Ginger Ice Cream

As the Northeast is in the grip of a 90+ degree heatwave (I think we're on day 5 of above 90 degree temps?), I decided it was a great time for an ice cream post.

Ginger ice cream, to be precise.

Remember the peach ice cream I made last summer? This is basically the same recipe from The Savannah Cookbook, except with ginger instead of peaches.

Because you can get the full recipe for making the custard from the peach ice cream post, I won't go through it here. Everything is done exactly the same until you get to the point where you add the flavors. After mixing the cooked custard with the whole milk, you just mix in a very generous 3/4 cup of chopped crystallized ginger and about  a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger. Tip: fresh ginger is easier to grate if you freeze it first. Mine wasn't quite frozen so I got a bit of a juicy mess. Still tasted good though.

Another tip I discovered this time around. The recipe in the cookbook says to scald the cream and vanilla in the top of your double boiler over direct heat. I never really like this step, I didn't feel it worked well.  But since you really do need to use a double boiler to get the custard to cook right, I just switched it up a bit. I scalded the cream in a regular 1-quart saucepan, stirred in the sugar, beat the egg yolks in the top of the double boiler (off heat). Then I beat a cup of the cream mixture into the eggs and put the double boiler top over simmering water to complete the process. Worked great. No pictures, unfortunately, since I was too busy whisking away.

Incidentally, this ice cream is a delightful accompaniment to raspberry pie. Just in case you wanted a pairing.