Wild Blackberry Ice Cream

When someone bakes me a cake I want to give them a huge bear hug. When someone cooks me a meal I want to cover them in big, sloppy kisses. So you can only imagine how I feel about my beautiful sister and her gorgeous family who risked the skin on their arms and legs to pick me these magnificent and outrageously black blackberries. I'm wild about 'em.




Wild Blackberry Ice Cream

adapted from Food Network

1kg fresh wild blackberries (or store-bought)

1 1/4 cup caster sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup full-cream milk
5 egg yolks
2 cup cream

Put the blackberries, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the sugar into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to simmer and cook for 20 minutes until the blackberries have softened and the liquid becomes syrupy.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve using a spoon to push the deep crimson liquid out. Discard the blackberry solids. Refrigerate the syrup until cold.

Heat the milk and the remaining 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.

In the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks until pale and moussy. Pour a tablespoon of the hot milk into the whipped egg yolks and whisk. Add another tablespoon of the hot milk and whisk again. This will bring the temperature of the eggs up and prevent the eggs from curdling when the rest of the hot liquid goes in. This is known as tempering. Gradually pour the rest of the hot milk into the eggs, whisking all the time. Now pour all of the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until thickened, about 3 minutes. This is the custard.

Pour the cream into the berry syrup, and then pour in the custard and stir to combine. Refrigerate the mixture until cold.

Churn the mixture in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions. Pour the ice cream into a freezer-safe container and freeze until set.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer about 20 minutes to softened a little before serving.