Darienne

Made Ilana's ginger ganache recipe mixing dark chocolate with milk chocolate. (We live far out in the country and if you don't have what you need...you use something else. But then lots of eGulleters live this way I know. ) I used the proportions given...after halving the recipe...but found that the amount of ginger juice was not enough for me. Could it have been because half the chocolate was dark? The big surprise? The DH loved it! He actually loved it! He who doesn't like ginger loved it! Wunderbar. Thanks Lior.

After a similar discussion with friends last fall, I bought some *really* expensive matcha powder, some really cheap stuff, and the moderately expensive stuff I've always used. In ice cream, they all tasted nearly the same -- the cheaper stuff was a little better, having a stronger "green grass" flavor. In hot tea, totally the opposite -- the cheap stuff was unpalatable, the top-shelf stuff was tastiest. On a different note, the parallel saffron "experiment" showed higher quality saffron made way better ice cream, where quality didn't relate to price. The supermarket stuff was mediocre, and ridiculously overpriced. The saffron from Penzey's was much better, and the bulk saffron I bought online from an importer was amazing. -jon- ← Thank you Jon for that information. I just might try the Matcha ice cream soon. In the meantime I have made the chocolate biscuits for ice cream sandwiches, and now want to add chocolate to the cornstarch Fleur de Lait. Busy, busy, busy.

Dear P, You have done it, sir. You have tipped the scales in my mind, and although my DH does not like ginger, I love it and I will make ginger ganache later today.

Thanks for the answers. I'll try some others of DL's recipes as time goes by. I don't know what a Heath bar is but I'll look for it. My knowledge of chocolate bars is dismal. And I have to admit, I hate peppermints. Sorry about that! I'll try English toffee next. I was hoping that someone else could fill me in ahead of time. OK. Has anyone put crushed English toffee in ice cream and does it stay crunchy over time?

I am looking for the best crunchy bits for ice cream...a request of the DH. And they must stay crunchy over the long haul. Made the simplest, quickest such recipe from The Perfect Scoop for a quick test, but was disappointed in the end. No fault of DL I am certain. Although my almonds were deeply toasted...indeed, almost toast, so to speak...they were not truly crunchy in the end. Well, sort of crunchy, but not really crunchy. And I think perhaps the nuts need more sugar content than the proportions given. The DH is sometimes hard to please. He does have his crunchy standards. Still, it's only the beginning. What your favorite crunchy ice cream inclusion, please.

Today at lunch the Fleur de Lait passed the acid test. And was found rich enough. Rich enough is very important, especially to folks who find sherbet not rich enough. Interesting to compare the richness of ingredients of a few ice creams: * DL's Fleur de Lait: 2 cups whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream * Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla: 2 cups 1/2 & 1/2, 1 cup heavy cream * DL's Philadelphia Style Vanilla: 3 cups heavy cream or 2 cups heavy cream & 1 cup whole milk * DL's New York style vanilla: 1 cup whole milk, 2 cups heavy cream AND 6 large egg yolks. WOW! Next the Fleur de Lait goes through my current Alton Brown Serious Vanilla process, that is adding the various inclusions which I regularly put into the AB ice cream, most importantly, the Orange-Szechwan Pepper ingredients in this lighter ice cream and see what the DH and others think.

Here's an interesting one: Dede Wilson, Tuffles. Calls for 4 teaspoons of finely grated fresh ginger which is NOT strained out...and then chopped crystallized ginger on top of the finished truffle.

Recchuiti, Chocolate Obsession, has a ginger ganache recipe but made with dark 61% - 70% chocolate. He calls for 1 1/2 oz fresh ginger for steeping to 7 oz of chocolate. Then 1/2 oz crystallized ginger for topping on white chocolate dipping. Not exactly what you are looking for. My DH does not like ginger and that is a grave family problem for shared ganaches. Carol Bloom calls for 2 tablespoons of crystallized ginger in 2 1/2 pounds of white chocolate (1 pound in the ganache). My own preference would be simply dipping the ginger in dark chocolate.

That sounds like a plan for homemade ice cream. I'll try it!

Ice Cream updates: Did not make the Matcha Ice Cream. An eGulleter on the 'Matcha' thread suggested that my Matcha powder might not be expensive enough to be of a good enough grade to use. So I let it go for the time being. HOWEVER I did just make the Fleur de Lait, the ice cream made with cornstarch. I made two small changes. As per usual, I substituted 2 Tablespoons of corn syrup for the sugar. The second change was not planned. I used the entire amount of sugar called for before I came to and realized that I usually cut down all sugar amounts in our ice cream. So I added some cardamom to lessen the sugar taste and the result was delicious and reminiscent of an Indian dessert. Very good. Very rich and creamy. I was surprised with 2 cups of milk and only 1 cup of heavy cream. Next?

