From the Kitchen of Terri Bergman

Strawberry Mint Kissed Ice Cream

Okay it is HOT OUTSIDE, but so cool to enjoy a dish of Homemade Ice Cream! Here we took the current garden’s bounty of fresh Strawberries and added a big handful of runaway mint! The combination is so subtle yet complex.  So in a nod to my best trick of kicking up our strawberries this recipe calls for a fine chop on the strawberries, adding a handful of fresh mint leaves, ½ C of the called for sugar and then dressing this combo with 1 or 2 Tbsp. Of Champagne Vinegar.  Mull just these ingredients together and set aside for 1 – 3 hours.  This produces a natural brightening of the strawberries (no red food color here!) as well as a slight taste of the cool mint! Now imagine, we use strawberries here…but this exact formula/recipe and techniques serves our summer fruits of Blueberries, Blackberries and Peaches….don’t even get me started!  I am suggesting that you use an ice cream machine, but this could also be done with a square loaf pan in the freezer.

SERVES: 8
LEVEL: Moderate – you got this!

INGREDIENTS
2 C whole milk
2 C heavy cream
1 C white sugar 

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp mint extract (optional)
2 C fresh strawberries, finely chopped
1 handful fresh mint leaves
1 Tbsp Champagne vinegar (or white balsamic)

DIRECTIONS
FIRST; In a medium bowl place finely diced fresh strawberries, 1 (to 2) Tbsp of Champagne vinegar, ½ C of white sugar and a handful of fresh mint leaves. Combine these ingredients and mull the mint leaves to release more of there flavor. Set aside for 1 hour minimum or overnight in cooler. 

NEXT: In a large bowl, combine milk, cream, remaining ½ c sugar, vanilla, mint extract, strawberries mixture BUT remove the mulled mint leaves.

ICE CREAM MAKER: Now the creamy mixture is ready for your ice cream maker, (according to the manufacturers directions) but generally this machine mix takes approximately 25-30 minutes to produce a soft frozen custard like texture.  This is where you remove from machine churn bowl and pack into a bowl or plastic container.  I really like to pack in 1 pint containers with a nice lid! If having company and plan to use at once – a great big freezer safe bowl is great, just make sure to cover it!

Summer, Nature, Cool Mint…I don’t know if it gets better!

Enjoy my friends,

Terri 

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