At my house, green tea ice cream is king. Both of my daughters love the stuff, and my younger daughter practically insists there be a batch in the freezer at all times. The anemic flavor of most commercial brands is not for her; she’s all about the true bittersweet flavor of matcha (the Japanese word for green tea), which requires a loose hand with the tea and a frozen ice-cream maker canister always at the ready.
Yes, I make my own ice cream. This is in part because I like to cook but more because the ice cream flavors my family likes cannot be purchased in most grocery stores, restaurants or ice cream emporiums. Flavors such as green tea, red bean and ginger end an Asian meal with pizzazz but also stand alone on a hot summer day. And you may take solace in knowing that at least some of their ingredients might be good for you.
Green tea, of course, is a powerful antioxidant. Red beans offer protein (now there’s a reason to serve red bean ice cream to your kids!), and ginger helps with digestion, possibly moderating the effects of all those egg yolks and all that cream.
Matcha and azuki (red bean) ice creams are popular in Japan, where even Haagen-Dazs offers them in all their strong-flavored glory. Ginger ice cream is on a few Denver restaurant menus, but the best local source (other than your own kitchen) comes from the Boulder Ice Cream Co.
At the upcoming Denver Cherry Blossom Festival, both ginger and green tea ice creams from Boulder Ice Cream will be for sale. The company worked with festival coordinators to increase the matcha in its green tea ice cream so it more closely would approximate the style available in Japan.
Red bean ice cream tastes much better than it sounds – with almost a chocolate taste, and a lighter texture than most ice creams, owing to all that bean paste. If you’ve ordered it in restaurants you may not be prepared for the pronounced flavor of the version shown here. But trust me, it’s really good.
When I first experimented with ginger ice cream I used a recipe of Emeril Lagasse’s that calls for 1/4 cup of grated ginger root, along with 8 egg yolks. Besides requiring a lot of patience to grate all that ginger, Emeril’s recipe produced a confection that tasted so strongly of ginger’s heat that it was overwhelming.
Here’s one case where less is better – and so my recipe uses less ginger, fewer egg yolks and less cream while still delivering fresh ginger flavor. Many recipes call for chopped crystallized ginger, but we like a consistency that is smooth, not chewy, so out comes the grater when it’s time to make a batch.
Give these recipes a try, and your family might tell you to forget about the vanilla for a while.
Michelle Starika Asakawa is a freelance writer in Lafayette.
If you go
The 35th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday June 23-24 in downtown Denver. Celebrating the Japanese-American heritage, the festival offers perennial favorites such as teriyaki chicken and beef bowls alongside newer additions, such as Spam musubi (sushi) and green tea ice cream. For info, visit tsdbt.org/cherryblossom.
RECIPES
Ginger Ice Cream
From Michelle Asakawa, makes about 2 quarts.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger root (including any juice)
Pinch salt
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
Directions
Combine the cream, milk, grated ginger and salt in a large, heavy pan and simmer for 20 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale yellow. Slowly whisk about 1 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, then pour all the egg mixture into the pan and stir. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens slightly, 5-10 minutes.
Strain into a large bowl, pushing against the sides to extract the liquid from the ginger and isolate any fibrous pieces.
Pour into a covered container and refrigerate until well chilled (several hours or overnight). Process according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
Red Bean Ice Cream
Sweetened red bean paste is available at Asian and specialty markets. If you can find only whole sweetened red beans, use a food processor to make the beans into a paste; your result will be ice cream with a more pronounced bean flavor and attractive flecks of bean skin. Garnish with whole beans is optional, as shown on the cover. From Michelle Asakawa, makes 2 quarts.
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1 can (14-16 oz.) sweetened red bean paste
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Beat the sugar and egg yolks until pale yellow. Set aside.
Bring milk to a slow boil in a medium-sized heavy saucepan and then turn off the heat. Slowly whisk a cup of hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, then pour the entire mixture into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens slightly, about 5-10 minutes.
Remove pan from heat and whisk in the red bean paste. Be sure to blend any lumps. Stir in the cream and vanilla extract.
Pour into covered container and refrigerate until well chilled (several hours or overnight). Process according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
Green Tea Ice Cream
Powdered green tea (matcha) is available at Asian and specialty markets. Buy the less expensive green tea if you plan to use it all in ice cream. From Michelle Asakawa, makes 2 quarts.
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 cup milk
2 1/2 tablespoons powdered green tea
1/4 cup hot water
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Beat the sugar and egg yolks until pale yellow. Set aside.
Bring milk to a slow boil in a medium-sized heavy saucepan and then turn off the heat. Slowly whisk a cup of hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, then pour the entire mixture into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens, about 5-10 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
In a small bowl, furiously whisk the powdered green tea into the hot water, being sure to blend all lumps. Add to the ice cream base, stirring well. Stir in the cream and vanilla extract.
Pour into covered container and refrigerate until well chilled (several hours or overnight). Process according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
