Making Pistachio Ice Cream and Gelato

[teonzo]

For my tastes, unroasted is better. I always used roasted until trying the unroasted version in one of the best ice cream shops in Italy. I must say that one was a dairy ice-cream, but I tried the MC version with unroasted pistachios and feel the same for that too.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[adrianvm]

I think the pistachio butters I used were roasted.  One issue in general with roasted nuts is that there is a tendency I've noticed for nuts to be over-roasted.  It's pretty much impossible to get roasted hazelnuts that aren't roasted to death, and some of the Italian hazelnut butters I tried were the worst offenders.   I think my preference would be for the nuts to be lightly roasted. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The nuts.com sale ended early this morning and I had to order before I saw these replies.  I went with roasted.  Thanks.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Now I'm thinking that the brand of oil I used and the one I plan to use again, La Tourangelle, is roasted.  Are Italian pistachio oils typically unroasted?

 

[teonzo]

If you are asking about pistachio oils sold in Italy, I can't answer, sorry. Pistachio oil is far from being a common ingredient here. I remember seeing it only once in a restaurant many years ago, it's impossible for me to remember if it was roasted or unroasted.

When I made the MC pistachio sorbet I just subbed pistachio oil with peanut oil (peanut oil sold here is deodorized and neutral tasting), I didn't bother to look for pistachio oil since it's expensive, hard to find and I didn't know what to do with all the leftover. I tried the MC pistachio sorbet just to see how it came out and gain more experience. For personal consumption at home I much prefer fresh fruit sorbets (strawberry, blackberry, peach, pear, pineapple, banana, so on).

 

 

 

Teo

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On ‎3‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 9:01 AM, teonzo said:

If you are asking about pistachio oils sold in Italy, I can't answer, sorry. Pistachio oil is far from being a common ingredient here. I remember seeing it only once in a restaurant many years ago, it's impossible for me to remember if it was roasted or unroasted.

When I made the MC pistachio sorbet I just subbed pistachio oil with peanut oil (peanut oil sold here is deodorized and neutral tasting), I didn't bother to look for pistachio oil since it's expensive, hard to find and I didn't know what to do with all the leftover. I tried the MC pistachio sorbet just to see how it came out and gain more experience. For personal consumption at home I much prefer fresh fruit sorbets (strawberry, blackberry, peach, pear, pineapple, banana, so on).

 

 

 

Teo

 

 

Teo, I'm with you on fruit sorbets.  Some decades ago* I pureed and strained a batch of fresh picked raspberries but didn't quite know what to do with them.  Unbeknownst to me my younger son spun the puree in whatever high-end ice cream maker** we had at the time.  Tart it was but I've ne'er had finer.

 

That aside, I've obtained more heavy cream and hope to give pistachio ice cream another spin.  My pistachio paste isn't getting any younger.  Nor am I.

 

 

*Before Lyme disease.

 

**It was Italian.

 

[teonzo]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

That aside, I've obtained more heavy cream and hope to give pistachio ice cream another spin.  My pistachio paste isn't getting any younger.  Nor am I.

 

I hope you'll report back saying you got the ice-cream you were looking for!

 

 

 

Teo

 

[paulraphael]

Nut flavors are challenging if you're looking for intense flavors, without the texture turning to peanut butter. My general model is along these lines:

 

-no eggs

-add ~2g soy lecithin/kg for emulsification/de-emulsification

-no more than 10% milk fat (total fat will still be high from the the nut paste)

-pay close attention to total solids. Aim or somewhere between 37% and 42%. The nut paste is essentially 100% solids, so you'll add less than the usual amount of skim milk powder, or maybe none at all. The exact right level of solids will depend on preference with a given nut paste. Too little and you'll have ice problems and thin body, too much and it will be like eating peanut butter. 

-ideally, customize a stabilizer blend. High on the locust bean gum, to reduce ice crystals. Low on the guar (it tends to add body and chew ... you won't need help here. No xanthan. It forms a gel with lBG.

Edited May 17, 2019 by paulraphael (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Forgive me.  I made the pistachio ice cream but I had intended to put my last post over here -- too many ice cream threads, not enough ice cream.

[Rajala]

I've been looking at this recipe https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/dairy-free-pistachio-gelato but this polysorbate thing for food seems kind of hard to source. I can only find one source of it and that's in US with shipping and customs etc.

 

Any other substance you can substitute it for?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, Rajala said:

I've been looking at this recipe https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/dairy-free-pistachio-gelato but this polysorbate thing for food seems kind of hard to source. I can only find one source of it and that's in US with shipping and customs etc.

 

Any other substance you can substitute it for?

 

Look for polysorbate 80 as E433 or just leave it out.

 

https://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/pistachio-gelato/

 

 

[Rajala]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Look for polysorbate 80 as E433

 

Hah, that's a good suggestion. I immediately found some where I live, much cheaper. Thanks to these people doing weird tobacco products at home.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Make sure it's food grade.

 

[paulraphael]

You should also be able to substitute a bit of soy lecithin. You'll need more of it; maybe 1 or 2 grams. It won't give the exact same results but will probably work fine. 

Make sure you pure lecithin, not some concoction that's sold as a supplement. And make sure it has a mild smell and tastes very bland. I've used Will Powder's version and it's excellent.

 

I don't know why the ChefSteps recipe has so much polysorbate ... it works in minuscule quantities.

[Rajala]

On 8/1/2020 at 12:50 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Make sure it's food grade.

 

 

This should be food grade, it's for tobacco products you have in your mouth. I guess I ought to ask, but since I'm just playing around for myself - I'll go with this for now, already placed the order. 😮

 

On 8/1/2020 at 3:39 AM, paulraphael said:

You should also be able to substitute a bit of soy lecithin. You'll need more of it; maybe 1 or 2 grams. It won't give the exact same results but will probably work fine. 

Make sure you pure lecithin, not some concoction that's sold as a supplement. And make sure it has a mild smell and tastes very bland. I've used Will Powder's version and it's excellent.

 

I don't know why the ChefSteps recipe has so much polysorbate ... it works in minuscule quantities.

 

Thanks Paul, I'll try with lecithin as well - I have that at home. Only liquid form though, but that might work as well I guess. Since this polysorbate product is liquid.