Blackberry Ice Cream

When Sur La Table is selling a Cuisinart ice cream machine for $37 (including tax, which is now 10.25% in Santa Monica, by the way) one is not allowed to say no. Los Angeles’ hot, humid weather and the fact that we had just finished a gallon of Dreyer’s vanilla ice cream recently assured me that my decision to buy yet another appliance would only bring me true, everlasting happiness. When blackberries are 2 boxes for $4 at Ralphs, one has no excuse to not eat antioxidant and flavanoid-rich fruit. Clearly, these were forces beyond my control. I was only doing the right thing.

This post is about a blackberry ice cream that is perfectly rich and unbelievably smooth. It’s the kind of the ice cream that is so wonderful that it may prevent me from purchasing ice cream elsewhere.

Fun fact about me: I did a science project in high school about antioxidant activity in blackberries. I used paper chromatography and actually separated the dark purple pigment into different bands of color! Granted, I had the guidance of a friend’s mother who ran a very prestigious lab around UCSD, but I did end up presenting at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair as a sophomore, winning first place in the chemistry category, a handful of cash scholarships, and “Sweepstakes Runner-Up.” Considering that I now study art history and can barely distinguish an isotope from an isosceles triangle (kidding!) I definitely consider that time to be the apex of my scientific career.

For the time being, I’m going to stick with ice cream chemistry. It’s the only kind of chemistry that won’t make me wear dorky goggles or balance reactants and reagents. I would get an A+ in ice cream chemistry.

When I took this picture, I scooped just a little ice cream into my bowl. I clearly left most of it in the glass pan for Stephen, because I’m so generous like that. It’s ridiculously hard to share good ice cream. Especially when it’s so pretty. If I could make, package, and sell this ice cream, I would call it Blackberry Blush. I’m sure I’d also get a good make-up line out of this!

After freezing the newly made ice cream overnight, the consistency is lush and rich, just sweet enough to enhance the natural blackberry flavor with a pleasant, yet insistent tartness that makes the flavor stand out.

Just in time for some late April heat, this ice cream is definitely going to carry me through my upcoming weeks of midterms!

Blackberry Ice Cream (From Saveur.com)

• 1 1⁄2 cups whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1 1⁄4 cup heavy cream
• 1 pint fresh blackberries
• Juice of 1⁄2 lemon (We used a whole lemon)

I would follow the directions on their site for the entire process. The only thing I would like to add: I would recommend adding a little extra sugar to the blackberries when combining it with lemon juice to create a thick, jam-like slurry of blackberries.