Homemade Fresh Mint Ice Cream
fresh mint (7 or 8 sprigs)
5 tablespoons caster sugar
3 egg whites
3/4 pint (375 ml) crème fraîche
Take the mint leaves and finely chop them. Using a food blender or food processor or even a traditional pestle and mortar, blend in the sugar and when well mixed together then stir in the crème fraîche.
Whisk the 3 egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture.
Transfer the complete mixture into an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.
This is one of the more unusual recipes for homemade ice cream and if you follow the link you will find plenty more - from stem ginger to rhubarb and custard, sloe gin to licorice toffee. It's quite a list! Homemade ice cream can be such fun and you will be amazed at how good some of the more unusual flavors are.
Mint has been popular for many centuries and in medieval times mint was one of the most popular medieval herbs grown as it was used both for cooking and for medicinal purposes. Did you know there are at least 20 species of mint? It's an amazing herb and you can learn more courtesy of Wikipedia's mint page here.
Author: Shelagh Caudle