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Last night, I decided to try making a tea-flavored ice cream. This is an idea that drifted across the net a couple of months ago, and of course I didn't take notes, but the suggestion as I recall it was to heat cream almost to boiling, infuse some tea leaves by soaking them in the cream for 15 minutes, chill the cream again, and go on to use a simple vanilla ice cream recipe.
It seemed reasonable. I used a double-boiler to heat the cream, and when it was hot enough, added the tea, turned the light off, covered the cream, and left it for 15 minutes. Remove tea, chill, proceed.
This is where it got unexpectedly interesting. I had grabbed a bottle of what I thought was vanilla extract, and added some to my milk-and-sugar mixture, without measuring, just by eye. As I poured it in, I smelled it. Orange, not vanilla. OK, let's go with the idea (rather than getting out more milk and sugar). So, I added some vanilla as well, mixed in the cream, and put the mixture in the ice cream maker.
When that was done, I spooned it into containers suitable for the freezer, and tasted a little of the half-frozen mixture. It tasted like orange and vanilla, and not tea.
Tonight, after it had frozen properly, I had a bowl of ice cream. Orange and vanilla, and not tea. Fortunately, around here we like orange and vanilla.
I have discussed this with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
adrian_turtle, who told me that soaking tea in cream instead of water isn't an effective way to get much flavor out of the leaves. Possibilities at this point include trying a tea (or tea-and-something) sorbet, or brewing a few ounces of very strong tea, and substituting that for part of the milk in the ice cream. This project may well wait a while; I have these blueberries. And plans for next weekend that aren't focused on cookery.
It seemed reasonable. I used a double-boiler to heat the cream, and when it was hot enough, added the tea, turned the light off, covered the cream, and left it for 15 minutes. Remove tea, chill, proceed.
This is where it got unexpectedly interesting. I had grabbed a bottle of what I thought was vanilla extract, and added some to my milk-and-sugar mixture, without measuring, just by eye. As I poured it in, I smelled it. Orange, not vanilla. OK, let's go with the idea (rather than getting out more milk and sugar). So, I added some vanilla as well, mixed in the cream, and put the mixture in the ice cream maker.
When that was done, I spooned it into containers suitable for the freezer, and tasted a little of the half-frozen mixture. It tasted like orange and vanilla, and not tea.
Tonight, after it had frozen properly, I had a bowl of ice cream. Orange and vanilla, and not tea. Fortunately, around here we like orange and vanilla.
I have discussed this with
adrian_turtle, who told me that soaking tea in cream instead of water isn't an effective way to get much flavor out of the leaves. Possibilities at this point include trying a tea (or tea-and-something) sorbet, or brewing a few ounces of very strong tea, and substituting that for part of the milk in the ice cream. This project may well wait a while; I have these blueberries. And plans for next weekend that aren't focused on cookery.