A Group Of Engineers Are Making Instant Ice Cream in Delhi And It’s Out Of This World

A couple of years back, using liquid nitrogen to make ice creams was a pioneering idea. But it has been relatively new in India. 

The Start:

For Cherry Comet, it all started when its to-be founders Rohan Bajla, business consultant at American Express, Saransh Goyal, investment banker at Deutsche Bank and Anirudh Singh, SAS certified engineer and part-time comic book writer, went on a holiday together in Bangkok. These 4 friends went to engineering college together and on their holiday found themselves having liquid nitrogen ice cream, and thought, why not? We can have an outlet for this in India too. 

The What: 

According to Rohan, ““We prepare fresh ice creams without any artificial flavours, colours or preservatives using liquid nitrogen. We operate out of two outlets in Delhi-NCR: in DLF Cyberhub, Gurgaon and a newly opened outlet in Sangam Courtyard Mall, RK Puram,”

The Trials: 

Having an idea is easy, but it’s the execution that is hard. And it wasn’t any different for Cherry Comet, as they were entering a field they had little or no experience in. 

According to Rohan, the idea that you can just freeze your ice cream instantly is deceptively simple, yet powerful. “I distinctly remember the three of us sharing that moment. We all knew with this technology we could make any ice cream we wanted and make it fresh,” he adds.

We’ve all heard of liquid nitrogen before, but our experience has been limited to our chemistry class and it’s mostly been used in the field of research science. The team at Cherry Comet took up the difficult task of assembling all the technical equipment from scratch. 

What did help them was the fact that all of them had an engineering background which made it just a bit easier to understand the science behind their dream. They also worked close with experts in liquid nitrogen ice cream for a year, developing various prototypes and understanding the process, including the different safety guidelines.

The Ice Cream: 

Once the technical aspect was taken care of, the next question the team were faced with, was understanding what ice cream to make. Rohan says it was crucial for ice cream makers to cultivate a rich understanding of what exactly makes a good ice cream. The balance of dairy fat to milk, the correct mingling of flavours into the dairy base that leads to the creation of the ideal recipe and of course the correct proportions for sugar.

“Two years of experimentation and making liquid nitrogen ice creams every single day at home allowed us to slowly master the various intricacies involved. Today we have our recipes memorised and can hazard pretty accurate guesses as to how an ingredient will affect a recipe,” says Rohan. 

The experimentation led to exotic flavours of Ice Cream like Jamun and Jaegermeister ice cream. 

The How: 

The liquid nitrogen has to reach a boiling point of -196.4 degree Celsius. When poured into the ice cream base the liquid nitrogen boils and turns to gas within seconds, drawing out the latent heat in the ice cream base. This freezes the base, transforming it into ice cream instantly.

“Taking into account the fact that the process eliminates the need for any additional preservatives means we are creating fresher, tastier and healthier ice cream,” says Rohan.

What You Waiting For: 

Cherry Comet opened up in 2014 and has been drawing in customers ever since. They currently have 20 flavours on their menu and is a delight to watch the entire process happen. What you waiting for? Head there now! 

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