Huckleberry Ice Cream
It’s Friday evening before a holiday weekend and our AC stops working. It’s 95 all weekend. We found more ants in our cupboards, this time they found their way INSIDE the honey jar. Can summer be over now???
I know, I know. Unpopular opinion. But I’m hot. I’m tired of bugs. And I just want to wear the new sweaters I bought. Is that so much to ask?
There is still one thing I enjoy this time of year though: huckleberry ice cream. Specifically huckleberry milkshakes. Usually I’m a chocolate lover, but when it is this hot I want something lighter and more refreshing. If you, along with numerous others I’ve found, don’t know what a huckleberry is, the recent huckleberry scone post gives you some fun facts about the tart little berries.
You know that phenomenon where you learn a new word or a new topic and you start to see it everywhere? Once I started researching huckleberries, I almost immediately saw an article in the AAA magazine. I’ve had a hard time describing a huckleberry and it’s allure to someone who has never had one, but this really painted the picture for me so I knew I had to share:
“Afterward, as I stood in the warm sun with the scent of pines and the buzz of insects filling the air, the taste lingered: a dusky, jam-intense fruitiness far bolder than a blueberry (huckleberry’s polite cousin) and a persistent edge-of-the-tongue tang. If there is such a thing as a taste of wild lands, of untamed places where creatures roam free and clouds bump into mountains, this was it”
Christopher Hall, Via Magazine, July & August 2019
To me, the thought of huckleberry ice cream conjures visions of hot August days, those dog days of summer. So hot your ice cream is practically melting off the cone the second it’s handed to you. It is a nostalgic memory and I feel like I’ve missed out if a summer passes and I don’t get any.
I used our vanilla ice cream recipe here and simply added some huckleberries. I cooked them down with a little sugar just to get their juices to release and so they would disperse more easily through the ice cream. I also needed the juice to make the ice cream this classic purple color.
As you can tell from the start of this post, there isn’t much I like about this time of year, but huckleberry ice cream makes it all a bit more bearable.
Enjoy!
~Stephanie
Huckleberry Ice Cream
- 1 1/2 cup huckleberries (fresh or frozen)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup sugar + 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- pinch of salt
- In medium saucepan, add huckleberries, water, and 1/2 cup of sugar. Cook on medium heat until huckleberries begin to break down.
- Lower heat and add remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 cup of whipping cream. Slowly stir until sugar is fully dissolved.
- Remove from heat and add remaining 1 cup cream, vanilla, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt. Let chill at least one hour or refrigerate overnight.
- Churn ice cream according to ice cream maker directions, usually about 20 minutes.
- Transfer to freezer safe container and freeze until firm. Scoop, top with additional huckleberries as desired, and enjoy!
My husband LOVES huckleberry ice cream but has become lactose intolerant. He can tolerate fat free half and half. Could I substitute that for the cream without affecting the texture too much?
Hi Linda! I haven’t ever experimented with any other ingredients. I think the worst thing that could happen is it wouldn’t set up and freeze completely? In which case you could just eat it same day like soft serve (doesn’t sound like the worst thing!). If you tried it please let me know how it went!