Strawberry and peach ice cream are so common you can find them in almost any grocery store freezer. But if you want apple, pear, avocado or date ice cream, you will probably have to make it yourself. Soft fruit like berries, peaches and plums you can simply puree and add to the ice cream as it's freezing. Hard fruit like apples or Asian pears you will need to cook before you can puree them. If you want an adventure, try cooked sweet potatoes, carrots or beets instead of the fruit.
Soft Fruit
Step 1
Combine the milk, cream, sugar, flavorings and salt in a saucepan. Heat it gently until the sugar completely dissolves. Put the mixture in the refrigerator to chill.
Step 2
Put the fruit into the food processor or blender. Blend it until the fruit is pureed. Pour the fruit into a bowl and chill it in the refrigerator.
Step 3
Pour the cream mixture into the ice cream maker. Freeze it according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Step 4
Stop the ice cream maker when the ice cream has begun to freeze but still is about the consistency of yogurt. Add the fruit and continue to churn. The ice cream is frozen when a hand crank is very difficult to turn. If you have an electric churn, consult your instruction book to find out when the ice cream is ready.
Step 5
Scoop the ice cream into a storage container. Eat the ice cream immediately or store it in the freezer for later.
Hard Fruit
Step 1
Combine the milk, cream, sugar, flavorings and salt in a saucepan. Heat it gently until the sugar completely dissolves. Put the mixture into the refrigerator to chill.
Step 2
Put the fruit in a saucepan. Add about 1 inch of water. Put the lid on the saucepan and cook over low heat. Stir every few minutes -- more often toward the end of the cooking process -- and make sure the water doesn't boil off completely. Cook until the fruit is soft.
Step 3
Put the fruit into the food processor or blender. Blend it until the fruit is pureed. Pour the fruit into a bowl and chill it in the refrigerator.
Step 4
Freeze the ice cream as you would for soft-fruit ice cream.
Tips and Warnings
- If you like chunks of fruit in your ice cream, blend half the fruit to a puree. Then put the other half of the fruit into the puree and pulse the food processor or blender until the fruit is chopped to the size you like. Remember that the ice cream churn may break up the fruit even further. If your ice cream tends to be rock hard when you refreeze it, try adding extra sugar to the mixture before you churn it. Sugar lowers the freezing point of ice cream, which keeps it soft at lower temperatures.
- Some fruits -- dates, for example -- will gum up a food processor. To process them, take some of the cream mixture and add it to the fruit before processing. High acid fruits tend to mask the sweetness of ice cream. Consequently, lemon, lime, gooseberry or strawberry ice cream is going to need more sugar than banana, date or mango ice cream. Experiment until you find the sweetness you like.
Things You'll Need
- 2 saucepans, one with a lid
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2/3 cup sugar
- Dash of salt
- Cooking spoon
- 1 1/2 cups of fresh fruit, peeled and diced if necessary
- Flavorings like vanilla, cinnamon, almond extract (optional)
- Blender or food processor
- Ice cream churn
- Rubber spatula
- Storage container
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