Lemon Kefir Ice Cream

This is our first spring living here in Texas, and as a native-Chicago girl, I couldn't be more pleased that our warm weather began showing up at the end of January. We're well into the eighty degree weather, and I oftentimes have to remind myself that it's still March, even though it looks and feels like July. Of course, since it is Texas, I do know that July here will be much different than July in Chicago. We moved to Austin in July last year, and had quite the taste of those blazing temps.

All this warm weather has us taking out our ice cream maker almost every week. And, well, I don't think the cooler weather would have stopped us either. Homemade ice cream is just so deliciously creamy and pure -there's no comparison to store-bought ice cream. We bought our ice cream maker last October in celebration of my birthday... which wasn't until November, that's how excited I was to have rich, nutritious, homemade ice cream on hand.

The best part about having an ice cream maker is being able to avoid all the additional preservatives and junk the manufacturers put into the store-bought ice cream. The scary thing is that many of these additives aren't even required to be on the ingredient list! Another plus to making your own ice cream is being able to choose the quality of milk and ingredients.  Most store-bought ice cream only uses pasteurized skim milk, but we learned how important it is to have traditional fats in our diet. We use fresh, whole raw milk and cream for our ice cream, along with egg yolks and honey as our sweetener. I mentioned in my last post that I'm doing the GAPS diet to heal my gut, and right now I cannot tolerate fresh milk, but I can drink kefir, a fermented milk drink. The sour taste of kefir lends itself well to making tangy ice creams, such as those with fruit - like lemon!

One of my favorite memories growing up is being at Wrigley Field, watching the Cubs play, burning in the hot sun, and chipping away at my lemon freeze dessert. I have no idea what those desserts are called anymore, but it was basically frozen lemon sorbet in a cup. To me, that refreshing, cold, lemon tang is synonymous with summertime, and so you can imagine how ecstatic I was to replicate this treat using fresh and pure ingredients. In this recipe I use kefir, a strong probiotic beverage. I have been promising a recipe in which to use this fermented milk drink in order to make it more palatable. Well, folks, it doesn't get more palatable than this! I love to invent recipes that are not only delicious, but also very healthy. Due to its fermented nature, and the fact that it's made from fresh whole milk, this ice cream is so healthy you could eat it for breakfast without guilt.

I have made it twice so far for family and friends, and we've manage to finish it all off before I was able to snap a photo. It's THAT good. This dessert is so full of flavor, it's an explosion of summer in your mouth. You're going to love it!

Lemon Kefir Ice Cream

Ingredients

4 cups kefir from fresh whole milk (read this to know how to make kefir)

3/4 - 1 cup organic lemon juice (use 1 cup if you like it more sour)

3/4 cup raw honey

Zest of 2-3 organic lemons

A handful of organic blueberries

Instructions

1. In a blender or mixer add all the ingredients (except blueberries) until well combined.

2. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the directions for your personal machine. Our ice cream maker usually takes about 25 minutes to make the ice cream.

3. Store in a sealed container in your freezer until you're ready to serve.

4. We like to throw a few blueberries in our bowl, having found the flavors quite complementary. 

This is one of my favorite ways to eat kefir. 

How do you enjoy eating your kefir? Please share!

This was entered into Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday.

The Way to Whey: Recipe

In the last post we were introduced to the benefits of making and eating naturally fermented foods. The items needed to make ferments are nothing fancy - just your everyday foods: fruits and/or vegetables, sea salt, and whey. But, wait! Do you have whey in your refrigerator? Do you even know what it looks like? For the average American, whey is an uncommon ingredient, but in the past it was everyday fare. Before I began using whey regularly, there was only one other reference I had ever heard regarding it. Does this old nursery rhyme come to mind?

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey;

Along came a spider,

Who sat down beside her

And frightened Miss Muffet away!

Little Miss Muffet may have been onto something; whey has many health benefits. Although whey is used in many traditional foods and is considered a must-have in any traditional kitchen, the focus in this post is using it for lacto-fermentation. In the future I’ll give you many more recipes which use whey as an ingredient. 

What is Whey?

Whey is the yellowish liquid that is leftover after milk is curdled. It has a long shelf life and can last up to 6 months in the refrigerator. It is not the same as the powdered, unhealthy, and denatured whey, which is often sold in health food stores. They are NOT interchangeable.

Whey is full of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. In the article, Enjoying Miss Muffet’s Curds and Whey, Jen Allbritton writes, 

“Whey is the tart, golden liquid known to the Greek doctors of antiquity as ‘healing water.’ In fact, Hippocrates and Galen, two founding fathers of medicine, frequently recommended whey to their patients. Whey from fully fermented milk no longer contains lactose, and with its dose of probiotic organisms will help maintain a synergistic balance of the inner ecosystem and encourage repair of gut dysbiosis. Whey also contains a fair number of minerals, particularly potassium, and a notable amount of vitamins, especially B₂.”

Homemade cultured whey is very important for making fermented fruits and vegetables. It is true that you can make vegetable ferments without the use of whey (by adding additional sea salt), but it is better to use this nutrient-packed ingredient. Fruit ferments always need whey. Whey is made from farm fresh raw milk. However, if you don’t have access to fresh milk, whey can also be made from plain, whole fat, organic yogurt. 

I’m going to assume that not everyone has access to fresh, raw milk, so today I will share an easy recipe for making whey. This recipe will also give you about 2 cups of cultured cream cheese - it is so scrumptious!

Whey and Cream Cheese

based off the recipe found in Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon

Makes about 3 cups whey and 1 cup cream cheese

Ingredients:

2 quarts plain, whole fat, organic yogurt

Instructions:

1. Line a large strainer set over a bowl with a clean dish towel.

2. Pour in the yogurt, cover, and let stand at room temperature for 12-24 hours. The whey will run into the bowl and the milk solids will stay in the strainer.

3. After several hours, tie up the towel with the milk solids inside, being careful not to squeeze. Hang the towel with the milk solids from a cabinet knob, or tie this little sack to a wooden spoon placed across the top of the container so that more whey can drip out.

4. When the bag stops dripping, the cheese is ready. Store whey in a Ball jar and the cream cheese in a covered glass container. The cream cheese keeps for about a month if refrigerated and the whey will last about 6 months.

That's it! Having whey on hand will enable you to make scrumptious ferments. Up next, is a recipe for lacto-fermented salsa! Stay tuned...

This was entered into Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday,  Nourishing Gourmet's Pennywise Platter, and Real Food Forager's Fat Tuesday.