Black Raspberry Ice Cream

I happened to come across some amazing black raspberries last week.  They were incredibly flavorful, and I immediately started thinking about ice cream the moment I saw them.  When I was little, we lived in area where blackberries were prolific, and my dad would occasionally treat us to a batch of homemade blackberry ice cream with the berries we had picked.

I hadn't had it in years, but I remembered loving it, especially how it was a lovely shade of purple.  When I bought the black raspberries, I decided to make a batch of ice cream reminiscent of the blackberry ice cream my Dad use to make.  It was perfect timing too, because Scott and I were visiting my parents last weekend, so I actually got to churn the ice cream with them.  My Dad managed to find the old ice cream machine in the attic, and we mixed up the ice cream base, bought some salt, crushed some ice, and started churning.  The hardest part was getting texts all week from my parents each time they ate the ice cream.  Ice cream jealousy is the worst kind of jealousy!

Notes:
You can make this with black raspberries, red raspberries, or blackberries.  I've modeled this recipe on the strawberry ice cream recipe I posted earlier.  The flavor of the berries is really important for this recipe, so aim to make this with berries that capture the flavor of summer.  When you add the lemon juice, the mixture may turn bright pink where the lemon juice was added.  Just stir the mixture until lemon juice is fully incorporated, and you won't have any pink streaks. 

Measuring note:  So that I knew when I had cooked the berry liquid down to ¾ cup, I started by pouring ¾ cup of water into my pot, and then I put a wooden spoon into the water until it reached the bottom of the pot.  I pulled out the wooden spoon and cut a small notch in it at the level where the water stopped to mark ¾ cup.  I poured the water out, dried the pot well, and then poured the berry liquid into the pot and added the sugar.  When the liquid level reached the notch, I knew that I had reduced the berry mixture down to ¾ cup. 

Ingredients:
4 cups black raspberries; divided use
⅔ cup granulated sugar; divided use
2 tablespoons honey
1½ cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Yields about a quart of ice cream

Toss, Set Aside:
Place 1½ cups of the black raspberries in a medium-sized bowl, gently stir them with ⅓ cup of granulated sugar (some berries will be crushed during the process), and set the bowl aside.  You'll be stirring these reserved berries into the ice cream base so that there are bits of black raspberries in your ice cream.

Liquefy, Strain, Cook, Mix, Chill, Churn:
Take the remaining 2½ cups of the black raspberries, and purée them until the berries are completely liquefied.  Pour the berry liquid through a fine mesh strainer to remove as many the seeds and skins as possible.  Press down with a spoon to extract as much of the juice as you can.  Discard the seeds.  You should have about 1 cup of liquid.  Pour the berry liquid into a medium-sized pan with ⅓ cup of granulated sugar.  Cook the mixture until it has reduced to ¾ cup of liquid (see the measuring note for an easy way to determine when you've reached ¾ cup).  The mixture will be thick and bubbly.  Remove the pan from the heat, add the honey, and stir until it is dissolved.  Scrape the cooked berry mixture into a medium/large-sized bowl, and add the heavy whipping cream, whole milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and reserved black raspberry mixture and its juices.  Stir until the mixture is homogenous.  Place a tight-fitting lid or plastic wrap over the bowl, and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight.  Freeze according to your ice cream machine directions. Pin It