Mulberry Ice Cream

Spring has most definitely sprung. One clear sign of this is the mulberry tree in the kindy down the road is fruiting. Who does that? Who plants a mulberry tree in the playground of 3 and 4 year old pre-schoolers? Someone who doesn’t have to wash the stains out of their kid’s clothing, that’s who. Between the kids and the birds, the silk worms don’t get much of a look in and neither do I. Happily, I was able to buy some mulberries at the local markets. In a previous post I shared some of the history of mulberries and a recipe for a Mulberry Smash Cocktail. But what did I do with the rest of the mulberries? (Spoiler alert – it’s in the title of the post.)

On A Cold & Frosty Morning

Perhaps the gardener at the kindy planted the mulberry tree so the children could enjoy a game of Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush. Or perhaps the gardener just should have thought a bit harder.

As you can probably tell, I am revelling in this mulberry magical time of year. The last of the mulberries from my market purchase went into a velvety Mulberry Ice Cream. It’s a basic custard ice cream – that is, an ice cream made with an egg custard base. The mulberry puree turns the ice cream into a fabulous, yes FABULOUS, shade of purple. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, I encourage you to buy one. They can be bought at a modest price and make a big difference to the end result. Aldi sell them once or twice a year. There are many appliances that sit neglected in my cupboard but surprisingly, the ice cream maker is not one.

Mulberry Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 250g – 300g mulberries
• 250 ml milk
• 500 ml pouring (single) cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup caster sugar

Method

• Wearing gloves – wash mulberries, remove any stalks, chop each berry in half and place in a bowl or jug. Sprinkle chopped berries with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and allow the berries to macerate whilst preparing ice cream. If you don’t use gloves, your hands will be stained for days after.
• Place milk and cream in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Heat until but not boiling and set aside.
• Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk or beat for several minutes until thick and pale.
• Slowly pour hot milk into egg mixture, beating constantly to combine. It’s important that the milk is not boiling otherwise you will just create scrambled eggs!
• Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and stir over a low heat until a custard forms and coats the back of a spoon. It should take around 5 minutes but it is better for it to take a little longer than to have the heat too high.

The custard should coat the back of the spoon

• Place custard in fridge and allow it to chill completely.
• Puree mulberries with a stick mixer and then pass the puree through a sieve to separate seeds from the pulp.
• When custard is chilled, stir mulberry puree into the custard and then pour into ice cream machine for churning.
• Like most home made ice creams, this Mulberry Ice Cream is best eaten within a week otherwise the flavour will start to dull. I’m sure you will have no problems consuming it though!

Makes 1 litre