Nettle and Ginger Ice Cream

Making ice cream with stem ginger and stinging nettles

This brilliantly green ice cream first releases its gingery kick, and as the ice cream melts, that distinctive green and earthy nettle flavour comes through.

This idea came from fellow forager Lucia Stuart who runs The Wild Kitchen in Kent. She raved about the combination of nettle and ginger, so I just had to give it a go. This is my wild version.

Serves 4

Ingredients

70 g (2 ¼ cups, pressed down) nettle tops
250 ml (1 cup) double cream (heavy cream)
250 ml (1 cup) full fat milk
4–5 egg yolks
100 g (½ cup) golden caster sugar
100 g (⅓ cup, plus 1 tsp) stem ginger, chopped

First, blanch the nettles by plunging them into a large saucepan of just-boiled water for 10 seconds, then straight into a large bowl of cold water and ice cubes. Squeeze all the water out and wrap in a clean tea towel until ready to use. In a medium saucepan, combine the cream and milk and heat until quivering and hot; do not allow it to boil.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and frothy and add half the hot cream mixture, whisking quickly, then pour it all back into the saucepan. Stir continuously over a low–medium heat until the mixture resembles custard in thickness, then set aside to cool.

When the mixture is cold, add the nettles and blend with a stick blender or in a liquidiser until pureed. Sieve through a fine sieve or jelly bag, ensuring that all the liquid is squeezed out, and add the chopped stem ginger, stirring until combined. Place in an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions or put it in a freezer container and mash every 1–2 hours, or until frozen.

Stinging nettles is one of the plants I make desserts from in my Wild and Sweet book, and I have plenty of savoury nettle recipes in the nettle section of my Blog.