Category: ice cream

LIVING LA VIDA LOCA….SEVEN DAYS OF EATING LAVENDER, DAY TWO (LAVENDER HONEY ICE CREAM)

Day two of my seven days of eating lavender. How could I go wrong with lavender honey ice cream? How could I EVER go wrong with ice cream? My daughter and husband now wonder out loud why we didn’t choose seven days of cinnamon.

I found a recipe that uses lavender with honey, so I elected to use orange honey, a local favorite here in Florida. How could I go wrong with orange honey either? Orange honey tastes a little sweeter than the regular clover honey which is what one normally thinks of when one thinks of honey. It is also a little more “floral” in taste.

Using heavy cream, whole milk, dried culinary lavender blossoms and honey in a pan on the stove until steaming, this is how I began the process. The recipe says to cool the mixture for one hour in the refrigerator after it is steaming, and the honey melts and to follow the instructions in one’s ice cream maker. At some point, I strained the lavender flowers from the mixture, too. My ice cream machine says to put cold ingredients into it before starting it up, so that’s what I did. I cooled the mixture much longer than an hour. I decided before I put the mixture into the ice cream maker that the muddy-colored default ice cream color simply would not do, so I added a few drops of neon purple food color before continuing after I strained the lavender out of the mixture. Lavender should be purple. One of life’s axioms perhaps.

After waiting with great anticipation, the ice cream started to freeze and began to take shape. After my first trial of a recipe using lavender yesterday (lavender-mint water), I was a bit skeptical, but the ice cream looked so appealing in the ice cream maker. Finally, the time came for me to try it……ready…get set……….go…..Smooth texture, appealing color but tastes like…….SOAP. I immediately reminded myself that the French word for “to wash” is “laver”. Sounds like lavender. Lavender is associated with WASHING, not eating evidently, and for good reason.

After freezing the ice cream for many hours, I decided that it tasted a little better when it was colder. The texture was smooth and creamy, and I almost liked the flavor. ALMOST. I am wondering now if the hints of floral taste to the orange honey may have given it the strange after taste. Might try this again another time with standard clover honey instead……or….might NEVER try this recipe again.

All in all, it was fun to experiment with a new flavor. I have come to like expecting the unexpected.

Life is good………..find enjoyment in the unexpected today if you can. Carpe diem, friends.

Note to self: perhaps combining lavender with lemon tomorrow might do the trick! Luck with lavender and lemon……at least the alliteration is fabulous!

(photo 1/2:dreamstime)

OF ICE CREAM, LIFE, ADVENTURE AND A ROAD TRIP

I am not the first person to draw parallels from the type of ice cream one eats and one’s personality. On the surface, it seems quite easy to say that if one likes to try different varieties of ice cream, one has a more adventurous spirit, while if one prefers the same type of ice cream every time, one is more of a play-it-safe kind of person.

What about the person that tries different flavors but within a narrow range? Maybe this person is adventurous to a point but knows what they like and how to get it. Or perhaps they are a bit grounded, knowing it is not worth the extra time or money to get an ice cream flavor they don’t like. Perhaps these people are goal-oriented, detailed people, instead of play-it-safe kind of people. Pragmatic souls.

I prefer vanilla. That being said, I don’t like just ANY vanilla. In fact, some vanilla ice creams are not worth the effort it requires to eat in my opinion. And don’t get me started on that gelato stuff. I have traveled extensively in Europe to search for the best gelato, but I find it entirely too light, too airy, and not nearly enough butterfat. The butterfat content, in my opinion, is the essence of the ice cream experience. The higher the butterfat content, the better the experience. My father actually used to eat ice milk (daily) because his cholesterol levels were a bit high, but he wasn’t willing to forego the ice cream (and I use that term loosely) experience, but I can’t forego the butterfat.

Ice cream lives in my blood. Both my parents adored ice cream, and so do I. I once traveled three hours over two state lines when I was a young adult to find the perfect ice cream according to some reviews. There is nothing in my mind better than a road trip, and a road trip involving ice cream would be wonderful, I thought. I always enjoy a large cone of ice cream, as tomorrow will be a day of salad if necessary. Today is about the QUANTITY and TYPE of cool happiness. Today is the day to seize the day.

I have been striving for the perfect homemade vanilla ice cream recipe since lock-down during the epidemic. I prefer my vanilla to be a clear, pure flavor. I like the vanilla to speak for itself. I have even made vanilla from the “Ben and Jerry’s” recipe book, but somehow the vanilla tastes more like a flavored whipped cream to me . I have tried Tahitian Vanilla, as I notice a HUGE difference in vanilla flavors depending on the brand, but to me Tahitian Vanilla tastes too much like soap. If you’ve had it, you might know what I mean. Years ago, I was able to find “heavy” cream” for my recipes but lately all I can find here in Florida is “heavy whipped cream.” Maybe the supplier in New England that I used (good ol’ Stop and Shop) has more variety of creams than my current Florida market. Yes, I guess in the end, I am a “vanilla” kind of gal, with a little chocolate or chocolate chip if I feel REALLY adventurous. And not that mint chocolate chip, either. JUST chocolate chip.

In Florida, Brewster’s Ice Cream in Palm Bay and Kilwin’s in Vero Beach are worth the drive if you are up for a road trip for excellent ice cream. Just don’t try the shakes at Brewsters, as the quality control varies and the taste and consistency is different depending on who makes the shakes.

Life is short. Enjoy that smoothe and cool taste of happiness whenever you can. Try a little chocolate chip from time too time, too; everyone needs a bit of adventure.

Carpe diem, friends………

(And feel free to send me your favorite vanilla ice cream recipe if you want!) I will publish my favorite submission here on my blog).

photos:Dreamstime