Coconut Hibiscus and Lime

A few weeks ago I was enjoying a dinner at a local mexican restaurant when I noticed a hibiscus drink on the menu.  I had been kicking around the idea of making a hibiscus ice cream for awhile and this cool, sweet hibiscus tea got my gears turning.  After some more research, I discovered this dark red tea is an international favorite, loved in the Phillipines, Middle East and South America.  Different cultures have slightly different ways of making it, but all utilize the Hibiscus flower as the main flavor component.  However, with the Jamaican kick I’ve been on, my path was already chosen.  It turns out Hibiscus tea is so popular in Jamaica that it is actually ordered simply as a Jamaica in some areas of the U.S.

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For this flavor, I went back to our vegan friendly/dairy free coconut base. The coconut cream was a perfect backdrop for a Jamaican inspired flavor.

Lime zest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As is often done when this drink is served in Jamaica, i added lime zest to give it a citrus-y kick.

Hibiscus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These gorgeous Hibiscus flowers are packed with Vitamin C and are steeped in our coconut cream base to extract all of their bright floral flavors.

Coconut Hibiscus and Lime

 

 

 

The Hibiscus petals dye the ice cream a pretty pink.

 

 

 

 

The result is a rich, coconut based ice cream, laced with a tangy, floral hibiscus with a zippy finish of lime. Vegan friendly and dairy free.

Want to try it? You can win one of the only two pints in the world, filled with this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest. 2 lucky winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 4/19 at 4pm. Winners must be able to pick up locally and give us feedback. Pints must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

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Coconut & Mangosteen Caramel

We’re entering the middle of January when the true doldrums of a Midwestern winter take hold, and you can’t help but dream of a warm paradise somewhere closer to the equator. With no sunny beach in my future for this winter, I get my kicks by enjoying the fruits (no pun intended) of such places to remind me of what I could have. Maybe its a bit sadistic, but I enjoy it.  As an aside, in the 90 odd flavors we’ve put up on this blog so far, we have yet to do one friendly to the dairy free and vegan audiences.  This marks our first flavor in both of those categories.

I first was introduced to the strange fruit through a short story in one of my college lit classes (the title of which I’ve forgotten) and have always been curious about it. Native to Indonesia and South America, for a long time they were illegal in the U.S. due to fears of harboring Asian fruit fly.  You can find them fresh now, but you’ll still have to do some hunting.  Since we weren’t able to get our hands on any fresh, we went the canned route (we’re making a caramel with them anyway) and picked them up with our coconut milk at our often lauded haunt – United Noodles.

Mangosteenmangosteen

 

 

Again with the little brains.  What does this mean?

 

 

For this flavor we chose to do a Mangosteen caramel that would be layered into the base and provide a truly tropical version of a coconut caramel.

ginger

 

 

 

Hinted with a bit of fresh ginger

 

 

 

The mangosteen was pureed and strained to remove the seeds and fibers, and then combined with the fresh ginger, sugar and boiled down into a nice flowable caramel.

Mangosteen Caramel CookingMangosteen Caramel

 

 

 

 

 

Next,  the coconut ice cream. Coconut milk works wondefully for a dairy free/vegan option because it has a high enough fat content to freeze without being icy.  With organic cane sugar and some organic vanilla, you’d never know the difference. (As long as you don’t loathe coconut).

Coconut Milk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally after churning the coconut base, the Mangosteen caramel was layered in as the pints were packed.

Coconut Mangosteen Caramel

 

 

What we end up with is a deliciously creamy coconut ice cream with a bright, lightly fruity, mangosteen caramel.

 

 

 

 

You can win one of the only two pints in the world, filled with this fabulous, scratch made craft ice cream in our weekly pint giveaway. Enter your name in the comments section here, or on our facebook page under the posted contest.  2 lucky winners will be drawn randomly on Friday 1/11 at 4pm.  Winners must be able to pick up locally and give us feedback. Pints must be claimed by email within one week or we will redistribute. 🙂 Good luck!

 

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