Hello Ice Cream Club! Today was the hottest day of the year in Vancouver, and I hope yours was a little slice of summer heaven, with some nice ice cream in it somewhere. I’m just about to have myself a little container of probably my favourite frozen treat ever.
This is plain and simple Blackberry sorbet. Blackberries, sugar, a little splash of lemon juice, and water. Perfect. The secret, as with most simple recipes, is quality of ingredients.
Every year for the past few years, I’ve been foraging for Blackberries. There are some in a location near where I used to work. The first year I was tuned in to them, I picked something like 40 pounds, and started churning out sorbets. The first one I made was pretty much the same as the one I’m going to eat. Simple and perfect. I was hooked.
Foraging is a great way to get free food, but should always be approached with caution. Plenty of early foragers back in the beginnings of the Human race were found dead near some enticing berries, or succulent mushrooms. And some still are.
My forage area is long-standing and I’m not the only forager there, but I still wash thoroughly and cook everything I bring home from there. I make a really thick coulis out of the berries, and then either thin it out with water or just as often, with watermelon.
This past week I made a batch of blackberry-watermelon sorbet also, which among friends is known as Julien Jr. Sorbet. Julien Jr. was a notorious long watermelon with a knack for mischief. And was in the first such sorbet.
I’ve seen tons of food tv shows where someone pickles watermelon rind, and in the spirit of things like nose-to-tail and foraging philosophies, I decided to do it myself. I did a small batch flavoured with cinnamon, clove and black peppercorns. It was great, but too Christmas for me. Today I did a serious batch with jars and everything. They look great.
I’m a sucker for dill pickles, so these have garlic and dill in them instead of cinnamon and clove. I kept the peppercorns. I’m excited to try these with pulled pork later this week.
Last week I bought some Ruby Chocolate from my local Purdy’s store. So sort of like foraging for ingredients. The aim was to simply try it and see what it was like, and how it behaved, and what ice cream stuff I could do with it.
So far, I’ve made 3 batches, and churned one. The others were just made today. Nobody has tasted any yet, so I don’t have any feedback other than my own. For the record, I did 2 bars per batch. The bars are 50g each. I also did vanilla extract in each batch. It doesn’t mess with the chocolate flavour, and even gives it a nice roundness. I’m convinced that a teeny bit of alcohol makes ice cream extra special. I think it’s because it won’t freeze, and helps with the element of softness in the ice cream.
I melted the Ruby bars over a double boiler (Bain-Marie for the purists) and they melted down beautifully, just like any other chocolate. They also retained their colour… until I mixed the melted chocolate into my custard mix. I’m not sure if it will happen every time, or if I just didn’t use enough of the chocolate, but the mix went beige. I add egg yolks, too, and that doesn’t help. It’s a nice, appetizing beige, but it’s not the glorious pink I was hoping for.
I tasted the mix, and it’s got a super nice, rich Ruby Chocolate flavour. It has this fruitiness that’s sort of like that of dried fruit like raisins or cherries. It’s ideal as ice cream, because the flavour is so forward and uninterrupted. I do plan on trying this again, and using more bars in an attempt to make the mix more pink.
That does it for me for this week! I’m hoping to get another foraging trip in over the next few days, and I’ll be churning Ruby mixes too. It’s supposed to be a scorcher, but wherever you are, hot, cold or Goldilocks zone, stay safe, wear sunscreen, eat ice cream, and look out for the people around you. Stay frosty!
The Ice Cream Club 