Ginger Peach Tea Ice Cream

I owned a small ice cream business for a while and this was one of my most popular flavors. Try it out and let me know what you think.

¾ C Sugar
1 T Flour
1 C ½ & ½
½ t Fresh Ginger (chopped)
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Tea Infusion
1 T – loose Ginger Peach Tea –
½ T Fresh Sliced Ginger
¼ C Sugar
½ C Peach Nectar
½ tsp Lemon Zest
½ C Water

3 eggs

In a double boiler add sugar and ½ & ½ make a slurry out of the flour and small amount of the ½ & ½. Stir the mixture until it thickens. Remove from heat.

Next create the Tea Infusion. Combine the water, peach nectar, sliced ginger, lemon zest, sugar. Bring the liquid to a rolling boil. Turn off heat and add the tea. I prefer to add the tea loose and strain but a tea ball or tea bag works just as well. Steep for 10 to 15 minutes and strain. Add the ½ & ½ mixture to the tea infusion and return to medium-low heat.

In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs. temper the eggs by slowly adding some of the hot liquid to the eggs while whisking continuously. Once the egg mixture is thoroughly combined and the bowl is warm to the touch, whisk the eggs and ½ & ½ mixture back into the hot liquid. Stir continuously until the temperature of the mixture reaches 141º.

Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool completely. At this point you can start the ice cream maker or you can age the mixture first. This is done by putting the liquid in an airtight container and placing it in the refrigerator or at least 24 hours. This aging process allows the different ingredients to marry up and increases the depth of flavor. After aging, add to your ice cream maker. This recipe yields slightly les than a quart.

Slurry – A slurry is created when you mix flour or any other binding agent with a small amount of liquid (usually water) before adding it to the recipe. This acts as a thickener.

Temper – Tempering is done to moderate the difference between two ingredients. In this case, to temper the eggs is to add some of the hot liquid to the eggs and stir in order to bring the eggs up to the temperature of the liquid. This keeps the eggs from scrambling when they are introduced into the hot liquid.

Recipe courtesy of Demetria Dixon ©2004