Rose Petal Ice Cream

Recipe is from At Home with Herbs by Jane Newdick.  Story Publishing, 1994.

* I suggest doubling the recipe for a larger batch*

1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup half-and-half
4 scented roses
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsps. honey
2 drops natural pink food coloring ( I omitted this)

1)  Put the cream, milk, and rose petals in a saucepan and bring to just below the boil.  Remove from the heat, cover, and leave to infuse until cooled.

2)  Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and honey together in a large metal or china bowl until pale and creamy.

3)  Strain the rose-flavored milk into the egg mixture and return to pan, or put the bowl over a pan of boiling water.  Cook very gently until slightly thickened, but do not let it boil.  Add a drop or two of coloring, if desired but this is NOT necessary.

4)  Chill the custard mixture, then freeze it, or process it in an ice-cream maker.  Store in the freezer.  Leave it to soften from frozen for about 20 minutes before serving. 

When I'm in the garden, I often have ideas about what I'd like to cook with the kids.  I remembered this rose petal ice cream recipe and so I decided to give it a try.    

Here is the rose bush from which we harvested our roses.  It smells great and it sits right under our bedroom window. I've been feeding Rosie our leftover banana peels and she just loves it!

The kids got all confused when I told them to pick the roses.  Maybe it's because I try and discourage them from picking roses most of the time?

The roses...

Sarah enjoyed plucking the petals off the roses.

Here are the ingredients.  It's very simple.  If you want to make this non-dairy, substitute with MimicCream instead of whipping cream and use coconut milk instead of half-and half. 

Sarah thought that it was so cool to put rose petals in a pot.

The rose petals are cooking...

This is what the mixture looks like after cooking.

Now the mixture is run through a sieve.  I used my chinois for this.

As you can see, it thickens up nicely.

Just simply let the rose petal ice cream sit in your freezer to solidify.  If you have one then pour it into your ice cream maker.

After about half an hour it was ready!

The finished product.

I did not add the suggest food coloring to our ice cream (for a variety of reasons).  I think it still had a pretty pastel pink color.  I also added a vanilla bean (and seeds) at the first step just in case the rose flavoring was too light. 

Rose petal Ice Cream

Sarah Elizabeth loves the ice cream!

If Gabriel likes it then you know its gotta be good!

~Summer Days~



~Lemon Balm Lemonade~

This is some of the lemon balm from our garden.  The green leaves in the picture above is the lemon balm  (not the pink flower).

Recipe is from At Home with Herbs by Jane Newdick. Storey Publishing, 1994

* I suggest doubling the recipe for a full pitcher*

4 unsprayed lemons

Small bunch of lemon balm

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup boiling water

2 1/2 cups water

Lemon balm sprigs to decorate

Preparation and infusing time: 30 min. Makes 1 quart.

1)  Scrub the lemons well before peeling the rind thinly, avoiding as much as possible of the white part.

2)  Put the lemon rind in a small heatproof pitcher.  Tear off the lemon balm leaves, and add these with the sugar.  Pour the boiling water into the pitcher and stir well, crushing the balm leaves to release their flavor.  Leave this mixture to infuse about 15 minutes.

3)  Cut lemons in half and squeeze out the juice.  Put a few fresh sprigs of lemon balm into a large glass pitcher, then strain lemon juice into it, and add the cooled, strained syrup.  Top up with rest of water or half-water half-ice, and chill until needed. 

To make the most delicious lemonade that you have EVER tasted before, here are the simple ingredients.  If you don't have any lemon balm, Whole Foods or your local nursery has it in stock.  It is also a natural sedative that is non-habit forming.  After drinking this, you will definitely be relaxed.

Pour the boiling water over the lemon peels and the lemon balm.  Make sure you pour this into a heat-proof pitcher or container. 

After the mixture rests, strain and pour into serving container along with water and ice. 

Add a few extra springs of lemon balm to the pitcher and you're ready to serve.  This truly is the BEST lemonade on the planet as of June 2011.  Search no more, it's time to serve it up!

~Summer Bliss~