Concord Grape Honey Ice Cream

It's taken me a bit to get hip to the concord grape craze but an unexpected treat in last weeks CSA share forced me to get with the program. I've been on a big ice cream making kick lately and am trying to make them with natural sweeteners whenever possible. I think maple could work well with this combo too so I'll try that next time.

Anyway, I was very pleased with the results here. I'm finally getting my ice cream bases correct so they are smooth after churning and freezing. I'm so happy about that! The flavor of the grapes and cream was sort of unusual, but I really liked it. I also really liked the color. What do you guys think??



Concord Grape Honey Ice Cream

2 cups half and half
2 cups whole milk
2 cups honey
2 cups concord grapes
6 egg yolks

In a large saucepan add the grapes and one cup of honey and simmer until the grapes start to break down. Add the half and half and milk, and cook over medium heat.
Put the yolks in a heat proof bowl and whisk in the other half of the honey. When the cream mixture is starting to steam, whisk a cup or so, 1/4 cup at a time, into the eggs. The goal is the raise the heat of the eggs so they won't curdle when added to cream. When the eggs are tempered, add them to the cream, return to stove until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon and you can draw a clear line through it.

Strain the mixture into a large bowl and chill, 3 hours at least, but preferably overnight. Then process according to your ice-cream maker's instructions, remove from ice cream maker and freeze until it firms up.