Machine and method for making liquid and semi-liquid products of the ice cream, pastry or catering trade

A method for making a food product in portions, for an ice cream, pastry or catering trade, comprising the following steps:

• providing a processing container and a rotatable stirrer inserted inside the processing container;
• providing a thermal treatment system including a heat exchanger operatively connected to the processing container, for exchanging heat with the processing container;
• providing a feed container having an upper wall, side walls and a lower base wall, which define a cavity for containing a basic preparation;
• providing an opening on the feed container;
• providing that the feed container is between 157000 mm3 and 1962500 mm3 in volume;
• injecting a pressurized gaseous fluid, at a pressure greater than 0.04 MPa, into the cavity of the feed container to mix the gaseous fluid with the basic preparation and convey the mix of the gaseous fluid and the basic preparation out from the feed container through the opening and into the processing container;
• diluting the basic preparation with a diluting liquid to create a mixture of the basic preparation and the diluting liquid;
• mixing the basic preparation and the diluting liquid with the stirrer, and simultaneously subjecting the basic preparation and the diluting liquid to a thermal treatment with the thermal treatment system to thermally treat the basic preparation and diluting liquid mixture in the processing container with the heat exchanger to a range between −15° C. and −2° C.;
• providing:
• a pressurized gaseous fluid generator suitable for generating the pressurized gaseous fluid;
• and wherein the gaseous fluid injector includes a conduit coupling the pressurized gaseous fluid generator and the feed container;
• wherein the gaseous fluid injector comprises a first valve suitable for selectively allowing or preventing flow of the pressurized gaseous fluid into the feed container through the conduit;
• a second valve interposed between the feed container and the processing container and which is openable to allow feeding of the mix of the gaseous fluid and the basic preparation from the feed container and into the processing container.