This one is really easy, and it's really tasty too. Just 4 ingredients. One of which is balsamic vinegar.
In these sophisticated, globe-trotting times, this probably doesn't seem as strange as it might once have done. Restaurants seem to be dribbling balsamic over all sorts of desserts these days.
The original recipe is of course Italian. Gelato Di Fragole All'Aceto Balsamico originates in a book called Entertaining all'Italiana with Anna del Conte.
But I found it in my old favorite Ices: The Definitive Guide by Liddell and Weir.
Be careful with the balsamic, though. It's really intense. At least mine is. And if you add too much, it can be overpowering.
So I would recommend starting with a teaspoon and then increasing the dose as you taste the mixture, working up to a tablespoon, max.
There's obviously no stabilization in this, so it can be a little icy and cold, but that's fine on a hot day. It's best eaten within a couple of days.
Strawberry Ice Cream with Balsamic Vinegar
Ingredients
- 450 grams Fresh strawberries
- 150 ml Whipping / Heavy cream 32 - 40% fat, chilled
- 150 grams Granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Wash, dry and remove the green stalks from the strawberries. Then blend them in a food processor with the sugar.
- As the food processor is running, pour in the balsamic vinegar. Be careful not to add too much. The recipe calls for 1 Tbsp. You may want to add a little at a time and taste it though.
- Once you have a smooth puree transfer the mixture to a bowl with a lid and refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours. During this time the sugar and the vinegar should intensify the flavor of the strawberries.
- Combine the cream with the puree and pour the mixture into your ice cream maker
- Churn until the mixture has the consistency of whipped cream. Then transfer it to a plastic freezer box and freeze for around 1 hour.
- After an hour it should be soft enough to serve directly from the freezer but firm enough to melt slowly. If you've left it in the freezer for longer and it's too hard to serve, simply leave it out until it's softened.
Erm, when do you add the cream? The recipe lists it as an ingredient but does not explain what to do with it or when? Do you heat it? Add it in when you pour strawberry puree into ice cream maker? Thanks for the follow up? And how is it I am the only one asking this question?
Ooops yes, good point. I’ve fixed it. No heating needed. That’s the nice thing about this one.
Really love this website! I’ve been experimenting with making ice cream for some time, but I’ve always felt that I didn’t have enough knowledge about which parameters I could tune! Thanks a lot for creating this knowledgebase!
I’m trying to analyze some of my own recipes with your calculator and while doing that I tried punching in the numbers from this recipe. For the total% row I then get something like:
– 7.8% fat
– 1.5% msnf
– 22.3% sugar
– 34.2% total solids
Comparing this to your Mix Composition Guideline suggest that this is pretty close to light icrecream/gelato. However, the msnf value is way to low. The calculator suggest having 10% msnf. Why does this still work? Is this icecream consequently a bit harder?
Hi Nicolay,
The guidelines are very much guidelines only.
You can have all sorts of success outside of them. But when you’re having problems, they can help you solve them.
Less MSNF, can result in less “body” in your ice cream, and potentially a more icy or hard ice cream.
Thanks!
Carl