Rapidly cooling food and drinks

A machine for providing a single serving of a cooled food or drink, the machine comprising:

• an evaporator defining a receptacle sized to receive a pod, the pod containing ingredients for producing the single serving of the cooled food or drink, the evaporator having an open configuration in which the pod is moveable relative to a wall of the evaporator and a closed configuration in which the pod is fixed relative to the evaporator;
• an evaporator closure motor configured to control movement of the evaporator between the open configuration and the closed configuration, the evaporator closure motor being configured to limit closure of the evaporator to avoid crushing the pod when the evaporator is in the closed configuration;
• a drive shaft axially movable relative the pod when the pod is in the receptacle and the evaporator is in the closed configuration between (i) a disengaged position in which the drive shaft is rotationally uncoupled with a drive head of the pod and (ii) an engaged position in which the drive shaft is rotationally coupled to the drive head of the pod;
• a plunger motor axially coupled to the drive shaft and configured to move the drive shaft along a longitudinal axis of the drive shaft between the disengaged position and the engaged position;
• and
• a mixing motor rotationally coupled to the drive shaft and configured to rotate the drive shaft about the longitudinal axis of the drive shaft while the drive shaft is rotationally coupled to the drive head of the pod and the evaporator is in the closed configuration such that a mixing paddle rotates to mix the ingredients within the pod.