How It's Made: Hans' Homemade Ice Cream

By Michelle Woo Mon., Jan. 24 2011 at 3:09 PM

Christopher Victorio/OC Weekly

A batch of Praline Pecan goodness.

Sure, it's only January, but ice cream is ice cream, and when it's Hans' ice cream, it's [insert wistful sigh] ice cream.

An engineer of frozen goodness, Hans Biermann has been churning out the richest, creamiest and arguably most heavenly ice cream in Orange County since 1972. Nestled in a Vons strip mall on Bristol Street in Santa Ana, Hans' Homemade Ice Cream is a local fixture, serving up 60 to 70 wondrous flavors at any given time, from the familiar (Rocky Road, Rum Raisin) to the inventive (Swiss Orange Chip, Banana Nut Chocolate Chunk) to the seasonal (Pumpkin, Eggnog).

The charming shop remains untouched from its early days--jewel-toned stained-glass lamps hang above marble tables and dark-wood parlor chairs. "It's the same old stuff," says the 70-year-old Biermann, who hails from Germany. Luckily for Hans' sweet-toothed fans, he uses the same old ice-cream-making process, too.

Back in the kitchen, a sort of sweets lab crammed with an array of liquid flavors in plastic jugs--chocolate, lemon, peach, peppermint--Biermann starts with a bag of 16 percent milk fat, the richest cream you can get. "Our ice cream weighs twice what other ice cream weighs," he says. "There's no air in it."

He pours the cream into the batch freezer, a $25,000 Emery Thompson machine.

For this batch, Praline Pecan, he adds a pint of praline flavoring.

After eight to nine minutes, he releases the now-cold-and-creamy mixture into a 2.5-gallon plastic bucket. Rather than tossing the caramel and pecans into the ice cream machine, he adds them later so the ingredients are distinctive.

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Caguy213

It is the best icecream! Ben and Jerrys doesn't come close.

California_william

My sister and I can be found at Han's frequently throughout the year (often munching single-scoop cones on the chairs outside or slurping down the excellent rootbeer floats inside). But the writer forgot to mention that Han's also serves good hearty "regular" food as well, sandwiches, etc. And the staff always makes you feel like "family" when you show up. The flavors, the people, the old-time atmosphere make Han's one of the best places in the O.C. to get your taste on, hot day or cold day.

Parley Baer

I try hard to support local businesses and once enjoyed stopping at Hans', but in the last year or so I've found some of their ice creams "lite" in flavor and texture and others made unappetizing by cheap-tasting ingredients. E.g., the bottom of a cookies 'n cream shake a few months ago had a breakfast-cereal aftertaste. Maybe they should shop somewhere other than Von's.

Now that Handel's, with its great caramel-cone crunch Hurricane and turtle sundae (among many other items), is open in Redondo Beach -- a California-mere 30-40 miles away -- I have no reason to go to Han's.