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Centerville » Unlike other shops, Sub Zero Ice Cream stores are noticeably missing those buckets of frozen dessert.
Instead, customers choose the candy or nut add-ins that then float in a pool of cream in a stainless steel bowl.
The soon-to-be ice cream gets doused with liquid nitrogen, fog spills out everywhere and the mixture is quickly stirred with a spatula.
Like a magic trick or science experiment, the cloud of vapor clears to reveal ice cream.
Is it any wonder so many customers ask "Is it safe to eat?"
"It's not toxic to us. About 78 percent of our air is nitrogen as a gas," said Naomi Hancock, whose chemistry-degree-holding husband developed the idea.
Liquid nitrogen can be harmful if it's on skin for too long, but she said there's no worry of anyone eating the substance in ice cream, since it evaporates into the air as it's stirred.
And the process puts on enough of a show that the Hancock's American Fork-based business is expanding to Davis County, where Scott Rippe opened a Sub Zero store last week in Centerville.
Rippe wanted to open his own branch of a franchise, but was looking for just the right product when a friend told him about Sub Zero.
"It's just the coolest thing I saw ... it's just such a unique process," Rippe said. "It was cool and stood out."
Apart from the Centerville location, a few stores are set to open in Arizona.
"It's really exciting to see someone else get excited about the project, and see the vision and put their faith in it," said Hancock of how the franchise is expanding.
The Hancocks opened their first Sub Zero Ice Cream shop in Pleasant Grove in 2008, but it was a project that started in 2004 when they ran another burrito store, but wanted to fill extra space in the location.
When they first started experimenting with liquid nitrogen, they knew the spectacle of making the ice cream would draw customers.
"But we were happy to find the taste and the quality of the product was really good," Hancock said, adding the quick-freeze process makes even low-fat options with yogurt or soy and rice milks taste creamy.
She and her husband like to use their ice cream as an educational tool. They sometimes visit area schools to show children how liquid nitrogen can make ice cream and they explain the principles behind the process.
Alex Cutler has seen television shows were liquid nitrogen is used to freeze a rose, which then shatters like glass.
"It's fun to see it up close and personal," said the 17-year-old from Woods Cross, after finishing his bowl of sweet chocolate and marshmallow ice cream at the Sub Zero in Centerville.
He and his father wanted to try the new ice cream and see how the process works.
"It was good," said dad Curt Cutler, who ate a bowl of mint Oreo.
But the two are already planning another visit. "I was sad we didn't bring his mom," Curt said. "And she'll be sad she didn't come."
The Hancocks own Sub Zero Ice Cream and often use their ice-cream-making technique to explain the law of thermodynamics, in which heat moves from hot to cold.
When nitrogen is cooled it turns from a gas to a liquid. Liquid nitrogen is stored at about 315 degrees Fahrenheit in a tall, insulated container. When it is poured into refrigerated cream and stirred, the heat from the warmer cream transfers to the liquid nitrogen. That causes the cream to freeze and the nitrogen to turn into a gas, form a vapor cloud and evaporate into the air.
A store in Centerville at 331 W. Parrish Lane #102 opened last week. For information on other locations, visit www.subzeroicecream.com.
