Lavender

We had a chance to visit Wisconsin in August and while we were there, we rode our bikes around Washington Island. It was hot and humid that day, so we stopped at Fragrant Isle to rest, admire the lavender fields, and eat some snacks. They had a lot to choose from, but we had to try their lavender vanilla ice cream. It was delicious and gave us the inspiration for our next ice cream flavor!

Rating: 5 scoops

This was a fabulous combination. It was just as good as the ice cream we had on Washington Island, only this time we didn't need to take a ferry across Death's Door and bike to the center of the island! This vanilla base is one of our favorites and we thought the lavender buds complemented it nicely - the lavender flavor was noticeable but not overpowering.

One nitpick about this recipe was that it doesn't produce as much because it needs to be strained twice throughout the process of making it. The first time is to remove the lavender buds and the base sticks to the buds, causing us to lose a lot of base. The second time after cooking the egg yolks and cooling the base is a lot easier - that just helps remove any curdled egg yolk so we have the smoothest ice cream possible. Either way, all the straining won't stop us from making this ice cream again!