Writing an equation

Kristina's blackberry ice cream photos propelled us out of the house on Saturday afternoon to go and fill a few tupperware containers with the bounty of the hedgerows from the fields behind our house. They seem early this year and very very plentiful.

The trip is so much speedier now that Mister Johnny has ditched his stabilizers.

So they zoom along while I am designated chief picker. This is largely because blackberry picking success is dependent on a high pain threshold (to ignore the prickles) and a basic level of greed driven determination. Those lightweights of mine are content to scoff a few in the fields with little thought of the potential rewards to be gained from getting enough berries home for a cooking session. I, on the other hand, always have half an eye towards the end goal.

And in this case, the end goal was ice-cream.

So very easy and so wonderfully good. I cooked the berries with some sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water, very gently until they began to give up their juice, then passed them through a sieve. The only downside to blackberries for free is their more extreme pippyness, but a sieve gets round that.

The resulting coulis, spent the night in the fridge getting nice and cold and was then put into the ice cream maker and churned until ice crystals started to form, at which point I poured in 300ml of whipping cream. Actually, I sweetened the cream too as I decided the coulis was still a bit too tart.

Do you find that with ice cream? The mixture has to be a touch over-sweet to come out tasting right after it is frozen.

And how very right this was. The only sad thing was having bog standard kiddy wafer cones instead of something classier. But that's just a good excuse for another batch.

Comments

[lucy]

What a great idea. We went blackberrying at the weekend too. You are right, they are early this year, in fact some of them must have ripened a while ago as the sun had already dried them out.
We got loads and turned them into a crumble, Yum!

[Clare]

We are planning a blackberry picking trip soon too - and this ice cream looks delicious. Will have to give that a try for sure...how many blackberries did you have for the 300ml ice cream?
Take Care
Clare
x

[kristina]

Your ice cream looks so delicious!

I completely agree the mixture has to be extra sweet/intense, as freezing dulls the flavor.

And you're probably better off with your cones: the waffle cones in my last three boxes from Waitrose have been in pieces...But then again, any excuse for another batch!

K x

[Lisa]

What a wonderfully rich colour that ice cream is. We were only saying yesterday we need to have a blackberry picking session as they are out in abundance.
Lisa

[ginny]

delicious... my girls have picked some with their grandad today.. i love the blackberry season!
x

[monica]

I've never made icecream... but then us Italian never do. Why bother when there's a place in ever corner, right?

I might have to come around!!

[Michelle]

But I *like* those kiddy wafer cones!

[melissa]

oh, yum yum yum!
i want an icecream machine. and some blackberries.

[Phillippa]

its true you need extra sugar-its because your taste buds are numbed by cold like any part of your body so they don't work so well, so when the ice cream is melted it tastes far too sweet I love the colour of your ice cream you dont get richness like that from a packet!

[Gina]

I really must try this one. It looks so good!

[Louise]

That looks delicious!! I've made ice cream before, but have always managed without the ice cream maker - except for my attempt at frozen yogurt, which was a complete disaster! Might have to go foraging for berries at the weekend then, it just looks so tasty!

[lazylol]

The colour of your ice cream in lovely - I love blackberry picking1

[frances]

That is the most beautiful ice cream I've ever seen!

frances

[Angel Jem]

I'm dragging mine out blackberrying soon. Might make a few crumble fillings rather than ice cream, though.... we don't have a maker and remembering to take out and whisk sounds too much like work!

[Emma]

What beautiful icecream - that's no Mr Whippy. I'm itching to taste some now - we do have excellent picking here. I'll have to be virtuous with the electric handwhisk though. I love the eager face in the background.

[cathleen]

Oh that looks so good. The color is luscious too. Reminds me of the quilt I am working on. I would really love to be eating some ice cream right now on this very hot day

[Thimbleanna]

Oooh, that looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe and suggestions -- I thought the blueberry ice cream I made a month or so ago was a very good, but a tad tart -- I'll have to try again!

[Tamara]

Oh you are making me miss England. When we visited my parents, who live there, they had lots of lovely bushes at the end of their lane, we went and picked every night.

We have blackberries in Australia too but they are considered a weed so they are all sprayed and inedible.

I will try your simple icecream when summer hits us here.

[Kate]

Blackberry ice cream (some in my freezer now) is one of our favourites, as well, especially when the blackberries are free... And yes, you are right about ice cream, it's always less sweet when frozen, so you need to watch the sweetness of the mixture. We had raspberry as well this year, but it's actually a little sweeter - which is nice, but we really enjoy the sharpness of the blackberries. Mmmm.

[Thimbleina]

Oh that looks good must try that.

[denise]

Oh yes, berries...I just love them--all sorts! I really miss the crazy blackberry vines we had in the yard of our last house (raspberries too!). Too be able to walk out into your own yard, pick, and eat--right then and there, well, it's fabulous. Enjoy blackberry season!