Ice Cream Sundays - {fresh mint}

The internet is a funny place - you can find all sorts of great information, but there's also a lot of trash out there.  And sometimes, you might find something that's just flat-out incorrect, like I did when I came upon a review recently for a gelato book (yes, I read gelato book reviews in my free time) in which the reviewer slammed David Lebovitz for using corn syrup in his recipes.  My feathers were all in a bunch, let me tell you!  After some research of the recipes in the excellent The Perfect Scoop, out of 130 recipes for ice cream, sorbet/sherbet & granitas (yes, I counted) there are only 2 that use corn syrup or corn starch - both are in the sorbet/sherbet section.  2 out of 130.  What's really unbelievable is that there are ice cream cookbooks out there that use these ingredients in every recipe (no, I'm not naming any names).  I avoid these cookbooks at all costs & stick to my absolute favorite, The Perfect Scoop.

I think that gelato book reviewer should take a look at David Lebovitz's recipe for fresh mint ice cream, as a good example of what you'll find in the book.  It doesn't get any more natural than this: whole milk, sugar, heavy cream, salt, fresh mint leaves and egg yolks.  These ingredients mix up magically, to make a creamy, delicious, minty ice cream.  I added the stracciatella to the ice cream at the end of churning, which is simply melted chocolate added to the ice cream to make a thin swirl that breaks up into tiny chips as the chocolate cools.  I think it's a must with the fresh mint ice cream - it was just perfect!

 
The funny thing is that the base was actually a lovely mint green color as I stirred it.  Once I added the egg yolks, the color changed to what you see in the above picture, but I was excited to see the mint green there naturally.  No food coloring needed, because the green leaves provided their own color.

So, I think our gelato reviewer owes it to his or herself to take another look at The Perfect Scoop.  There are recipes here for some of the best all-natural ice cream you will ever taste - 128, to be exact.

-Cheryl