C – Going to a working farm like Azolla Farm you learn a lot of new things.
We got to see how nature works. It’s almost the end of summer. Some of the crops were on their last legs … going to seed. We were hoping to find fennel flowers to get some fennel pollen. Instead, we found fresh fennel seeds.
Scrivner was a little disappointed that he couldn’t deliver any fennel pollen to his client. But, we weren’t disappointed. We were really curious what fresh fennel seeds tasted like. It is rare to find something like fresh fennel seeds. We get dried ones in the grocery store all the time. We never find fresh ones anywhere. Once we tasted one, we knew we had to make something. Fresh fennel seeds have a soft, sweet taste to them. They taste like really good black licorice. They’re pretty addicting.
Luke was curious if I could make ice cream with the seeds. I figured if I could make fresh mint ice cream, I could make fresh fennel seed ice cream the same way. It was another thing we brought back to the Be Mindful. Be Human. kitchen. Scrivner and his crew may never use the fennel seeds, anyway. We thought we might have a purpose for them. We were really excited.
After carefully washing them, I picked every little seed off the flowers. It took me a while to get all the seeds off. They were small and stuck to my fingers. I made the ice cream the same way I do fresh mint, but reduced the sugar a bit so it wasn’t too sweet. Fresh fennel seeds were already sweet.
It took a while to make this, because I wanted a strong fennel seed taste. Jim really wanted a licorice taste, also. Both of those things happened. I also decided to leave the seeds in the final ice cream.
Unlike the fresh mint ice cream … where I discard the leaves … the fennel seeds should give the ice cream a good texture. I was hoping anyway. It was a bit of a gamble. Some things you put into ice cream turn out unpleasant and hard as a rock.
After the ice cream was churned, the moment of truth came. Time to taste the ice cream. The ice cream tasted like creamy licorice. Really sweet, but not an awful licorice after taste.
| Fresh Fennel Seed Ice Cream |
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ½ cup fresh fennel seeds. Dried seeds will not work.
- 4 egg yolks
- Using a mortar and pestle, smash up the fresh fennel seeds to let the oils come out.
- Place whole milk, whipping cream and sugar into a medium sized saucepan. Heat until small bubbles for at the sides of the pot. Turn off heat.
- Place fennel seeds in warm milk solution. Let steep for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, turn heat on and warm the mixture until bubbles start forming on the sides. Make sure not to boil. Milk will curdle if it’s too hot. Turn off heat and set aside.
- Place the yolks in a large mixing bowl. Beat with a hand mixer for 1 minute.
- Slowly ladle the warm milk mixture into the bowl. Beat with a hand mixture after each ladle to incorporate. Don’t go too fast or the eggs will curdle.
- Once all the milk is mixed in, pour the combination back into saucepan.
- Return to medium heat and slowly cook the custard mixture. Stir constantly until it reaches 185 degrees or coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Strain custard mixture. Return the fresh fennel seeds to the mixture, if desired. We wanted more fennel flavor and the fennel seed texture in the ice cream.
- Let cool in a separate storage container. Then, place in the refrigerator overnight.
- Churn according to ice cream maker’s directions.
- Serve.
- Enjoy!
We loved the texture of the seeds. They were crispy little specks in the ice cream. It was a great compliment to the creamy custard. I am glad I left the seeds in. Otherwise, it would have been just a fennel ice cream.
I am so glad we found a purpose for fresh fennel seeds. It was an amazing and rare treat.