Articles
High-Summer Ice Cream
First appeared in Grainews on
13 July 2021
I love ice cream. I am not alone. In my immediate family, Dave and Mom perk up like hungry pups whenever we stop at our favourite ice cream joint. A 2019 survey reveals that twenty-five percent of Canadians eat ice cream two or three times a month, making us solid contributors to its global consumption, a love that generated over $65 billion (US) in sales in 2020.
Ice cream may have originated in China prior to 1000 AD, then travelled into India in the sixteenth century via Afghanistan, a famous East-West crossroads. In the western world, it likely originated in Italy. The first written recipe appeared in England in Mrs. Mary Eale’s 1718 cookbook. Ice cream cones were a big hit at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, in wafer cones that likely originated with an Italian immigrant.
dee in Cinque Terre
Photograph by dee Hobsbawn-Smith
Homemade ice cream is not difficult, and machines to mix it are widely available and affordable. First, get hip to some science. Cream and milk, frozen, is a hard mass; adding sugar softens it, but also drops the temperature at which ice cream freezes to well below the freezing point of water. Adding fat and protein – in egg yolks and cream – keeps ice crystals small for a creamy texture. Mixing air into the mixture as it freezes impairs the formation of ice crystals, making ice cream less icy-textured, so it feels light on the scoop and easy on the mouth. For a silkier texture, a home cook can add corn syrup, or replace some whipping cream with evaporated, powdered, or condensed milk.
“Some ice creams, like Italian gelato, are unstirred and have no air, giving them a dense mouth-feel. Indian kulfi is milk cooked down to densely creamy consistency before being frozen.”
Sorbet – simple sugar syrup with egg whites added for textural support – is often infused with fruit juice or puree. (Whole fruit or fruit pieces are icy-hard tooth-crackers when frozen.) Sorbet is usually stirred, like ice cream. Its cousin, granita, is made with minimal scraping with a fork, for a grainy, ice-shard texture.
White choc rasp swirl ice cream
Photograph by dee Hobsbawn-Smith
Ice cream’s flavours start at vanilla, but I always get stuck at chocolate and caramel. Others like berries, tea infusions, herbal highnotes, and fruit purees. So hold off on the trip to town. First we eat some ice cream. (Look in the Recipes archive!) Then we can exchange recipes.
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