can it Creami?
The history and design of the ultimate ice cream machine
I normally don’t delve into the world of industrial design and hardware, preferring to stick to my lane with software design. However in the spirit of April Cool’s day and writing about topics outside of my comfort zone, here is a love letter and strong recommendation for our household’s newest device: the Ninja Creami.
One shared motif for me and my husband’s 2024 yearly themes was a renewed focus on health & fitness. We wanted to revamp our diets, getting back to home cooking and whole foods. 2023 was a stressful year for both of us–I had taken on a new position as head of engineering and Dru founded his own startup. Healthy and moderate eating definitely fell by the wayside. We defaulted to ordering food for convenience and high-caloric stress-relieving comfort. Rethinking our eating habits was a nice way to kickoff the new year.
The Ninja Creami went viral on social media in early 2023, with dozens of tech reviews alternately praising and deriding the technology. So by all accounts, we missed the hype cycle. Then earlier this year, we visited a friend’s house. They’d been gifted a Creami and, after the first taste, we were convinced.
A drill press for ice cream
To tell the history of the Creami, we first have to go back in time to the 1980s and the invention of a different machine: the Pacojet.
Swiss engineer Wilhelm Maurer was looking for a faster way to make ice cream. Conventional ice cream machines that use a churning method can take 30min or more to produce a single quart. His patented technology was a spinning blade to quickly mill cylinders of frozen base into ice cream. It was indeed faster–the modern version of his design can make 3/4 of a quart of ice cream in two minutes. Maurer’s patent was bought by an investment company in 1988 and the technology finally brought to market as the Pacojet in 1993. It was originally and still is primarily designed for commercial kitchens. The latest version, the Pacojet 4, retails for $7,299.
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📖 Links and books
Last but not least, some interesting articles:
Behind F1’s Velvet Curtain (Road & Track)
This article is archived on the Wayback Machine since it was taken down almost immediately after publication. The publishing scandal behind the story is equally interesting.
Why Japanese Maples are like Potato Chips (or Orchids) (NYT)
How does Paris Stay Paris? By Pouring Billions into Public Housing (NYT)
I’m currently reading On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor.
That’s all for now! See you later alligator 🐊