I can't say that I am any kind of success story in this area at all. The pounds are slowly climbing on over the long haul, but I haven't done badly, all in all. And I have enjoyed reading this thread. Lots of good advice. One idea which works for us: Have dessert for dinner once a week. Eating dessert after a meal always means that you eat too much and have to watch how much dessert you eat. BUT if you eat dessert for dinner, then the sky's the limit. Tonight we are having Caramelized Banana Bread Pudding from Instant Gratification (well named cookbook). With toppings of say, whipped cream, sour cream, yogurt, whatever. And also cherries in the pudding because we didn't have enough bananas. Of course, dessert can't be just chocolate cake unless you want to have a migraine or sugar blues attack. A kind of a 'balanced' dessert . Other dessert dinners are cheese blintzes, fruit pancakes, semi-freddos, souffles, puddings with a base of rice, noodles, bread, etc. You'll have more ideas than I do... Also we have an excellent french fry truck near our local library. My DH drops me at the library, goes back and orders a large french fry, picks me up again and we drive home eating french fries. We have salt and vinegar (we are Canadians) in the car and the dogs share our sinful lunch.

A bit of a slow reply from me...I didn't know that. Thanks. I'll toss that one at my skeptical DH and see his reaction. Today's newspaper announces that Tim Horton's is about to open 12 outlets in NYC. It also notes that Tim's already has 527 locations in the USA: OH, MI, VA, KY, ME & CT. And just when Starbucks is downsizing...

While the 'gadget' is not unusual or unknown, its circumstances certainly are. Yesterday at our local 'transfer station', while the DH was unloading our detritus, I found a two-handled, round-bottomed carbon steel wok in the station shed. This shed holds things that folks no longer want but are willing to leave for others and the finds can be wondrous. So I found this wok, never used, in its original plastic bag...a kind of plastic you never see anymore...with much Chinese writing on it and in English: "Hand-made Steel Caldron (sic) Made in People's Republic of China". Much of the plastic is melted/fused/? to the metal and it's going to be work to get it off. I am curious as to how old it might be with that on wording on it.

Add one more for me. My own personal copy of David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop has finally arrived. Huzzah! Ordering from Amazon Canadian is NOT the same as ordering from Amazon USA.

Aaarrrggghhhh!!!

Thanks Andie, The collecting of odds and sods of facts over a lifetime is fascinating. My friend with the calamansi tree has generous allowed me to take one or two of her seedlings and for that I am overjoyed. Plus I am taking her a generous supply of chocolate-dipped candied ginger.

Finally. In our small city of 60,000 or so I have found two sources of matcha tea. One, the bulk food/specialty store carries it at $12.99 for 50 grams and the second, the Asian market carries one by King Ping Best Tea, and if I can figure it out...that's about the only English on the entire package...it's 60 grams for $4.99. Does that mean that the less expensive one is not good quality or that the expensive one is overpriced? Next: matcha ice cream and matcha ganache. David Lebovitz has the ice cream recipe and Dede Wilson the ganache...except that I am going to use mixed milk chocolate and 72% chocolate seeing as that's about all I have at this point.

Two things: One! My book has FINALLY arrived. I ordered it on June 17th. Ooops! This is Canada. And I found two sources of Matcha tea so that's my next plan to make.

I got information about this site. from my friend who used to live near Hamilton. She also suggested trying the university sites but didn't say which ones have horticulture departments. ← Thank you muchly. I'll give it a try. ← Starting with your post, I found Calamansi trees for sale in Ottawa. Unfortunately they, Richmond Nurseries, won't ship. Period. I begged. They said, No. Now I have to find someone in Ottawa to get me one or two...or look further in Toronto. But thanks again for the leads....is there anything which you and Kerry do not know?

I got information about this site. from my friend who used to live near Hamilton. She also suggested trying the university sites but didn't say which ones have horticulture departments. ← Thank you muchly. I'll give it a try.

I WANT to buy a Calamansi/Calamondin tree, but my source must be in Canada, preferably in Ontario. So far my searches have turned up nothing. Any help out there? Please

Many thanks.

Can't find a matcha ganache recipe anywhere. Approximately how much matcha powder to say, 9 oz of chocolate?

Didn't know whether to ask in this thread or the 'matcha' thread. I can't seem to find a recipe for matcha flavored ganache. I know I read about one somewhere.... Roughly how much matcha powder would you use for say 9 oz of chocolate? Thanks.

All other ice cream plans went out the window and I followed jayhay's lead. Made DL's Vanilla Frozen Yogurt. Loved it. Big time. My first. It's just the beginning.