Salt Vanilla with Grapefruit Marmalade

I’m sure you’ve all noticed, but if you haven’t, it’s winter. Winter here in Minnesota means that it’s citrus season in parts of the US like Florida, Texas and California. We’ve played around with flavor profiles that include the likes of oranges, lemons, and limes, but grapefruit isn’t one that we’ve messed around with. Grapefruit is probably the least popular of all the citrus fruits, but it packs a bold bittersweet punch. It is that bold flavor punch that we always strive to create in our flavors, which made this one seem like a no brainer. I decided to pair up the grapefruit with another flavor we don’t often use on its own…vanilla. This time, we’re salting it down to produce a sweet/salty/bitter ice cream we like to call Salt Vanilla with Grapefruit Marmalade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For this flavor we’re using a natural sea salt, providing a mellow salt flavor, which fuses all the flavors in this ice cream together. We’re using two forms of vanilla for this one. First we split open a Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into our base. Second, we use a Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract to bring out a more pronounced vanilla profile. Both are mixed into our standard organic cane sugar base, then cooked, cooled, and ready to churn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next the marmalade. There are numerous methods for marmalade making, but I decided to try one that I saw used on a cooking show. I started with two large Ruby Red grapefruits thrown into a large pot of water so they are floating. The water is brought to a boil and the fruit is simmered for a few hours until the skin is tender. The whole fruit is cooled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, slicing and dicing, and into a sauce pan with brown sugar, cane sugar, and lemon juice. This mixture is slowly brought to a boil and simmered down until the grapefruit rinds become translucent and jelly like. And bang…we have grapefruit marmalade. For the ice cream, I decided to give the marmalade a little ride in the blender to break down some of the larger chunkage. The marmalade is layered into our salt vanilla ice base during the packaging process.

 

 

 

 

Salt vanilla ice cream with a hit of bittersweet grapefruit marmalade. If you hadn’t noticed, it’s winter, but that’s not stopping us from making delicious craft made ice creams.

Like to try some? You can be one of two lucky winners of this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. Two winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 1/31/14 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally. Prizes must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

Don’t forget, our next pint sale is coming up Saturday, February 8th. Click here for details.