Bootleg: Ceylon Star Ice Cream

I grew up in the suburbs of the Bay Area, in a time when it was considered normal to spend every waking hour outside with your friends, finding anything to do. The last thing we wanted as kids was to be stuck inside the house. Everything was happening outside and we wanted to be a part of it. The possibilities were endless - we could take the day to ride bikes, go to friends’ houses or make up games to pass the time. But the best times spent outside were always during summer vacation. Daylight was at it’s longest and you only had time and imagination to fill in the day. Respite from the summer heat came in the form of playing in the sprinklers and of course, ice cream.

Like every kid, I have chased down many ice cream trucks in my day, running as fast as my legs would allow, waving my arms erratically like a baby bird and yelling at the top of my lungs for the truck to stop. And when you successfully hailed the truck down, deciding what you were going to have was your next important decision. Was it going to be a traditional chocolate malt cup or an ice cream sandwich? Or were you going to get adventurous and try that red, white and blue Bomb popsicle or that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle face on a stick? Hey, these were crucial decisions at that age!

Of course, my taste for ice cream back then was pretty basic. Vanilla and chocolate were tried and true staples, but coffee and green tea ice cream were also big in my household. There would also be the mystery ice cream of Filipino flavors in our freezer, like ube (purple yam), mango and an unexpected favorite - mais con queso. Yes, corn and cheese ice cream. Sounds really strange but the flavor of sweet corn and the salinity of the cheese makes for the perfect salty and sweet combination that I love. What’s funnier to me is that while I love mais con queso ice cream I never did go for that bright blue bubble gum flavor - what is that stuff anyways?

With the abundance of ice cream flavors out there now, my all time favorites still remain coffee and green tea. It wasn’t until last year that I finally learned how to MAKE ice cream for myself. What I always thought was ridiculously difficult coupled with wizardry and/or some sleight of hand perfected by ice cream masters before me, was actually quite simple. Simple ingredients - milk, heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar - and an imagination for the flavor is all it takes to make some great ice cream. Well, that and my trusty Cuisinart ice cream maker and the straight-forward instructions from Tyler.

Then it was easy as 1-2-3. Scald your milk and heavy cream with the flavor you are infusing. Mix your egg yolks with the sugar. Add a cup of the warm mixture to the egg yolks so as to not cook them in your base, then add back into the milk. Cook the base until you can swipe a clean trail with your finger on the back of a wooden spoon. Chill in an ice bath or overnight, and spin according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Okay, so maybe not 1-2-3, maybe more like 1-2-3-4-5. But, it really is that easy. Creme anglaise never sounded so simple huh? I know, I was just as stoked to find that out.

Not surprisingly, once I figured out how easy this all was, I fell quickly into the habit of spinning ice cream a little too frequently. There was Stumptown coffee, sencha green tea, pumpkin chocolate chip, Thai tea, and strawberry-lime sorbet to start. Real estate in the freezer was starting to become limited and I finally had to make a rule to not spin any new flavors until the last was finished. Rather jokingly, I started calling my ice cream “bootleg” as I can just imagine myself needing to sell it off from my apartment just to make space in my freezer. But, no, I haven’t quite reached the idea of hanging up the career to make ice cream full-time. Not yet, at least.

A few weeks ago, I happened to be walking past a David’s Tea in San Francisco and stopped in before meeting up with friends for drinks. I had only intended on perusing but there were so many interesting teas that I couldn’t help but buy one really intriguing one - Ceylon Star.

Ceylon Star tea has notes of star anise, white chocolate, cocoa nibs and coconut. I was intrigued by the star anise as it is not a flavor or ingredient I naturally gravitate towards. If you’ve never seen star anise, they’re pretty neat (or maybe that’s just me, a total food nerd). Star anise is a dark brown/rust colored, star-shaped pod from a small evergreen tree native to China and Japan. I always think of origami when I see one and think it would be cool to make star anise origami but that would be taking my inner food nerd to the next level. Each segment of the pod has a small-pea sized seed and this itty bitty seed is what imparts a licorice flavor. You don’t need to use much star anise to get the licorice flavor, so a little bit goes a long way in savory cooking. In a dessert application, I was curious to see how that licorice note would play nicely with the other flavors of the tea.

Late night anything is my thing. So, it’s pretty normal to find me cooking/baking/spinning ice cream late at night with background noise filling the quiet as I move about my kitchen. With this particular ice cream flavor, I decided my best bet in getting a full tea flavor is if I didn’t spin the base that same night. I got to making the creme anglaise and was very generous in using the Ceylon Star. In the end, I used just a little over 2 ounces of tea to my 2 cup milk/heavy cream mixture. I chilled the creme anglaise base down in an ice bath and let that sit overnight in my refrigerator to really get that tea flavor.

The next morning, I pulled it out of the fridge and spun away. What I got was a happy surprise. When paired with white chocolate and coconut, the star anise definitely played well. It was full, round, and with just enough sweetness. You can taste all of those beautiful flavor notes and they worked harmoniously together. One flavor didn’t overpower the other at all. I normally like my tea-flavored ice creams to pack a punch but this was perfect. This is a really great way to end a meal if you’re looking for a touch of sweetness without guiltily indulging in a decadent dessert. I would definitely make this flavor again and try bumping up the tea in the base to see if a bolder flavor would still be just as delicious.

For this round, the W goes to Bootleg.

Lick that!

Want to make it? Check out David’s Tea at www.davidstea.com or any of their five locations in the Bay Area.