Problem with recipe in "Making Artisan Gelato" by Torrance Kop

[Luke]

At first glance, I was quite inspired by the book "Making Artisan Gelato" by Torrance Kopfer.

Unfortunately, the first recipe I chose seems to have a mistake (well, I can't make it work for me).

I chose to make raspberry gelato, which includes 2 Tb raspberry jam. The jam is added to the milk, cream & sugar prior to tempering the egg yolks.

the problem is, the book states "heat milk, cream, sugar, raspberry jam to 77 deg C" - but the mixture splits at 65 deg C. i tried this twice, and both times I ended up with raspberry jam flavored sweet cottage cheese.

On my third and final try, I omitted the jam from the start of recipe until I had made the custard. I added the raspberry puree, plus jam to the warm (but cooling) custard (at about 65 deg C), mixed thoroughly and strained to remove final seeds.

The gelato is fantastic - a hit with everyone, but I just cant make sense of the jam being added to the milk at the start. It must be a mistake.

Interestingly, I can only find one other recipe in his book that uses jam, the strawberry gelato. Although in that recipe, he adds jam to the uncooked custard, which sounds like an invitation to increase the potential for a split custard while your trying to cook (thicken) it.

Anyone else had the same problem? The other recipes look fine to me (with my limited gelato making experience)

Luke

Edited June 12, 2012 by Luke (log)

[pastrygirl]

That must be some acidic jam, surprising that the sugar wouldn't cancel out the effects of the acid. I don't see any reason to add the jam at the beginning, so might as well keep adding it at the end.

[gap]

I agree with pastrygirl that there might have been added acid in your jam. I often boil raspberry puree with milk/cream without an issue. Were you using a homemade jam with added lemon juice maybe? Either way it looks like you've found a good workaround.