Do I need to add stabilisers to ice cream I make at home?

If you are intending to make a tonne of it and ship it half way around the world, I would say "YES"!

If not, stabilisers are truly unnecessary. (The only stabilisers you need are for your bicycle. Which explains the picture, in case you're wondering.)

Here's why: If it is at your will to control the type of ingredients that go into home made ice cream, you should cut out all unnecessary ingredients.

First, it saves costs. Second, you make ice cream fresh, comsume it fresh and finish it while it is still fresh. Lastly, stabilisers can add a gummy, plasticky texture to ice cream that is highly undesirable.

Stabilisers are generally used in very small quantities in commercial ice cream that uses them. The recommended quantity of stabilisers to be added is about only one percent of the total weight of ice cream.

So the next time you have gummy-tasting ice cream that seems overly chewy, you know something's up.