Cardamom Spiced Persimmon Ice Cream
We have an ongoing battle surrounding our persimmon tree with the squirrels in our neighborhood.
It’s actually pretty simple; they eat the persimmons, sometimes tossing them aside after only a few bites, and we shake our fists at them, yell, and sometimes cry. It’s quite sad, but only for us. I think the squirrels are fairly happy with the deal.
To add insult to injury, it seems that our persimmon tree only bears a substantial amount of fruit every other year. In the bountiful years, it’s not uncommon for us to get buckets of fruit, 50-75 pounds of it, so much that we are giving it away and don’t notice the squirrel consumption. In the “off” years, we get nary a persimmon with the squirrels eating any and all of the meager amount of fruit on the tree. This is one of those years where the humans did not get a single piece of fruit.
How did I make this ice cream with no persimmons on my tree?
Confession #1; I made it last year but never got around to posting the recipe or photos and then persimmon season was over. My procrastination last year is your (and my) gain this year!
Confession #2; each year I freeze ripe persimmon pulp so I can use it later in persimmon bread and ice cream. This way the pain of losing what little fruit we get to the squirrels is easier to take.
I use this Cuisinart 1.5 Quart Ice Cream Maker Ice Cream Machine (Amazon affiliate link). It works very well and I even keep the empty bowl in my freezer so I can make ice cream at a moment’s notice.
Tell me, do you make ice cream only in the Summer? What are some of your favorite Fall and Winter ice cream flavors?
Recipe for Cardamom Spiced Persimmon Ice Cream:
Cardamom Spiced Persimmon Ice Cream
Equipment
- ice cream maker
Ingredients
- 1 cup cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- 6 each egg yolks
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp crushed cardamom
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups ripe persimmon pulp
Instructions
- If you have whole cardamom pods, please see these instructions for crushing them. Crush the pods in a mortar and pestle or in between waxed paper. Discard the pod shells. Crush the tiny black seeds slightly to make them more aromatic. Heat the milk and the cream with the crushed cardamom and half of the sugar until very hot, but not boiling.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the remaining half of the sugar.
- When the milk is hot, temper the eggs by whisking in a cup of the hot milk and cream into the bowl with the eggs and sugar. This keeps the eggs from scrambling when you add them to the hot milk. Then whisk the egg/milk mixture back into the pot with the hot cream. Cook until the custard begins to thicken; do not boil or the eggs may cook and curdle.
- Pour the custard through a fine-mesh strainer and chill until very cold. At least 3 hours or overnight.
- Whisk in the vanilla extract and then stir in the persimmon pulp. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. I use the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.
24 Comments
Priyanka
I am not an ice-cream fan mainly coz of my health issues.
But the ice-cream you created looks so wonderful , I can only imagine how yummy it would turn out to be 🙂
Danielle
My husband and I tried to make ginger snap ice cream recently, but it was a total disaster! We just winged it using our favorite vanilla base and then taking pieces of other ginger snap ice cream recipes, one of which said to steep fresh ginger in the ice cream base. We used way too much ginger though and it was almost inedible. It was good in concept but not so good in execution.
By the way, your strawberry ice cream recipe from awhile back was fantastic! We had some plain and added crushed oreos to some of it, and it was great both ways.
formerchef
@Danielle- Adding crushed oreos to strawberry ice cream sounds wonderful (can’t go wrong with chocolate and strawberry together!).
Jenn @LeftoverQueen
This looks so amazing!
Heather in SF
That truly is a beautiful photo! We just received five pounds of squirrel-free Fuyu persimmons and I think ice cream is a fine idea. Hopefully I can make it egg free, stupid food allergies, but a little gelatin should do the trick. I make ice cream year-round, the only caveat being room in the freezer! right now there’s too much bacon in there. Ha!
formerchef
Heather, you can absolutely make it egg free, many ice creams are made that way!
June@CreditDonkey
This is just exquisite. The texture is heaven and the ingredients are fairly surprising. I hope I can taste them though. Can you send a pint over? Kidding!
Myra
Yet another reason why I need to buy an ice cream maker. The combination of cardamon and persimmon sounds perfect for Fall. (Smart to freeze the pulp!)
Erin
I like to make ice cream all year long! This looks fabulous.
Sherry
Had our first bountiful harvest of persimmons and have been wracking my brain trying to find ways to use it up before they all spoil so I was so glad to see this! I have one question, do you include the skins of the fruit with the pulp? Thanks in advance!
formerchef
No, I do not include the skins, only the very ripe, soft, pulp.
angela@spinachtiger
Can you believe I have never eaten a persimmon. The photo is gorgeous and inspires me to try.
Elisabeth
This ice cream sounds scrumptious!! I placed an order with our co-op for a bulk order of persimmons. I’ll have to try this wonderful sounding ice cream. I like to eat persimmons raw, too. So good.
Brittany
I recently served this over persimmon bread pudding – it was delicious! The cardamom works perfectly with persimmons.
formerchef
That sounds fantastic! Thanks for letting me know.
Tom
Yummi, yummi…I just love ice creams. I could eat them every day. This one on the pictures looks sooo delicious. Need to try out your recipe. Thanks for sharing it with us 🙂
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Evelyn
What does one need to do to make persimmon pulp? Just remove the skin, seeds and put it in a blender? Thanks!
formerchef
If the persimmons are ripe enough, you just need to cut them in half and squeeze the pulp out of the skin. You may not even need to put them in a blender.
Tara
Can I make this sugar-free?
formerchef
Maybe, but real sugar helps keep the consistency of ice cream soft. With sugar substitute, I don’t know how it will come out.
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