Lemon Rosemary

My batch of mint brownie ice cream did not last long enough (lots of sharing going on), so it was time to create something new. As I perused my (ever lengthening) list of ice cream ideas that people have given to me, I settled on a lemon rosemary. The savoriness of the rosemary seemed like a good combination with the tartness of lemon. Plus it helps that my new rosemary plant in the garden has been getting bigger so it needs to be used to keep it at a reasonable size and to not overtake the nearby herbs.

Rating: 5 scoops

I really liked this combination of lemon and rosemary. The rosemary is definitely present as a light undertone and I'm glad that it was not overwhelming since rosemary can be an assertive flavor. On the ice cream side, there was a nice bite to the ice cream with a clean lemon taste and aroma. The crème fraîche went a long way towards contributing protein and tartness and the ice cream would not be the same without it. This would make a sophisticated dessert for a nice dinner party - I'll have to keep this in mind!

I've made a lemon crème fraîche ice cream in the past with great success. This Philly-style ice cream uses both lemon zest and juice to impart the lemon flavor and some crème fraîche to add some tartness (and to help thicken it up). Since I wanted to extract the rosemary flavor into the base, I decided to toss it into the hot base to help transfer the flavor.

Since I made my lemon speculoo ice cream a few months ago, I've looked more into lemon flavor and how the different parts of the lemon can contribute towards the final dish. Lemon juice provides the sensation of tartness to your taste buds while the lemon aroma comes from the oils in the zest. You need both to perceive the flavor of lemon. If you look closely when you zest a lemon, you can see these oils (and all the flavorful compounds) spraying all over. Infusing the zest transfers these compounds to the base and helps us perceive the aroma of lemon.

Rosemary aroma works the same way as lemon zest - only rosemary is a lot more hearty than lemon zest and much of the flavor is locked away in the leaves. It takes time to fully transfer the flavor compounds, but I accelerated that here by infusing the rosemary in the hot base. I wasn't going for a strongly flavored rosemary ice cream anyways - only a lightly perfumed base where the rosemary accentuated the lemon but didn't overwhelm it.

I didn't write down who suggested this idea to me - so if it was you, thank you!