Frozen carbonated beverage

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A frozen carbonated beverage is a mixture of flavored sugar syrup, carbon dioxide, and water that is frozen by a custom machine creating a drink comprised of a fine slush of suspended ice crystals, with very little liquid. Some common FCBs are the Slurpee, the ICEE, and the Froster.

1 History
2 How an FCB machine works
3 Differences between FCBs and FUBs
4 See also
- 4.1 Retail Brands of FCBs
- 4.2 Non-FCB Slush Drinks
5 External links

[edit] History

The FCB machine was invented by Omar Knedlik, then the owner of a Dairy Queen franchise. In the late 1950s, his restaurant lacked a soda fountain. Instead, he stored soda in his freezer. His customers loved the slushy drinks, so Knedlik tried to capture them with a machine. By the mid 1960s, about 300 machines had been manufactured. In 1965 7-Eleven licensed the machine, and began selling the Slurpee, probably the most successful FCB brand in history.

[edit] How an FCB machine works

The back-end of an FCB machine is very similar to a regular soda fountain. Concentrated flavor syrups are mixed with filtered water, then carbonated. This mixture is then injected into a cylinder surrounded by freezer coils. The mixture freezes to the wall of the cylinder, then is scraped off by a rotating dasher, which also keeps the mixture uniformly mixed. FCB machines will often freeze to a temperature well below the freezing point of water, but a mixture of pressure (up to 40psi), sugar, and the constant stirring prevent the mass from freezing solid.

[edit] Differences between FCBs and FUBs

Frozen Uncarbonated Beverage machines are distinctive from FCB machines in that they lack a pressure chamber, and do not require a carbon dioxide connection. Many modern FUB machines use a spiral-shaped plastic dasher to scrape crystals off a freezing cylinder, often integrated into a clear hopper. Modern FUB machines can make a fine-textured product, but their product is often much 'wetter' than a true FCB. On the other hand, FUB machines are much simpler and less expensive, and so they are more common. An FUB machine can be purchased for well under $2000, and rented for less than $100/day. FCB machines, often must have a dedicated service staff.