Book excerpt: Even with the proliferation of brand-name ice creams and ice cream shop chains and the availability of numerous flavours, homemade ice cream remains as popular as ever. You have only to look at the variety of home ice cream machines and the number of companies manufacturing them to see it. Homemade ice cream has a special taste that you can't buy, and it is a family activity and summer tradition in many homes. But homemade ice cream isn't as simple as it seems for the novice, and even families that have been making it for years look for new recipes and ideas to challenge their skills and their palates. In The Complete Idiot's Guide to Homemade Ice Cream, readers will find: *More than 200 recipes, ranging from the simple to the sublime *Step-by-step instructions for making ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, frozen yogurt, and gelato *Topping and serving recipes and ideas *Recipes and instructions for ice cream-based and other frozen drinks