Instructions: A lick of chilly, rich gelato gliding down your parched throat. Mmmmmmm.

Refreshing. Revitalizing. Reviving. Ices, frozen yogurts, ice cream, sorbets - theres nothing like them.

Although we love cooling treats, many people are unwilling to pay $3 to $5 per quart for premium frozen products. Likewise, not everyone is interested in eating the lower-end products, which have air and thickeners whipped in to cut ingredient costs.

For those who enjoy cooking, the solution is easy. Purchase an ice cream freezer and begin to explore the tempting recipes that exist for home use. You can pay up to $1,000 for a jazzed-up, professional-caliber ice cream machine.

But good-quality ice cream freezers can be purchased from around $45 for a hand-crank, 1-quart Donvier to $230 for an electric 6-quart White Mountain freezer.

Ice cream maker in hand, frozen treats - fat free or high in calories - are easy to whip up. Now, what type should you make? The following explanation of frozen dessert bases will help you select the category that best fits your sweet-tooth or (sigh!) dietary needs.

Sorbet: A combination of water and sugar, sorbets also contain flavorings such as fruit juice, wine, liqueur, liquor, or herbs. Sorbets that have a bite serve as palate cleansers between courses; sweeter sorbets are served for dessert. Sorbets are generally smooth in texture.

Ice/Granite/Granita: These frozen desserts are similar to sorbets, but generally contain less added sweetener. Unlike sorbets, however, they are not frozen in an ice cream maker. Instead, the prepared liquid is poured into a shallow container and put in the freezer. It is stirred at regular intervals, eventually attaining a consistency similar to heavy snow. At this point the dessert is usually consumed; otherwise it will continue to freeze and become very hard.

Sherbet: Sherbets generally have less zing than sorbet and are less rich than ice cream. The main ingredients are flavoring (fruit juice or wine, for example), water, and sugar. They might also contain gelatin, milk, or egg whites.

Ice Cream: The classic ice cream base is a rich custard made of dairy products, sweetener, and egg yolks. Often a flavoring is added as well. Ice cream is thick and creamy in texture. Taste varies according to the proportions of the base ingredients. For example, extra egg yolks deliver richness, whipped cream brings lightness, and vanilla introduces a delicate background flavor.

Ice Milk: Unlike ice cream, ice milk doesnt have an egg custard base.

Further, it contains less milk fat and milk solids than ice cream and sometimes uses gelatin as a thickening agent. Ice milk is light and slightly grainy in texture. It melts more quickly than ice cream.

Gelato: This Italian cousin to ice cream is rich in taste and creamy in texture. It is dense, containing less mixed-in air than ice cream.

Frozen Yogurt: The main ingredients of frozen yogurt are yogurt, sweetener, and flavoring. Yogurts sometimes contain thickening agents as well. Consistency is usually creamy and smooth.

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