As the title might suggest, in this blog entry I will tell you about my first experiences of ice cream making....WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOU IF YOU HAVE ...Ice cream is my most favorite food -really ! However, I always felt apprehensive towards making my own. I thought why bother as you can already buy good ice cream. However, I think Nigella Lawson is right when she says that she doesn't "buy into the usual worth making/not-worth-making-paradigm: nothing is woth making if the activity drives you to the edge of a nervous breakdown; anything can be rewarding if you actually get some pleasure out of the process". She can be truly insightful at times...What is more, ice cream making has become a breeze with the availability of modern ice cream makers. Long gone the days of frenetically mixing the ice cream, putting in the freezer, doing this over and over again... I remember watching my mum going through this process, and never quite understanding why ...
My love affair with ice cream apparently started when I was about two years old lying down in front of the fridge crying for more "ice cream". It continued in the summer holidays I spent with my family, on the Black Sea Coast of Turkey in a small seaside town called "Inkumu". I was only allowed three small scoops each day - walking to the ice cream place was my high light of the day.
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| "Inkumu" A small seaside town on the Black Sea Coast of Turkey |
Unlike the main types of ice cream bases (custard or cream), the Turkish ice cream uses corn starch and milk. So I was happily surprised when I found the Ice Cream Guru David Lebovitz posted on the web a similar "Pistachio Gelato Recipe". I happily set out to make it in our newly bought Andrew James Built in Freezer Ice Cream Maker. Some might say, this is quite extravagant ! However after my quite unsuccessful attempts with a "freeze in bowl" Magimix Ice Cream Maker, this was a walk in the park for an amateur ice cream maker like myself !
In his entry, David Lebovitz bemoans the elusive nature of pistachio paste as well as the astronomical price tag ! I wish he had discovered WhyNut, he would be happily surprised at the amazing quality and the great prices of our pastes ! I tried to find out if I can somehow reach him and send a sample, with no success so far :( I will keep trying...IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS PLEASE LET ME KNOW
Back to the recipe ! I have reduced the pistachio paste (he uses 200g, I used 100g) as it looked too much considering how much our customers generally use ...The dosage rate varies from 80gr - 110gr per litre of ice cream mix. The amount used depends on a number of factors, such as fat content (if the ice cream is too fatty, the flavour may get lost), how flavoursome one prefers, and price of the end product - not such a big problem if you are making it for yourself. I also learnt that ice cream expands as it is churned. Furthermore, air is injected into most supermarket bought cheaper ice cream for cost reasons! So without realising we might be paying for "air" !
Anyway, I was quite happy with the end result, and tucked in, feeling chuffed that I made my first ice cream with our very own WhyNut Pistachio Paste - not counting the previous trials in the Magimix !
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| Cigdem's Pistachio Gelato topped with WhyNut's Green Pistachio Kernels |
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