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Meyer Lemon Gelato/Ice Cream


FoodMan

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So I have a small Meyer Lemon tree in back yard that has about 4 or 5 large almost ripe fruit. I would love to try and make a top notch gelato or ice cream with them but I have no recipe. I thought it might be fun to get some of your ideas.

Should I use the peel only and flavor the dairy with that?

OR Should I make a curd base with the juice as well?

I prefer the end result not to be too tangy, hence my question about just using the peel (and reserve the juice for another use).

My thought is to use a basic vanilla gelato recipe as a base and improvise from there. However, I really do not want to waste these fruits that my one year old tree put so much effort into producing :wacko:. So, some professional advise would be very much appreciated.

Elie

E. Nassar
Houston, TX

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contact: enassar(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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My thought is to use a basic vanilla gelato recipe as a base and improvise from there. However, I really do not want to waste these fruits that my one year old tree put so much effort into producing  :wacko:. So, some professional advise would be very much appreciated.

Elie

I've got an orange ice cream recipe that suggests infusing the zest into the cream, then reducing the juice (no need to add excess water) and mixing it into the base after the custard has cooked and cooled. Do not add acidic lemon juice to a cooking custard base, it'll curdle and be nasty.

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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I've made lemon ice cream using regular lemons. The recipe I used came from Gourmet, unfortunately a quick look at Epicurious shows many lemon ice cream recipes and I can't remember which one I used. The recipe called for infusing the milk/cream base with lemon zest and then adding the lemon juice towards the end. I strained the base to rid myself of the zest and any curdled bits of egg before chilling.

The other thing you might want to try is lemon curd ice cream. Sherry Yard has a recipe in her book The Secrets of Baking which would be a good guide. I made blackberry-lime curd ice cream based on her recipe this past summer and it had an amazing texture.

The recipe is essentially 2 cups of lemon curd whisked with 1 1/c cups whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Chill the base and then churn.

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

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There's a very good recipe in Lindsey Shere's "Chez Panisse Desserts". She and Alice Waters were one of the first to serve dishes w/Meyer lemons in at Chez Panisse.

3 Meyer Lemons (~ 3/4 lb) (juice and zest from)

1 cup sugar

1 cup half and half

6 egg yolks

3 cups whipping cream

vanilla extract to taste.

Steep strips of peel (with no pith) of one lemon in a pan w/the sugar and half and half. Heat to just under boiling, stir to dissolve sugar, then remove from heat and let sit for ~ 15 min.

Make a custard w/the egg yolks and half and half mix. (Temper eggs; then add back into cream mix and cook on stove until you have a thin custard). Strain mixture and add in finely grated zest of the other two lemons. Let steep for 15 min. Add in cream. Add ~ 9 Tbs of lemon juice; taste and adjust w/more if you like. Add a few drops of vanilla. Chill for several hours before making ice cream.

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Having just bought back 6 ponds of Meyer from SF, I thught of making sorbet with them. However, the marmalde took them all. I guess, I would juice them, and sweeten to taste, and freeze in the ice cream machine. Sprinkle grated peel in them while machine is turning.

Ya-Roo Yang aka "Bond Girl"

The Adventures of Bond Girl

I don't ask for much, but whatever you do give me, make it of the highest quality.

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Meyer Mascarpone Ice Cream

Combine equal quantity mascarpone and simple sugar syrup (1:1).

Beat with electric beater until very smooth.

Chill thoroughly (overnight is good).

Next day, churn in ice cream machine.

When almost done, add half cup Meyer lemon juice.

Serve with:

Balsamic Strawberries

Combine half cup balsamic vinegar and half cup Port, or any red wine (an Argentine Malbeck would be great), and bring to the boil. Reduce by half. Off heat but still hot, add halved strawberries. Stir to coat.

Drizzle basil syrup around, and decorate with mint leaves.

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  • 6 years later...

Just made a first batch of Lemon Gelato at the Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen from a recipe posted by bellalimento.com

6 lemons zested and juiced

6 egg yolks

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

2 1/2 cups half and half

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sugar

Gelato 002.JPG

Just following the instructions did not separate the solids and froze with all of zest.

Results fabulous, lemony,bitter sweet and a sip of grapa. It will be very hard to buy the commercial stuff again.

The Philip Mahl Community teaching kitchen is now open. Check it out. "Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen" on Facebook. Website coming soon.

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I've used meyer lemons for sorbet and have had good results using 5 lemons per quart of base ... juice from all five, zest from two of them. Avoid the pith at all costs. The dairy in ice cream mutes fruit flavors a lot, so you could probably go to six or seven lemons, with zest from more of them, especially if you're making ice cream with more than 10% milk fat.

Notes from the underbelly

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  • 1 month later...

i use the chez panisse recipe as well with fab results. you can increase the lemon juice content quite a bit if you want it more tart, however, the more lemon juice you add, the greater the tendency to form ice crystals as the ice cream ages in the freezer. adding some lemon zest at the end also increases the overall lemony character of the ice cream.

love it.

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