Who does not scream for ice cream?
- Mmmm organic pink lady apples, poached in caramel syrup, teamed with gingerbread cake, fresh thyme leaves and a brilliant kefir crème fraiche vanilla ice cream.
2. Kefir ice cream accompanied by a bracing Kombucha lavender granita and mandarin segments compressed with orange blossom flavoured syrup.
3. * Foraged treats: Kefir vanilla ice cream teamed with simple foraged syrup …Beautiful (usually purple) flowers of pigface or the red calyx of wild rosella.
4. How about stinging nettle kefir ice cream in wattle seed infused meringue cups?
* Know the local produce, what to forage, where to pick it, and how to correctly identify the foods we can and cannot eat.
5. Can use recycled jars and wooden icy-pole sticks for serving.
6
Ice cream without an ice-cream maker
1-2 cups kefir
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup raw honey
2 egg whites
Blend all ingredients and freeze until nearly set.
Beat until thick and then fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.
Freeze then enjoy!
7.
Kefir soft serve
For best results freeze bananas that are very ripe – think ones you would use for banana bread.
• Blitz in food processor or juicer (champion) ½ cup kefir, 3 frozen bananas (chop before freezing) and nutmeg or vanilla.
Neapolitan (harlequin)
Berry flavour (frozen bananas, strawberries, raspberries and finely chopped ginger). Banana (as above)
Chocolate: frozen bananas with cacao and optional coconut oil. Place into covered container in freezer with the 3 flavours – berry, banana and chocolate.
It also can be made into a shape and freeze or into a bar tin for a very easy ice cream layered cake. Drizzle with cacao syrup for something special. Works with other frozen fruit – mango is delicious.
• Blitz in food processor; one frozen banana, dash of kefir, 1 teaspoon of ginger and turmeric, dash of cayenne, lemon or orange pepper, until it resembles soft serve.
Put 25 g of coarsely ground pepper into a small bowl and add 2 drops of lemon brine.
Mix and bottle for at least three days before use.
Ice cream (using ice cream maker)
With the addition of fat … cream or even kefir cream will help to make a smoother ice cream.
Too much cream, though, can make the ice cream have a buttery texture, that does not quiet cut it with most taste buds.
Lavender ice cream
1 1/2 cups heavy /raw cream
1 1/2 cups milk
2/3 cup light honey
2 tablespoons dried organic edible lavender flowers
Pinch of Himalayan salt
1/2 cup kefir
Gently heat the honey and lavender together in a small pan until warm and let stand for one hour.
Pour honey into the cream.
Pour cream mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard lavender.
Add rest of the ingredients and place in blender for 20 seconds.
Freeze mixture in ice cream maker bowl.
Starting with a cold mix helps make for a smoother ice cream in the end.
Churn in an ice cream machine.
Once you have a frozen dessert of a “soft serve” consistency, you can either serve it right away, or let it get a bit harder in the freezer.
We find it is best to move to a new container with a lid before storing in the freezer.
Not only does that help with not letting more ice crystals form, but it keeps your bowl free for a new flavour!!
Adding eggs in, even if you do not cook into custard, makes for a very smooth ice cream (the protein in eggs help keep ice crystals from forming).
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Vanilla ice cream
1- 2 egg /s
3/4 cup heavy (raw) cream / kefir crème fraiche
1 1/4 cup milk kefir
1/4 cup honey or to taste
1 vanilla bean, split / 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
Mix the egg with the cream and cook in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until you obtain a thick custard consistency.
Remove from heat.
Cool.
Mix in the milk kefir, vanilla, and honey to taste.
Cool in freezer and churn in an ice cream machine.
When finished, transfer to another container and place in the freezer for a couple of hours to harden a bit more, giving the consistency of ice cream. This is great alone, or you could make a syrup / shrub to drizzle over or add a mix-in.
Variations (mix-ins)
You can add many additions from the garden, forest or organic pantry.
Add mix-ins while the ice cream is still churning and add before the ice cream is finished.
They only require mixing for about one minute.
Or, once ice cream is finished use a spatula and fold through.
Organic vanilla powder, cinnamon, banana, mango, cacao / nibs, organic liquorice, lavender, lemon thyme, any fresh seasonal fruit – think varieties that freeze well, ginger, turmeric, fresh strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries (berries are best strained through a sieve), fermented flower buds, activated nuts, date syrup, molasses, matcha, native aniseed, wattle seed or foraged treasures (fermented tamarind and turmeric tonic).
There is only one thing better than a scoop of kefir ice cream, and that is two scoops or possible three.
Especially when the flavours mix, fuse and elevate to a new level of toothsome.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
• For cassata, fold in chopped diced dried pineapple, cherries, angelica and kefir-soaked walnuts.
• Soaked dried fruit and nuts (organic apricots soaked overnight in orange kombucha and pistachios).
• Himalayan salt (infused into ice cream base or sprinkle on top over best quality olive oil), Flor de Sal Hibiscus.
• Orange, turmeric paste, ginger and cacao nibs
• Vanilla, honey and cinnamon
• Lime stir in zest of 4 limes + 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• Pumpkin and lavender
• Breakfast ice cream – Maple syrup and organic bacon
• Organic dark chocolate chips and cherries or add cherries to chocolate ice cream (Cherries, vanilla and cacao / cherries and kefir-soaked almonds)
• Strawberries and coconut kefir whipped cream
• Toasted sesame seed and tahini
• Vanilla bean with a hot Mexican chocolate drizzle (add a little chili to the chocolate while melting to spice it up a bit).
The vanilla bean is the perfect smooth, sweet complement to a spicy, slightly bitter chocolate
• Boozy – from beer, wine to spirits (date syrup, raisins, rum and pecan) Let the raisins macerate for a few days until they absorb all the rum and are quite plump.
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Wattle seed
Usually roasted and ground, Wattle seed suggests coffee, chocolate and hazelnut flavours. Boil briefly in water use the grounds as a crumb and the liquid extract in ice cream, pavlova, pancakes, bread or in your favourite kefir chocolate recipe.
Add 2 teaspoons of ground Wattle seed into a cup / glass jug and add just enough boiling water to cover the grounds. Do not add more water or it will form ice crystals when frozen.
Allow to cool. Add the cooled wattle seed grounds to already made kefir ice cream. Freeze and enjoy!
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Matcha
Sieve Matcha to remove any lumps.
Blend cool custard cream whilst adding kefir matcha slowly.
Whisk until soft peaks form then stir in vanilla.
Place in a container and freeze overnight / place in chilled ice cream maker bowl and churn.
Enjoy a scoop with a drizzle of infused honey and some chopped soaked nuts.
Love and bacteria, Lynnie xo