Tomato Jam

It’s official, my favorite time of year has come…Tomato Season! I think we can safely say that the sooner we can purchase our produce after it is harvested, the higher it’s quality and flavor will be. That’s just one of many reasons to buy local, but as far as produce is concerned, it’s not always possible here in Minnesota, and some of our alternatives can satisfy those winter cravings. But tomatoes are one of those fruits that are really only good during the local harvest season. I’ve had plenty of “ok” tomatoes during the off season, but this time of year, tomatoes are a gold mine and their flavors are fantastic. As the harvest rolls in, many folks are canning and freezing their tomatoes, so here at FrozBroz we wanted to share another alternative for saving some of this tomato season for the months to come. And in the process put some of that hard work into our ice cream. So let’s get started with this week’s flavor…Tomato Jam!

 

 

Roma tomatoes purchased at our lovely Midtown Farmers MarketCheck them out when you can, cause the vibes over there be jammin.

If you’ve ever canned tomatoes before, the first thing you have to do is get the skin off.

 

 

 

 

 

Hey look, these have the skin off! And to do that, we dropped them in a pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds and then into an ice bath to cool down.

The tomatoes get quartered, then seeds and innards removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Into a large sauce pan with sugar, fresh ginger, lemons and cinnamon stick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We simmer it all down for a few hours until the tomatoes are translucent and almost falling apart, at which point we remove lemons and cinnamon stick and increase heat to reduce moisture content.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end result is this gorgeous tomato jam. Let us tell you, this can be put on almost anything sweet or savory. Spread it  on a crostini with goat cheese and caramelized onions or on your Serrano ham sandwich, OR if you’re us…

 

 

 

 

 

Layer it into your ice cream infused with Fennel Pollen. FrozBroz Tomato Jam Ice Cream!

 

 

Want to try some? As we do every week, we’ll be giving away two pints of this flavor. Just leave a comment on our facebook page to be entered into the drawing. If you don’t have a facebook account, leave a comment right here on the blog. We’ll draw two winners on Friday afternoon (8/17/2012) at 4pm and will announce them on our facebook page (or email you if you’re comment resides here). Our only conditions are you must be able to pick it up here in Minneapolis, and agree to give us a little feedback that can be shared with everyone else. Good luck!

 

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Fennel Pollen

Sometimes simple is best.  Over the course of the last year we’ve explored ice creams that sometimes include up to 5 main flavors.   Big flavors like these greatly open up the variety and combinations we can make, but can also overshadow the greatness of one of those ingredients on their own.

 

In this instance, it was extremely tempting to pair the Fennel pollen with almonds, or honey or pistachios, etc. But in the end, the flavor of this particular spice turned out to be so complex and so incredible in ice cream that it demanded the stage to itself, at least for its first foray into our flavor cache.

 

 

Fennel pollen is an expensive spice, not so much because of being hard to find, but because of how difficult it is to harvest.  It’s gathered by shaking it off the buds of fennel flowers and can take quite a bit of time to collect just an ounce.  It has a golden appearance, and kind of tastes like it.

Fennel Pollen ready for ice cream

 

 

We steeped the fennel pollen in the cream to fully extract as much flavor as possible.  The batter was then churned immediately.  It seemed almost too easy.

 

 

 

We expected a unique flavor, but nothing like this.  Once paired with the cream and sugar base, the obvious flavors such as anise blossomed, but so did caramel and curry notes.  It could pair extremely well with a lot of different desserts or dishes, but to appreciate the depth of the flavor it really needs to be eaten all by itself.

Fennel Pollen Craft Ice Cream

 

 

 

Gold.

 

 

 

If we ever imagined an ice cream flavor for royalty, this would be it.  We’re very excited about the how it turned out, and have a feeling this will be a Froz flavor for a long time to come.

 

As we do every week, we’ll be giving away two pints of this flavor. Just leave a comment on our facebook page or in the comments here to be entered into the drawing. We’ll draw two winners on Friday afternoon (5/4/2012) at 4pm and will announce them on our facebook page (or email you if you’re comment resides here). Our only conditions are you must be able to pick it up here in Minneapolis, and be willing to give us a little feedback that can be shared with everyone else.

 

Good luck!

Would you like to see more of this kind of ice cream or be able to buy it online?  Then please, help us with our fundraiser on indiegogo, we only have 8 days left and need all the help we can get! In exchange you’ll be one of the first to get our ice cream.  Visit our page at www.indiegogo.com/frozbroz

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