For many people, fall is tea season. Well, for tea drinkers it’s probably always tea season, but for my pregnant wife at least, the cooler temperatures bring a chill that only a cup of tea can warm. So why not put a little of that warmth into our ice cream? And well, we actually did that exact thing a couple of weeks back with our Masala Chai Chocolate Chunk. This week, we’re doing it again. With such endless varieties of tea to work with, we might be steeping loose leaf tea all winter. Let’s get started with this week’s flavor – Orange Blossom Green Tea with Pomegranate Syrup.
This is loose leaf organic orange blossom green tea. The brew consists of jasmine, lemongrass, lemon myrtle, rose, orange and lime. That is a lot of stuff, and guaranteed, steeping it in our ice cream is going to bring out all of those flavors and aromas. Most teas require a certain temperature for steeping, which allows maximum flavor infusion, yet keeps it tasting subtle and fresh. This temperature range is usually between 175-190 degrees Fahrenheit, and that’s just too hot for our ice cream base, so to give our ice cream proper justice, we’re going steep the tea in our cream and milk before making our ice cream base. After the steep, we strain out the tea, make our ice cream base, cook it, cool it, and it is ready to be churned.
Next, the pomegranate syrup. I wanted a tart juice to contrast the smooth orange blossom tea infusion, and walking through the isle of juices, pomegranate spoke to me. It said, “Take me. Take me to that place. Take me to ice cream town.” It was meant to be, I guess. This is organic cold pressed 100% pomegranate juice. It’s tart, but not overpoweringly tart, like say cranberry juice would be. For the syrup, we reduced the pomegranate juice down a little to concentrate flavors and then add cane sugar. The result is a pomegranate syrup having the consistency of honey. So pretty much, this is pomegranate honey. It gets swirled into the ice cream before packaging.
Orange Blossom Green Tea with Pomegranate Syrup – ice cream to warm you.
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 11/7/14 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!
