{"id":4953,"date":"2011-06-21T23:15:32","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T05:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/?p=4953"},"modified":"2019-04-29T23:00:19","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T03:00:19","slug":"cook-in-the-moment-vanilla-bean-ice-cream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/cook-in-the-moment-vanilla-bean-ice-cream\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanilla Bean Ice Cream"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Homemade<\/a>

Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (c)2011 LaDomestique.com<\/p><\/div>\n

The Quest<\/h5>\n

Ice cream is a big subject to tackle. Where to begin? I tried to think up a new ice cream flavor to impress you. I fretted over this for days. Then I decided that rather than come up with something new, I would revisit something old. Vanilla ice cream is the original. It’s ice cream pared down to the simplest, most straightforward of flavors. Some might even call it boring, but that’s because they’ve never tried homemade vanilla bean ice cream. If you’re going to keep it simple, you’ve got to use exceptional ingredients. I am obsessed with ingredients. Tell me the story of an ingredient, let me smell it, touch it, taste it. I want to know. Things. About the world. The idea came to me that I should begin a quest for the best homemade vanilla ice cream. My journey starts with the vanilla bean and a trip to the Savory Spice Shop.<\/p>\n

The Story of the Vanilla Bean<\/h5>\n

To me, there’s nothing more romantic and intriguing than the spice trade. I’m smitten by tales of explorers sailing the world on a voyage of discovery, bringing home exotic ingredients. Everything has a story. According to The Deluxe Food Lover’s Companion <\/a>the story of vanilla begins in Central America where Aztecs used it to flavor their cocoa drink. Herbs & Spices: The Cook’s Reference<\/a> gives the Spanish conquistadors credit for shipping vanilla back to Spain. Today, vanilla is exported from Mexico, Madagascar, R\u00e9union (a small island in the Indian ocean 500 miles west of Madagascar), Tahiti, and Indonesia.<\/p>\n

The vanilla bean is actually the fruit harvested from a tropical orchid. The whole process requires a lot of labor and time. Orchids are fussy. This particular orchid, vanilla planifolia<\/em>, only opens its flower one day a year and\u00a0 its only pollinator, the Melipona bee, has to get the job done on that day or no vanilla bean will be born. Tragic! So these days the orchids are hand-pollinated by very caring, gentle humans. After all that it takes about 9 months before the vanilla bean can be harvested. Then the curing process takes 3-6 months, requiring that the beans be heated by the sun during the day and sweated in blankets at night. No wonder vanilla beans are expensive, sheesh!<\/p>\n

Back to my quest. I walked into my local Boulder shop, Savory Spice Shop<\/a>, and looked over their vanilla bean selection. The Savory Spice Shop<\/a> carries vanilla beans from several locations including the Madagascar Bourbon<\/a>. The “Bourbon” is a place name and has nothing to do with alcohol in regards to the vanilla bean. I was immediately drawn to the Mexican <\/a>vanilla bean, mostly because I’m going through a little fascination with Mexico right now. I stuck my nose in the jar and was enveloped in the heady sweet aroma of vanilla with tobacco. The guy behind the counter approached, letting me know that Mexican vanilla beans have a more earthy flavor than the others. He announced that the Tahitian<\/a> vanilla bean was his favorite, with its sweet floral aroma and exotic character. I left the shop with all three varieties, intent on learning more about their flavors.<\/p>\n

Making Vanilla Bean Ice Cream at Home<\/h5>\n

I followed David Lebovitz’s recipe for “Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style” from The Perfect Scoop<\/a> (I’m giving away his book here<\/span><\/a>). There are basically two types of ice cream: French-style, uses an egg custard base and Philadelphia-style is straight up cream and milk. In the summertime I prefer Philadelphia style because it’s not as rich as French-style and I like the texture. You don’t have to cook a custard and deal with all that brew-ha-ha so Philadelphia-style is easy and quick. My first attempt at homemade vanilla ice cream was with the Tahitian vanilla bean.<\/p>\n

I poured 1 cup heavy cream into a medium pan and with 3\/4 cup sugar and a pinch of salt. Then I slit the vanilla bean down the center and scraped out the seeds. Both seeds and been were tossed into the pot. I cooked the mixture over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolved. This mixture was added to 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk, with 3\/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and chilled in the refrigerator for at least an hour. I removed the vanilla bean and poured the mixture into a Cuisinart ice cream machine (the kind with a bowl you have to pre-freeze for 24 hours). After 25 minutes of churning I placed the ice cream in the freezer for a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream has changed my world a little bit. I like how David Lebovitz uses a combination of the whole vanilla bean and pure vanilla extract, it really balances the flavors. I can taste when someone relies purely on vanilla extract in ice cream, and I’m not a fan. Using only extract yields\u00a0 a funny taste- alcohol? I can’t put my finger on it exactly. Combining pure vanilla extract with vanilla bean results in a rich, buttery, floral flavor that is truly intoxicating. The Tahitian bean contributed a hauntingly beautiful flavor. Homemade ice cream has a unique texture. I can’t resist it soft from the ice cream machine. You’ve got to try this. Crazy good, people. I can’t wait to share the rest of the adventure. I’ve still got to try the Mexican and Madagascar vanilla bean. The journey continues…<\/p>\n

Have you experimented with vanilla beans? Which vanilla bean producing region do you prefer?<\/h5>\n
Leave Your Comments HERE<\/span><\/a><\/h5>\n

\"Ice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Quest Ice cream is a big subject to tackle. Where to begin? I tried to think up a new ice cream flavor to impress you. I fretted over this for days. Then I decided that rather than come up with something new, I would revisit something old. Vanilla ice cream is the original. It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[172,93,92],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4953"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19438,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions\/19438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}