Blackberry ice cream!

[elfs]

So, we've spent the day cleaning and folding and preparing our camping gear for a trip out to Mt. Rainier park, where we're going spend three or four days having a good time and hanging out and just being away from the rest of the world. Ohmigoddess, 96 hours without Internet access. I may just die! Nah, I'll bring a good book or two. The car is now sparkling clean on the inside.

We made blackberry ice cream this afternoon. 1.5 cups heavy cream, 1 cup half-and-half, two cups blackberries and a half cup of sugar. The ice cream maker worked fine despite my reservations, and the end result was absolutely delicious. The Rival brand ice-cream maker worked adequately although the "cryogel" pack chiller (an industrial chill pack in a plastic container with an aluminum contact plate for the inside of the mixing bowl) doesn't really make ice cream so much as ice slush. I put it into a ziplock bag and squeezed all of the air out, and it hardened nicely. Yummy!

Comments

Mt. Rainier

[brandywilliams.livejournal.com]

I took my nephew to Ohanepecosh campground a few weekends ago. If we'd had more time we would have done the junior ranger booklet on the spot. The ranger program on Saturday ended with the ranger turning all the kids into trees. It was great fun and I highly recommend it if you're anywhere close.

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

On ice cream making: Make sure you have your mix as close to freezing as possible before churning. I try and get mine down to 34'F before it goes in the churn. This leads to smaller ice crystals, which have better mouth feel.

Also, helps to have the "insert" for the churn as cold as possible....like in my deep freezer that goes to -20'F.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

Homemade ice cream should be about "softserve" consistency before hardening. If it's looser/meltier than that you will get large ice crystals.

And I agree with the any flavor. Fresh raspberry ice cream is sublime as is Mango Lemon.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

From the various programs on FoodTV, commercial ice cream is put into a deep freeze for 24 hours after the tub/box is filled. However, I suspect that part of that is getting it as cold as possible to help it survive shipment better.

[mothball-07.livejournal.com]

The secret to my mother's 'perfect strawberry ice cream' was strawberry kefir. Cuts the fat with the same texture and more flavour, and so much easier than the custard-based ice creams she used to make. (drool...)