As the summer goes on, more and more fruits come into season, all the better for
400 FLAVOURS
The abundance of nature! The joys of juice! Join me, please?
Recipe 042: Blueberry Corn Muffin
After last week’s Cool Ranch Doritos recipe, dear husband Gerald
Blueberry syrup (I didn’t add sugar so maybe it’s not technically a syrup, but):
Ingredients:
1 cup regular blueberries
1 cup “wild” blueberries (I got both these bags frozen, I’m not out on the mountain trails picking blueberries myself)
½ cup water
Instructions:
In a saucepan, put the berries and water together and heat on medium.
Once water is simmering, turn down heat to low and let simmer for half an hour or so, until the berries are mush.
You can mash the berries to help get out the juices, but be careful of drops splattering out and staining things!
Strain out the mash to get a thick juicy syrup.
Blueberry Corn Muffin ice cream:
Ingredients:
Syrup from above (about 1/2 a cup)
700 grams whole milk
70 grams dry masa flour
105 grams water
145 grams heavy cream
147 grams sugar
77 grams honey
7 grams salt
Instructions:
Mix the masa and water together & knead into a ball. Let rest for ten minutes.
Blend milk & masa dough until incorporated pretty much fully.
In a large pot, boil the milk mixture on medium heat. Stir constantly so the masa doesn’t stick to the bottom and burn. Once the mix gets to a boil, let it boil for four minutes.
Remove pot from heat and add the cream, sugar, honey and salt. Taste and add any more salt if needed.
Let mix cool in fridge for at least 3 hours.
Churn mix until thick, about 15-20 minutes.
Drizzle the syrup over the ice cream as you scoop it from the machine to the chilled container. Freeze overnight.
TASTING NOTES: The masa base is a bit too dense, it’s likely that the recipe is meant for a softer gelato freezing method. So a bit less masa or a bit more cream would be a help. But the flavour is fun! Getting a good balance of the corn & blueberry is really important for the experience, otherwise it’s too much either way.
WORTH MAKING: Yes, with a bit of a tweak.
Recipe 043: Grape-Lime
I got this recipe from David Lebovitz. There’d been a bunch of local grapes at the nearby grocery store (so much of what I make is based on what’s put out on this one table near the entrance), and I wanted something that used them. It surprised me that it needed so little sugar or corn syrup, but I guess that’s the power of the pectin from the grapes.
Grape-lime sorbet:
Ingredients:
1kg concord grapes, rinsed and stemmed
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp clear corn syrup
1/8 tsp fine salt, or ¼ tsp kosher
Juice from half of a big lime, or a whole small lime
Instructions:
Put the grapes and water into a large non-reactive pot, and gently boil to soften the grapes, about 15 minutes or so. Mush em a bit to help.
Strain the grapes in small batches (I did 3), pressing down on the grape mass to get the the juice out. I ended up with just over 3 cups of juice, like David did.
Heat juice in a clean, also non-reactive pot and add sugar, corn syrup, salt, and lime juice. Stir until all dissolved.
Let mix cool, then chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.
Churn in machine until thick, about 15 minutes.
Put into pre-chilled containers and freeze overnight.
TASTING NOTES: The texture is very crumbly, almost like a granita, which could be good if you serve it in a way that makes sense for that. But this would never hold together in a scoop on a cone, and dissolves quickly back into juice. But the flavour, my gosh, it’s like it’s coming right out of a McCain’s juice box. The nostalgia is off the charts.
WORTH MAKING: Yeap yeap, maybe throw in a bit more corn syrup to smooth it out.
Thanks for reading, and let me know if you try any of these recipes. Every week I’ll be posting one (or two, or three) more, until we reach….