Our ice cream adventures followed us across the United States as we visited our nephew, Jeff, in Fort Collins. Soon after we arrived, he showed us his thriving Chocolate Mint herb plant that resides quite happily on his back patio. I commented that Chocolate Mint herbal ice cream would taste divine. Jeff was really excited because he likes the flavor of chocolate, but has no use for the waxy base that typically accompanies it.Following the recipe that we had used for our Lavendar Ice Cream and Lemon Verbena Ice Cream (details in earlier posts), we steeped about 2 brimming cups of chocolate mint herb leaves in scalded milk, made the cooked custard noted in the recipe below, and chilled it well. This chilling process is essential if you hope to churn it in 30-45 minutes.
The resulting ice cream was outstanding! The chocolate and mint flavors were subtly evident...all without adding an ounce of real chocolate! After returning from our Colorado trip, we stopped by the Raleigh Farmer's Market to buy some fresh vegetables. Little did we know that we wo
uld encounter an herb farm offering both chocolate mint AND Lemon Verbena... we are hoping for more of our own ice cream adventures very soon.
uld encounter an herb farm offering both chocolate mint AND Lemon Verbena... we are hoping for more of our own ice cream adventures very soon.Here is the recipe for the Chocolate Mint experiment!
Chocolate Mint Ice Cream
INGREDIENTS
7 ½ cups whole milk
3 vanilla beans, split OR 2 tablespoons Neilson-Massey Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste
2 cups fresh chocolate mint herb leaves, washed thoroughly
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup local honey (Jeff's honey was from nearby Greeley, CO!)
9 egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
DIRECTIONS
Scald the milk; then add the vanilla beans (or add vanilla) and the herb leaves. Leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain. Beat the sugar, honey, and egg yolks together. Add the milk (a half cup at a time) to egg mixture (stirring egg mixture constantly), until both milk mixture and egg mixture are blended thoroughly. Heat the mixture in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat until it coats the back of wooden spoon and wisps of steam appear. Do not boil. When custard is sufficiently heated, leave to cool. Mixture can sit overnight in the refrigerator. Stir in cream. Put chilled custard into ice cream freezer and churn until firm.
INGREDIENTS
7 ½ cups whole milk
3 vanilla beans, split OR 2 tablespoons Neilson-Massey Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste
2 cups fresh chocolate mint herb leaves, washed thoroughly
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup local honey (Jeff's honey was from nearby Greeley, CO!)
9 egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
DIRECTIONS
Scald the milk; then add the vanilla beans (or add vanilla) and the herb leaves. Leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain. Beat the sugar, honey, and egg yolks together. Add the milk (a half cup at a time) to egg mixture (stirring egg mixture constantly), until both milk mixture and egg mixture are blended thoroughly. Heat the mixture in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat until it coats the back of wooden spoon and wisps of steam appear. Do not boil. When custard is sufficiently heated, leave to cool. Mixture can sit overnight in the refrigerator. Stir in cream. Put chilled custard into ice cream freezer and churn until firm.
1 comment:
Sounds like a fascinating recipe. Yum! :o)
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