By request: Annalena's honey ice cream(s)

It is not often that Annalena gets a request for a recipe. She's serious about that. Interestingly, ragazzi, you do not ask for them, or ask "can you post for..." Perhaps it is because Annalena's third eye sometimes knows what you want beforehand, and sends it to you, before you ask. Of course, we do not want to attribute powers to Annalena that she does not have, now, do we? But who knows?

In any event, this week, she did in fact have a request. It was a request for lavender ice cream. It came from her dear Texan friend, who shall be referred to herein as Gilda Pecuniaria. Should GP choose to manifest herself, fine, but if not, we shall remain incognito and add yet another layer of intrigue and mystery to this blog.

Oh dear, the meds ARE setting in, aren't they? In any event, GP reported that she had been looking for that recipe, and could not find it. Annalena was convinced that she had posted this, and then, much to her surprise, learned that it was not amongst the hundreds of recipes on this blog.

Shameful. And, actually, it is not a recipe for lavender ice cream (which Annalena believes you will all be able to deduce for yourselves from reading this), but for lavender honey ice cream, and that in turn led to a decision to write about honey ice cream, generally.

Did you know that honey is the ONE food that will NEVER spoil? It is true. They have found honey in the tombs of Egyptian pharoahs, and it is allegedly still edible (although Annalena is not going to put THAT stuff in her mouth). It does not harbor bacteria, which keeps it from spoiling. Now, that may change with the so-called "infused" honeys, where flavor is picked up from other things that are steeped in warm honey - as CAN be the case here. Annalena is unaware of any such studies.

She hopes that you know that any attempt to give up sugar in favor of honey because it is "healthy," is silly. Honey is sugar. It is a different form of sugar, but it is sugar nonetheless. Due to its invert nature, it tastes sweeter, and you might use less of it, but the nutritional benefits are minimal. Should you be choosing it for philosophical or other reasons, do not let Annalena impinge on your views. Do know, however, that you are not getting nutritional brownie points for it. Anyway, to the ice cream.

When Annalena makes lavender honey ice cream, she uses a particular brand, which comes from Napa Style. It is a lavender honey that , to Annalena's tongue, TASTES of lavender. Others have disappointed her (sort of like men). If you have a honey you like, that is what you should use. If you wish to infuse your honey with lavender, well.. this is not the time of year to do it. You really do need fresh lavender for it, and you will find none this time of year. To infuse the honey, you will need a goodly teaspoon - perhaps as much as a tablespoon - of fresh lavender blossoms. You remove these from the stems of the lavender plant, and as you do so, you will smell the wonderful oil. Put the blossoms into 3/4 cup of honey, and then warm it until the honey just bubbles. Then, put it aside, and let it steep. Start tasting after 5 minutes, and every five minutes thereafter, until you have a flavor you like. It may take awhile. Then, strain the blossoms out of the honey. Annalena is sure that you, like Gael Greene "do not appreciate lawn clippings in your dessert."

If you have a regular honey that you like - and please stay away from the bitter types like leatherwood, or buckwheat for ice cream - use 3/4 cup of it, and again, just warm it. You want to warm it because, when you get the other ingredients together, if everything is too cold, you will get clumps of honey, and you may not want that. Although... please read on.

While your honey is warming, combine either 3 cups of heavy cream , or 2 cups of heavy cream and one of milk, with the yolks of six large eggs. Whip this all together, and then pour it into the warm honey. Get your whisk and start stirring. If you have read the other ice cream recipes in this blog, you know what you're looking for: get a thickness that coats the back of a spoon. Undercooked is better than overcooked. And when you get there, take it off the heat, cool it and then pull out your ice cream maker, and get to work.


Now, to variations. You can make "burnt" honey ice cream, which is essentially the honey version of caramel ice cream, by heating the honey , stirring, until you begin to smell a caramel type of odor. When that happens, pour out the honey into another receptacle IMMEDIATELY. Honey may not spoil, but it does burn, it burns easily and it keeps burning. Your caramel can go from tasty to yucky in minutes. Keep an eye on it.

For comb honey ice cream, after you have churned your ice cream, and you see it beginning to firm up, start breaking small chunks of honey comb right into the custard. This will produce something akin to ice cream with honey bubble gum in it. Not unpleasant, to be honest, and actually quite nice.

Nothing like a little January sweetness in your life, eh? Thank Gilda for this one.