Buttermilk

Miracle Ice Cream

by:
August 20, 2012
4.5
2 Ratings
  • Makes 3 pints
Author Notes

Low sugar ice cream with an intriguing flavor.
A simple but intriguing variation of this same principle is just four ingredients: strawberries, buttermilk, heavy cream and miracle berries —SuAh

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 10 pieces Miracle berry (Synsepalum dulcificum)
  • 2 cups Buttermilk
  • 1 cup Heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract (or seeds extracted from half vanilla bean)
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground cardamom OR cinnamon (optional)
  • 4 pieces Birds Eye Chilis (or other fresh chilis) (optional)
Directions
  1. Purée miracle berries and chilis in a few tablespoons of buttermilk.
  2. Add heavy cream and remainder of buttermilk and blend to make the base.
  3. Strain the mixture to remove fruit solids.
  4. Add vanilla and/or spices to strained mixture and mix again.
  5. Follow ice cream maker instructions to prepare an ice cream.
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  • SuAh
    SuAh
  • solmstea
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2 Reviews

SuAh August 23, 2012
Ha, yes, solmstea explained it well (with more background than I know about)!

It tricks your tastebuds to get a sense of sweetness from sour foods, so the sourness of buttermilk really shines as a 'sweetener' in this case.

Yes. It is a novelty scoop, but since if an ice cream like this won it would be a limited edition release, a novelty scoop like this has appeal.
 
solmstea August 23, 2012
Miracle berries are a small, fairly tasteless fruit that have a chemical in them that makes everything sour taste sweet (for about an hour, depending on how much you've had). During the 70's it was going to be the next great diet fad, since that means you could sweeten foods and drinks with lemon or lime, rather than with sugar. But "big sugar" got it labeled an untested food additive by the FDA, so there went that. They're not actually that practical, as the berry's properties are destroyed by cooking (but I guess not freezing?), but it's fun for the novelty effect. I actually have a tree that looks to be producing a lot this year...maybe this is something I can do with them. Otherwise, a taste-tripping party is always fun too: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/dining/28flavor.html

Intriguing. If my harvest comes out as well as it's looking, I might have to try this.