Sour cherry trees are not as common as sweet cherry but I have one in my garden. For the first time I got a decent crop, not entirely scoffed by the birds, as in previous years (nets help!). You can buy frozen sour cherries in Middle Eastern corner shops – look in the freezers.
I made this for the floral course of my fragrance themed supper club last weekend. Hence adding the rose water and pairing it with lavender shortbread biscuits (recipe in my Supper Club book) and orange flower water meringues.
It’s easier if you have an ice cream maker but if you don’t, freeze in a shallow plastic container and remove 3 or 4 times at intervals of a an hour, and stir vigorously to prevent any hard crystals forming.
There are two main methods for making ice cream: as a cold custard with eggs or, as in this case, thickened with cornflour.
This is an adaptation of a recipe in my MsMarmitelover’s Secret Tea Party book. You can now access this book on the ckbk cookbook library site (a kind of Spotify for cooks).
Sour cherry and rose water ice cream recipe
Ingredients
- 150 g caster sugar
- 10 g cornflour
- Pinch sea salt
- 200 ml whole milk
- 400 ml sour cream or creme fraiche
- 2 tbsp rose water
For the sour cherry compote:
- 200 g sour cherries, pitted
- 100 g caster sugar
- squeeze lemon juice
- stick or tsp vanilla
Instructions
- First make the ice cream base and while it is churning in the ice cream maker you can make the sour cherry compote.
- Put the sugar, cornflour, salt and a little of the milk into a saucepan over a low heat. Whisk as it warms, then add the rest of the milk.
- Cook until it thickens. It's important to cook down the cornflour: when it goes a bit translucent, that usually means it is cooked. Remove from the heat.
- Add the sour cream/creme fraiche into the hot mixture, whisking as you go. Then add the rose water. Then pour it all into your ice cream maker. My machine tends to work in 60 minute sessions. I find it takes at least 2 sessions of 60 minutes, maybe 3 sessions to properly churn.
The sour cherry compote:
- I like this to be fairly chunky so while I pit the cherries, I leave them whole. Put the cherries in a pan on a shallow heat with the sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. Simmer until slightly thickened and looking a bit jammy, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool. Then add it to the mixture in your ice cream machine and let it continue to churn.
Could I substitute Greek yogurt or plain yogurt for the sour cream or crème fraîche in the ice cream base, and if so, how would that affect the texture and flavor of the final result?
No problem, of course you can.