Blackcurrant Ice Cream

I have forsaken the remainder of the raspberries to the caterpillars (as if I had a choice ) and as a consequence gifted with clouds of butterflies.  As I walked around the corner, on my way to Blackcurrantvillas, I pass a raised lavender bed. It sounded like a rolling start of a formula one grand prix or should that read Grand Bee?  Butterflies and Bees jostling for pole position.

Shortly after my little trug runneth over. Quite a few blackcurrants didnt make it back to the kitchen. Guilty as charged, I simply stood, quite mesmerised, by the buzzing bees and butterflies and may have eaten the odd currant or two?

OK, time to fess up I returned to the kitchen looking like a vegetarian vampire!  An oxymoron if ever there was one.

The blackcurrants were warm, lush and ripe and I made an executive decision to wash and prep them straight away.  After their bath they went straight into a pan with a drop of water and some sugar, on a gentle heat and were cooked within a couple of minutes.  Quality control here already knew how sweet they were.

Keen observers will have noted the ‘were’, as opposed to ‘are’ in the last sentence.  Yes, they were that delish, I digress…

I swiftly made a batch of the no cook vanilla ice cream as I’m prone to do in the summer.  I reserve the right to slave over a hot stove in the winter, rather than the summer, unless necessity dictates otherwise.  Theres a link above and the recipe is on the home page for interested readers.

The fruits willingly yielded their juice. The ice cream machine, also unusually keen and compliant, gave the little currants a chance to cool.  Decanting the ‘spare’ juice into a spurious empty wine bottle seemed appropriate.  Two suitable freezer containers were 2/3rds filled with the No Cook Vanilla ice cream and some of the blackcurrant pulp spooned on top and lightly squiggled. ( Squiggled is a well used culinary term here ). Both packs labeled Blackcurrant Ripple, now reside in the freezer here at Ice Cream Towers.

I had purposefully left some of the ice cream in the machine and added a small amount of the pulp to blend ( shown ).  The remaining pulp is frozen separately to be served as a sorbet. There is every likelyhood that this will set like a brick, however 30 seconds in the food processor with a slug of Pimms or Bombay Sapphire Gin will soon sort that to become an utterly wonderous and hugely desirable sorbet. Alternatively a granita or maybe a cocktail.  Any takers?

The blackcurrant syrup will feature again shortly….. and the tale of the Blackcurrant Ice Cream will be concluded in another post.

Enjoy! x